I got my check engine code read at Autozone tonight. It came up as the knock sensor. The guy said I need t get that changed ASAP, and that it could leave me stranded. Is that true? and where at on the engine is the knock sensor located?

 

meh... that's a tricky code to pick up sometimes. You should be Okay, but def get it checked out for real for real.

 

That might be a costly repair...im not sure what "type" of knocking sensor our cars use, but normally it is more of a little metal plate that vibrates and its inside the engine somewhere. Im not exactly sure on where they are, but i bet it costs you a pretty penny to have fixed.

-sean

 

It's on the top middle of the block, under the intake manifold. It is a round black doughnut looking thing with a bolt going through the hole and a plug with wire harness off to its side. It is a PITA to get to. The manual recommends you remove the intake manifold. I replaced one on a Maxima 3.0Litter without taking off the manifold, but I had to use a long slender 12 point box wrench that a had to bend to reach in there to loosen the bolt and then used needle nose pliers to rotate it 1/6 of a turn at a time. It took me about 3 hours to do. The sensor was about $70 if I remember correctly.

 

I just called the dealership. They said that the check engine light will not come on just due to the knock sensor. They said something else has to be wrong along with the sensor for the check engine light to come on. Does that sound right? Anyone else have a problem like this before? I made an appointment for Thursday afternoon for them to look at it.

 

I would imagine that you would get a check engine light if the knock sensor was malfunctioning. Otherwise, how would you know? Knock sensor should be important enough to warrant a cel.

 

Thats what I thought. It kinda stumped me when the service guy told me that.

 

just make sure if you drive her to baby it

 

if the knock sensor is bad, it'll just run the safest timing map so you just won't have that much power. Not too much harm in running that way, just no performance.

 

From what I see, if the knock sensor(s) (I am not sure if the VQ has 1 or 2 knock sensor) has gone bad, the ECU would probably put you into the lump mode/ safest timing map already.

However, to be safe, I would suggest you to go to a stealership asap to get this checked. Since knocking indeed occur usually at lower rev range on partial throttle on the VQ (good example is when you are going uphill on partial throttle), which means that "babying the car" won't help you too much from knock either.

 

With every Nissan that I have had experience with, the knock sensor is a ghost code. Even though it is vital, if it alone fails then a cel will not illuminate. You can check if its bad by monitoring timing. I would bet there is a second code that is the culprit.

 

I have never heard of the knock sensor going bad on a VQ. Take it in to be safe. Did the AutoZone clear the code too?

 

The guy at autozone did NOT clear the code. I never thought to ask if he could. He just pulled the code and we went back inside to see if he could get the sensor. I guess I will find out more Thursday afternoon when I take the car into the Dealership.

 

Corrosion on connector unless the engine was ever overheated causing the KS housing to crack.

KS failure common on overheated Nissan for 20 years.
The code occurs when KS fails startup test.

 

Took my car is yesterday to have it checked out for the Knock Sensor code. Sensor was not bad. Evedently you can let the car run when your filling up the gas tank. Never thought that would hurt, but I guess it does.