2 problems with my 2000

[63Bravo]

Hey guys, I just recently came into a 2000 zx2 with 60k and a few problems. I've been reading some posts and they have been very helpful. Right now i face two problems, one I found a post on and one I haven't encountered.

1) low oil pressure, check engine light<-- I'm almost positive it's the variable timing solenoid

2) crankshaft pos sensor. for some reason this has "melted" off twice. It doesnt look like it is grinding off because the center (magnetic part) seems to be "melted" farther than the surrounding plastic.

any help or ideas on either of these would be great thx!

[LastTudor]

Wow, the crank sensor is melting? I'm not sure of how everything is situated on your engine, but is it possible that a heat shield is missing from the exhaust? That's just weird.

[ZX2Fast]

I doubt it is melting, more likely the the timing teeth are eating it since they hang over the center. You might have crankwalk. Some of the 99's (early 2000,s) got a bad batch of engines with bad thrust bearings that would allow excessive transverse crank movement. Symptoms of crankwalk include dying in hard turns, dying when the clutch is used, or unexplainable spark loss.