unbolted the sensor and tried to remove it. wouldn't come out and would only rotate slightly. tried prying it out and the damn thing cracked in half. the whole metal portion is in the block with just a few chunks of plastic sticking out. I've tried putting a screw in it and pulling with pliers but so far I've just managed to pull out more bits of plastic..

any suggestions on what to do?

is there enough clearance if i pushed the rest inside and let it drop into the oil pan?

the areas so damn cramped that i can't get any leverage and there no space to drill.. >.<

well i've been chipping away at the damn thing for the past couple hours. couldn't manage to get any screws in good enough to grab hold of.

the weird thing is that it's like the sensor is fused to the block. i couldn't fit my power drill into that tiny space so i've just been chipping at it with a flat head screwdriver. but the plastic material doesn't come off the sides of the hole as i break it up. i'm having to forcefully chip and scrape it off the sides.

what gives?

has anyone dealt with a sensor stuck that badly?

i've gotten maybe half an inch deep into the sensor hole so far but now it feels like i've hit a harder material. after clearing out all the softer plastic, i can feel a perfectly flat surface that also feels continuous with the sides of the hole.

were the 95 sensors made differently in addition to having a different connector?

the replacement sensor has a metal casing around the part that goes into the block while the rest of it is black plastic. the plastic part looks the same as my old one. but as i'm scraping away the old sensor, i have definitely not found a metal casing.. just more and more plastic fused to the block. i'm a good 1/2"-3/4" into the block and found the old o-ring during the excavation. but no metal casing...

i'm very confused as to how to continue..

Major PITA it sounds like. It's definitely a tight area to work in. If it were me I'd just get a small screwdriver or punch (something short enough to give you the clearance) and pop that thing through into the pan and then drain the oil and drop the pan.

Remember the sensor itself is a magnet. So it might stick somewhere after you punch it through.

The sensor pickup is very close to the crank, Im not sure if there is enough clearance to push it into the block without removing the crank first. Its worth a shot but dont be surprised if you cant tap it into the block. You might can drop the pan and knock it out the block that way.

after further excavation i can confirm that my stock sensor is a different design. a small piece of plastic in the shape of the cylindrical shell of the sensor came out. the remaining piece will now rotate 360 degrees with a small amount of force. hopefully that means I'm making progress and have removed the parts that were fused with the block.

however it now seems that I've reached the magnet.. it's such a bad angle that i can't get a clear view so I'm relying mostly on touch though. it feels like I'm scraping metal and my screwdriver definitely feels the pull of the magnet. i was gonna grab a smaller drill from my apartment in the morning and see if i can tap and pull now that it's actually spinning but won't the magnet shatter if i drill?

if i get magnet chunks where they don't belong that'll probably interfere with the new sensor pretty badly.. :/

how hard is it to push the sensor out if you drop the pan? is it pretty accessible or is it wedged right up against the crank?

thanks for the suggestions so far..

Originally posted by MCubed45
how hard is it to push the sensor out if you drop the pan? is it pretty accessible or is it wedged right up against the crank? thanks for the suggestions so far..

Who knows? Could be easy, could be really tough. I don't know of any of us here who have had a similar scenario to yours. There's really only one way to find out...dropping the pan, getting in there, and inspecting what options you have.

There is a trigger wheel on the crank that that magnet/sensor reads. They are very close together so I'm not sure how much clearance you will actually have. Perhaps enough to use a flathead screwdriver and use the leverage. Other than that just keep trying and see where it takes you.

Judging from some old pics it looks like you may be able to turn the crank into a certain position that will give you access to the sensor.

Drop the pan and pry it out from the inside. There's only a couple thousandths clearance between the sensor cover and certain parts of the crank.

There is a metal cover on the sensor. If there isn't, it's because someone removed it at some point, for whatever reason.

Originally posted by DarkOne
Drop the pan and pry it out from the inside. There's only a couple thousandths clearance between the sensor cover and certain parts of the crank. There is a metal cover on the sensor. If there isn't, it's because someone removed it at some point, for whatever reason.

arighty. will give that a shot. is it ok to use the crank for leverage?

Yes you can use the crank to pry against.

success!

once i had the pan off i was able to just push it out with my finger. it slid right out with little resistance.

upon inspection, the 95 sensor is definitely a different design from other years. there is NO metal casing. the entire body is hard black plastic with a small piece of metal embedded in the tip.

will post pics of the remains later.

thanks for all the tips and advice! car's up and running fine now.

Glad to hear you got it all worked out man. Good job.

I feel bad that I didn't mention that part when I told you to replace the crank sensor. It happened about every time I've upgraded a 95. Each 95 I've come across all had just the black hard plastic sensor, and each one broke in half trying to remove it.Glad you were able to pop it out from the inside, it's exactly what I would have told you to do if I had seen this post earlier
! haha.

How's she running for you now?

I know this is an old post, but I had it happen to me today. What I ended up doing was taking the smallest flat tip screwdriver on a gerber and prying on the side of it until I got to the o-ring. I ripped the o-ring out and once that was off, the sensor slid right out.