My 98 Neon (DOHC engine) won't start. The engine turns over fine and the battery checks out as well, but it simply won't start. I got a spare spark plug and tried it against the block and get no spark at all. Ran through a couple of troubleshooting charts that lead me to believe it is probably either the camshaft or crankshaft sensor.
To check out the crankshaft sensor, I verified that I have 8-9V present on the orange wire. I then pulled the crankshaft sensor out of the car and brought it inside to test with a power supply and voltmeter. With the sensor connector facing upward, I connected everything up as follows: left pin - ground middle pin - sensor output right pin - 8-9 volts With it hooked up this way, I get 0.61V when there is no metal object near it, and 0.06V when there is a metal object near it. As I understand it, the voltage swing should be much greater (5V to >.5V). Does this mean that my cranshaft sensor is bad or am I doing something wrong? I'd hate to put $75 into a new sensor if that's not the problem.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
-John Scheihing