[MainSubject]

okay so last week I was driving around in town, came to a red light, took off and got a pinging when I shifted. during driving it only occurred under very light throttle. by the time I made it home, she threw a code. grabbed the scan tool, pulled it, and it was a knock sensor failure. Cleared it, and to no surprise it came back. So I'm picking up a knock sensor tomorrow or the day after. I've changed them before on a lift, from underneath. and it was a b*tch. I am just wondering if there is a way that's somewhat easy.

The way I did it was drain the oil, pull the oil filter, intake support bracket, got the correct sized wrench and shaved the fatter side of the open end down a bit so it was skinnier to achieve that little extra swing just to break it free. Once that was done it was free going and easy. This time, I'll probably just be under the car that's only jacked up 6 inches and on my back lol. So if anyone's done this in an easier fashion "pulling the intake doesn't count" I'm all ears.

Thanks ahead of time!

 

[RedWabbit]

I changed mine when I had the engine out of the car.

may I suggest a nice piece of cardboard, so your back doesn't get dirty?

 

[kommon_sense]

Are you sure that you have a bad knock sensor? Before going through all of that trouble, I would recommend inspecting the plugs and checking the timing.

Also wouldn't hurt to inspect your distributor cap, and rotor as well.

 

[MainSubject]

Yeah, i'm sure it is, the PO told me he replaced it with a $20 one off ebay, so in other words a threaded piece of metal with a plastic connector. and I just did a head gasket when I bought the car, did the timing by the books and had it double checked by my mechanic. As far as the distributor cap and the rotor, they aren't in bad shape, no carbon build up or tracking. But with an OE knock sensor only being $43 and change, and knowing they is a fake one in there now I figured I'd order one and put it in there. If the problem still persists I'll be back haha.

And as for the cardboard idea, I'll use a blanket folded up a few times so it's a little more comfortable since I know I'll be under there fighting with the knock sensor for a while haha.

 

[RedWabbit]

blankets won't let you slide, while cardboard will and its still pretty comfortable.

 

[MainSubject]

Okay, so later research has led me to suspect my rocker arm assembly. Intake side- cyl. 1; cyl. 2: checking the arms with no tension on them, they have considerable play side to side. as you progress through cyl. 3 and 4 it gets tight. Exhaust side cyl. 1 and 2 weren't that bad, but still more play than 3 and 4. And since I replaced the knock sensor with a known good one and it threw another code, heres my theory.

This play in the rocker arms, spacers or whatever might be worn is causing the loud knock noise. With loud noises comes vibrations, since the ecu is programmed to read certain small voltages at particular intervals given the current engine RPM from the knock sensor, the rocker assembly noise is creating a much heavier, more consistent vibration the ecu reads more than it should under general parameters. Throwing a code for a knock sensor malfunction thinking its bad.

That's what I figure anyways. Even if it's not the problem, I don't think my rocker arms should have that much play. So if I can't find a Y8 rocker arm assembly, a Z6 one should fit no problem right?