1997 grand prix tach quits

[deerstud56358]

Hi
I have a 1997 Grand Prix SE with the 3800 in it. We bought it in February and right from the beginning we started having an issue where the tach would stop working while driving when this happens the car will run rough. At first just shutting car off and restarting would be fine, but now when it happens the car won't restart right away. Sometimes if I bang on the fuse box or ignition pack it will start ( most of the time). Someone has told me that these cars can develop a bad ground and this will cause the problem. I have yet been able to find the ground spot that has multiple connectors. It's getting to the point where we don't want to drive the car because we're afraid to get stranded someplace. Thanks for any suggestions.

[PurpleGuy]

Crankshaft position sensor.

[deerstud56358]

Is that pretty easy to get to?

[Explicit_Spade]

Depends on your mechanical experiance.

[deerstud56358]

What if that is an electrical issue because of the ground?

[PurpleGuy]

Search. There is a write-up. Questions similar to yours pop up almost every week.

[deerstud56358]

I fairly mechanically inclined just not familiar with these types of problems. I searched this before i posted by putting either tach quits or stops and only got two hits. I'm not sure how I should phrase the question. Why would the car restart after sitting a few minutes if the crank sensor is faulty? I would think it would be a go or no go kind of symptom.

[PurpleGuy]

Not sure... Mine would do that too. It would die driving and i could start it right back up. Ill find the write up for you..give me a few min.

[PurpleGuy]

http://www.grandprixforums.net/cps.php

There ya go

[deerstud56358]

Thanks Looks like it wouldn't be too bad I had to do some similar work to my Dodge Stratus. Timing belt.

[deerstud56358]

Well I replaced crankshaft sensor on Tuesday. Tough getting the crankshaft bolt loose. Finally took car to a friend that had a rather large compressor and impact gun. That loosened it right up. Once that was loose the rest went pretty easy. The cars tach has not malfunctioned yet after two days of use. Thanks guys.

[PurpleGuy]

The dreaded crank sensor lol

[deerstud56358]

Well we just drove the car almost 600 miles. Averaging 29.5 mpg. The only issue that we still have is it wants to ,miss or stumble under acceleration. It doesn't seem to matter what rpm your currently at. You can go pretty smoothly and not have an issue , but say you have the cruise on and your starting up a hill the system will stumble under acceleration. I have this without cruise also.