Pretty sure I figured this out. Changing the actual delete pulley today, and noticed that the harness that holds the crank sense or connector and the actual connector looked a bit crisp. Pulled it apart and it appears that at some point, the harness must have laid against the manifold. the wire was bare. SO.... I cleaned it up, soldered and re-wrapped it. time will tell, but I think I've got it fixed.

 

That will do it.
Hope you got it.
Your thought on the Tach; the CKS is the pickup reference for the whole system not just the Tach. It includes the fire order and other integrated and timing functions in software.
The Tach signal is 'derived' from the PCM on a secondary basis.
Reason is there is no distributor and 8 coils to deal with. The signal has to be derived in another way, digitally and sent to the dash to drive the dash micro processor then the Tach readout..
Good luck

 

(I agree. And this is exactly why it will NEVER set a code for intermittent operation. IF the PCM doesn't see the crank signal, it assumes the motor turned off, but the rest of the systems are nto receiving power, hence, no CEL. NOW, if the sensor would still send data, but messed up data, that is when the CEL would illuminate throwing a crank sensor code. Since it just lost power completely due to the short... no code. After the soldering and repair, and zip tying the plug securely on to the sensor, it seems to have smoothed out a bit also, and runs pretty damn great.

 

The setting of codes is not set in concrete as they say because there is a 'CONTOL PROGRAM" that decides what and when a code is or is not set.
It's also a matter of timing for what code was set first and what gets set after that for the same circuit function or a related dependent function or even an unrelated function.
Want to see this in action? remove fuse #23 and watch what happens.
You get a list of codes an arm length long that all seem unrelated until you realize all the codes are caused by a loss of power from the same source.
Good luck.