2003 Vue with a 2005 drive-train.

my Saturn is doing the same crap. You just replace the crank position sensor and it fixed the stalling. Mine goes off goin down highway doin 70.

please read all I went through. It can be a complex problem. Mine ended up being a bad ECM (engine control module) even though I had already swapped in a ECM which I thought was good from another good running Vue with the same drivetrain. The way I verified that it was only the ECM was that once it ran correctly I changed all the other components which I had swapped out back to the original components. Not to say that a crank position sensor (CPS) will not cause the same problem. My Mercedes just displayed the same symptoms and the cause was a CPS which was flaky. Changed it out and no issues.

Good Luck and if you want more advice it is here, just read and ask.

Classy response.

And I did not realize you had back swapped everything which is exactly the way to end your travels through stall-land with a bulletproof diagnosis and a smile on your face.
Hope you'll continue to stick around.

I think that was one of the most circuitous journeys on this forum that actually led to a solution

Because the OP didn't get frustrated and walk away or get their nuts in a bunch because they couldn't accept the advice of others, even though that's why they came here.....I learned more about Passlock then I ever wanted to know. Mods with huge post counts don't know everything. That's one of the things that keeps me here---I like to learn new stuff even if it applies to old stuff.

That is how what eventually is considered obscure knowledge lives on

And I thought I had a command of little known or cared about facts!
It is better to be a smart ass than a dumb ass. LOL

Yay verily.
I will never catch up to you Andy, but I look forward to having fun on the ride nonetheless.

So a crank position sensor is possible answer?

Where'd you get the sensor? If from your local Autozone, Advance or O'Reilly then odds are pretty good it's defective out of the box. You get what you pay for. Go to a GM friendly dealership and get one.

D.S.,

It's difficult to tell from the wording of your original post whether you HAD the problem and fixed it by replacing the CKP OR you are HAVING the issue right now and want to know if replacing the CKP could possibly cure what ails your vehicle.

A flaky marginal CKP will often go into failure mode when hot. Kills spark and injector pulses. No fuel, no spark = no run.

There is a host of other things that could cause this behavior, including some things we don't even know about.

If the problem is a current one, start simple and check the CKP connector and wiring. If ok, I'd replace the CKP with one from GM or at worst NAPA.

Agreed. Always go with the relatively cheap and simple fix first. CPS's are a common issue in a lot of cars. The thing that really pushes me in that direction is if the computer does not set a trouble code. The CPS will not set a code but boy will it cause issues. Strangely it is one part which will erratically cause problems and the next minute work excellent.

Thank you DERF for the supportive words.

Good Luck with your troubleshooting.

too many heat/cool cycles for ANYTHING will eventually fatigue the material.
In this case, I believe the thinger on the crank whose name I can't think of is magnetic, as is the central portion of the CKP. When the crank rotates, every so often the 2 magnets interact. The change in magnetic field strength induces a current in wire coiled around the CKP magnet (because that's just how physics works.) So you get a pulse each time the two magnets interact.

THe only real failure modes are open circuit (coiled wire becomes non-continuous) leading to an infinite resistance measurement across the coil, or shorted (insulation on the wire in two adjacent physically adjacent turns of the coil breaks down and two bare coil wire sections meet, leading to a partial short of the coil. Depending on where this happens in the windings (not everything is necessarily wound in a simple layered fashion), it will affect the total effective resistance of the coil, which will affect signal V level sent to the PCM. Too low and PCM sees it as invalid.

I think the reason they work cold then fail while hot in the early stages of failure, then work again is that the break in the coil first occurs when hot, and is such that the wires are in such close proximity to each other that when the CKP cools down, thermal contraction occurs and results in the two ends of the break making good electrical contact again as if nothing were wrong. Heat it up and they separate again. Kinda difficult to get out on the side of the highway and get a DVM across the CKP, so it's easier to diag by symptoms. I guess you could jam some wires into the connector for extension wires for the DVM and watch the coil resistance go to Inf (open circuit) -- but where's the fun in that?

/end of pointless explanation no one asked for but I felt like sharing because I just did and parts may be wrong but I think I'm pretty close.
It's amazing how many people were never taught discrete electrical component behavior and magnetic field phenomena in school. People used to laugh at my grad school advisor for teaching the discrete stuff to the students in the nineties. Who's laughing now? RIP JS

Anywhere else that thing is referred to as a reluctor to the best of my knowledge.

THANK YOU!!!!

I refused to look it up. :)

Where in Nashville?!
 

If you mean in TN, that's a question for Rube.

I live in PA

Shell, if you're in Nashville, go to the Pull-A-Part yard on Centennial Blvd. Tons of cars there. BUT, it's a crap shoot finding what you want. You just have to go look. You can pull up their website and see if they have the model vehicle you're looking for. If so, they'll give you a row # where it's located. You can also look up the price of the item and there's an interchange feature that will let you know what other vehicles may have the same part that will fit yours. If you don't want to pull it yourself, then you'll need to go to a parts store, because they WON'T pull it for you. You could try Abernathy's on Lebanon Pike. They won't let you into the yard and WILL pull what you want. I used to live in New Johnsonville, 85 miles west of Nashville, and shopped the Pull A Part yard a LOT. I THINK I even got derf a couple of items, but don't remember for sure. Damned brain surgeries! Living in FL now but hoping to get back to TN within the next couple of years. Florida SUCKS.

Just for the heck of it, I pulled up an 04 Vue on the Pull A Part site. They show to have a 4 cylinder 04 with a manual transmission on row 133. They have two 04 V-6 models on rows 113 and 124. Both are automatics.

Thanks Rube!
 

Use this thread as a troubleshooting guide OR please post a new thread for your issue. Thanks

08 Saturn aura no crank, no start
 

Hey derf and blaisa I love the information. it was very helpful. However I have a Saturn of my own and
​​it doesn't matter how long I drive the car,
when I shut it off it doesn't wanna start back SOMETIMES.
This sporadically happens though and even with that being said sometimes it'll take anywhere from ten minutes to cut to 8 plus hours or untill it cools off do you have any idea what it could be