Why do knock sensors go bad

My car felt good again and check engine left, but after sometime, it returned back, and before I could get to my mechanic, my car stopped on the road and I realised it overheated.. I was shocked.. The fan was good, I top up water like days ago so I was shocked. When I got to my electrician, scanned again and it says no coolant, we topped up coolant and error was cleared…. In between all these, I also noticed my AC would stop cooling and after turning it off for sometime, it begins to cool again.

This has also happened before removing catalyst. I went to scan again and this time was when the knock sensor errors came up. Another thing I noticed again was before I removed catalyst, I had noticed my engine oil dropped low beyond both guages on the dip stick this lasted for about miles so I felt that was fare and serviced the car with Mobil 1 5w… previously oil used was normal Mobil oil by ignorant Mechanics.

Now less than a month after I serviced just around miles , I checked my dip stick today and the oil is just by the second gauge as if half of my oil had dried up. I also turned my car on, left it steaming for around 30mins and revved it, little to no smoke came off the exhaust that looked colourless not sure about that but its as if no smoke came out the exhaust.

Hey Douglas, it sounds like you may have a few unrelated issues with your vehicle. The leaking oil and coolant makes me wonder if you have a failed head gasket from overheating the first time. I would consider a leak down test to see if that is the case. The knock sensor issues do sound electrical in nature, possibly a bad ground or short in the wiring harness. Perhaps the engine is knocking from burning oil and coolant. I am not really sure, that is just speculation.

Good luck on your search. Just after this horrible weather hit, I noticed a loud knocking in my engine. Then, literally a few minutes before writing this, I was taking my girlfriend to get some snacks at the gas station when the knock became really bad, and the engine just died. No warning, no lights, nothing. Might want to do a compression or leak down test to give you a starting point. Was the code just for the knock sensor? I have an 03 chevy silverado that started to have low oil pressure and then started not really knocking but tapping.

Are these typical knock sensor problem indicators? No, oil pressure and the knock sensor should be unrelated. Low oil pressure is one of those big issues that should be addressed as soon as possible, though. Toyota hilux, can bad knock sensor make engine light not to show and start at the same time, please i need your help. I already check all the related fuse and not broken.

How do I clear code? A lot of code readers will allow you to clear the code, but the code will return as long as the issue persists. It sounds like you may need to do a more thorough electrical diagnosis of the vehicle. Our vehicle was stuttering so we took it to a mechanic and he said we needed a new motor. Luckily we had a warranty. When we got the vehicle back, it was doing the exact same thing.

Our warranty had run out but the new used engine was under warranty so we took the vehicle back in about 5 months later. Now the mechanic says the knock sensor is bad and our transmission is failing.

Yes I would expect the knock sensor to have been replaced when you got a new engine. Do you know which if any parts were reused with the engine replacement? I have a nissian Altima the check engine soon light would come on in the winter months and off during the summer months for a couple of years. This year it came on in the winter and never went off. Is that the Sam as a Knock Sensor. My car runs otherwise pretty good except for a few vibrations. I have , miles. Please help.

Yes, that is a knock sensor. Check out this article if you want to learn more about engine knock. Yes, I experienced that until I used the right knock sensor. Table of Contents. Looking for Replacement Parts? Could it still be a bad knock sencor Reply. Can a bad knock sensor make a gearbox not to change Reply. Thank you Mars Reply. Could be. I dont have any idea please help Reply.

So glad I stumbled upon this…Great job you doing! I am wondering if all these are connected and what could be the problem? Please read carefully and help me understand whats wrong and what could be the fix. Now another question arises that is it safe to drive with a faulty knock sensor.

Besides , what causes a knock sensor to go bad? Well, for that we need to find out some other basic things, which are explained here below. What causes a knock sensor to go bad in any car? Why not begin with understanding the process of the knock sensor first. Knock sensor is located on the cylinder head, engine block, or intake manifold. The main function of the knock sensor is to detect and sense the vibrations caused by an engine knock.

PCM in your vehicle will be sending a command to adjust the timings of the ignition. It will even prevent the explosion, in case it is about to happen. Then, it will identify the valid ping, following which the ignition timing will be held back to secure the engine from any possible damage. There are several reasons why the knock sensor goes bad.

And today we are going to discuss all those possible reasons that may contribute to this. The first reason could be the illumination of the Check Engine Light. Another symptom could be continuous vibration and especially on the highway speed, pounding noises coming out of the engine, poor acceleration, poor fuel economy, and even misfire. What causes a bad knock sensor is the misuse of the same. Maybe you are handling it roughly, or you have dropped it sometimes.

It can even go bad if you are removing it inappropriately. The main culprit sometimes is also the connectors. If they are pushed or pulled roughly or if it goes out of the alignment, the chances of breaking these fragile parts of the sensor go up. Sensors are quite fragile, and you should take proper care of it to maintain its life for long. If you notice that this is happening when you are driving your car, especially at highway speeds, you should have your car brought to a certified mechanic to see why your car is slow to accelerate.

There are other reasons why your car could be slow to accelerate besides a bad knock sensor. Other symptoms and causes of why the knock sensor causes the car to be slow to accelerate is a bad or clogged fuel injector. Fuel injectors can be clogged due to contaminants within the fuel, and must be very precise to controlling the amount of fuel. Another reason why your car could be slow to accelerate is a defective fuel pump , like if the fuel pump stops working, malfunctioning, or becomes clogged over time.

A clogged fuel filter can prevent the car from filtering out the amount of contaminants in the fuel and restricting the amount of fuel reaching the injectors.

Another cause of the car being slow to accelerate besides the knock sensor is a leaking fuel line, dirty airflow sensor, a vacuum leak, or a failing catalytic converter, that can prevent the proper amount of air from going to the engine and powering the car.

If the computer does not recognize a sound being produced by the car, it will turn on the Check Engine light. A check engine light can also come on for other reasons, like your oxygen sensor failing, a loose fuel cap after you put gas in your tank, catalytic converter failure, spark plug and ignition coil issues, bad spark plug wires, mass air flow sensor failure, issues with an aftermarket alarm, or vacuum leak.

Since the knock sensor can cause the check engine light to turn on, the knock sensor can detect an abnormality and the computer will then turn on the light on your dashboard. How much power you lose in your car can depend on the octane limit of the engine, and how heavily it relies on the knock sensor input.

The vehicles that will lose the most power are high-compression vehicles and those that have flex-fuel engines, since the loss of power will slow the engine timing and keep the transmission out of drive.

There are many reasons why your car engine knock sensor might go bad over time. There are many reasons that can contribute to a failing or damaged knock sensor, and knowing the cause can help you figure out the main solution.

The first reason for a damaged knock sensor could be the illumination of the check Engine Light. The second cause of a bad knock sensor could be the misuse of the car — if you are handling your vehicle roughly , and causing poor acceleration and poor fuel economy, the car's performance will suffer and it can damage the knock sensor. It can even go bad if you are removing the knock sensor in the wrong way. If you push the connectors the wrong way this can cause the sensor to go out of alignment and break fragile parts.

Since the vehicle is affected in one way or the other, there are a few things that you are going to experience during your driving when the knock sensor goes bad. If this occurs, you will notice these three things in your vehicle. Once your car sees that the knock sensor is damaged or has gone bad, you will see that your vehicle's performance will suffer and the car is losing power.