8g v6 crank position sensor + accessory belts

I think this tutorial should be sufficient for the mechanically adept. its just a quick and dirty rundown of how to get to the crank position sensor (MD349080) for the 8g v6. also shows the tensioners for the accessory belts. despite what the service manual says, you DO NOT need to remove the timing belts! they're not in the way. just the accessory belts and pulley. took me 2 1/2 hours working at a slow pace and taking tons of breaks. you also need a 2nd person to hold the brakes and a bigass breaker bar and cheater pipe to break the accessory belt pulley loose.

if u have any questions shoot me a message either here or on aim and i'll be glad to help you out. the reason i needed to change it was because i'm an idiot. i swapped to the gts manifold and there was too much slack in the sensor line, and the accessory belts chewed up the sensor :(
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before you get started u of course need to take off the wheel, and the plastic engine cover on the passenger side(3 bolts and 3 plastic retainers)

1st u need to take off the passenger side motor mount. you MUST do this in order to to access one of the timing belt cover bolts, which i circled. all other bolts here are easily accessible. coolant reservoir comes off with a tug upwards. u also need a jack to hold up the engine while you work on the motor mount.
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next is the alternator/ac belt. loosen the bolt for the pulley and adjust tensioner bolt. belt slips off.
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then take off the 2nd smaller power steering belt. loosen the TWO bolts and adjust tensioner.
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now the hardest part, getting the accessory belt crank pulley off. have your 2nd person hold the brakes. HARD. use a 1/2inch drive breaker bar and go nuts on the bolt. there will be a little bit of play(rotation) with the crank while you try to get that bolt off. jack the car up higher if you need more room for leverage or to slip a cheater pipe over the breaker bar. the bolt has a square 1/2inch slot for the breaker bar already. bolt size is 22mm in case u want to use a socket instead. DO NOT use a 1/4inch driver. you will break the socket/driver/rachet. you can also see the line for the sensor dangling and i circled where the sensor feeds to the plastic lower timing belt cover. you don't need to take that cover all the way off. you can reach the sensor by lifting the cover out of the way.
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here's a shot of the sensor and its 2 bolts. lower timing belt cover lifted half way open.
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reverse all steps, and done! :) make sure to torque everything to spec! VERY important for the pulley!

nice tute! Definitely keep an eye out for it when I change my manifold this summer.

Here's a tip for removing the crankshaft pulley from when I did this. Unplug the crankshaft position sensor from its connector at the intake manifold. This way the car will not start. Then place a large breaker bar on the bolt and have the other end of the breaker bar against the ground with the handle towards the front of the car. Get in the car and turn the key to the start position for just a second and you will hear the bolt let loose.

question:
what if i need to replace the plate that runs through the sensor? could i just pull the crankshaft timing sprocket off and will it slide right off or is there more bolts and stuff holding it on?

not sure what you are asking... can you elaborate? what plate that runs through the sensor?

I believe he is talking about the rotor beneath the sprocket. This rotor is made into a certain shape so that as the crankshaft spins, the crankshaft position sensor will know what position the crankshaft is in.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1323/capturemcs.jpg

the sensing blade is pressed on the lower timing gear. When the belt is off, the gear will slide off the crankshaft.

#3 in beam's picture, the crankshaft sensing blade. its hitting the sensor and making a taping sounds, which no doubt is destroying the sensor. i dont know if its the blade which is bent, or the sensor, but either way im replacing them both.

im just asking after i take the belt and the crank timing sprocket off are there anything else holding the blade on or will it just slide right off with the sprocket?

im fixing a wrecked 2001 galant es. the engine has 45k original miles on it with the only problems being this ticking sound, a cracked harmonic balancer, and the clutch or w/e its called on the air conditioning compressor is smashed. so i bought a new balancer, waiting for parts to arrive for the crank sensor, and going to completely omit the air conditioning

exactly like m-rod said. once the belt is off, the sprocket will slide off the crank. then u gotta pry the sensing blade off the sprocket