In the effort to make this information searchable for future individuals, this is taken from my messages inbox.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthur Dalton S600 was not available in year 1993. That would be a 600sel. So, that would be an inductive sensor. If the car was a S600, it can be a Hall effect sensor.....but not in '93 You sure on what yr/mod. the engine came out of ?? A hall would be a 3 wire sensor. An inductive would be a 2 wire. Inductive 2 wire will be sine wave [ ac ] Hall 3 wire will be square wave. [ on/off ]

...and my response...

Thank you, Arthur. I do not know what year it was from, all I know is that it was from an early W140 (came with a 4 speed transmission).
I can look again, but I think that it was two wire - one center pin and a shroud.
So from what you are saying they did change the style from the early engines to the later ones?
Do you have any idea if they interchange from a mechanical standpoint?
To whit - if I wanted to go to hall effect can I change the sensor and trigger and will it all bolt in place?

...also in the name of full disclosure, a magnetic / inductive sensor can be two or three wire - some systems use a shield in the jacket that is an additional ground to prevent noise in the system that presents itself as a third wire. I do not believe that Mercedes is one of these systems - I think that they just use two wires.

So getting back on track I think I have a magnetic or inductive sensor. That still leaves me with the question that I do not know if the magnet is fixed in the sensor or flying on the distributor's intermediate gear. I also don't know how to calibrate for it. Does anyone even know if it reads from a ferrous trigger? I mean, I think it must - but perhaps there is something (more) that I don't know.