Hello, on my way back from work my check engine light came on and when I got home I scanned the car and got the fault codes P0324 and P0325. I looked the codes up and they brought up Engine Knock sensor. The engine does make a clicking or as I read a pinging sound whenever the car accelerates. After the engine light came on the car has noticeably had less power when accelerating. I don’t know if it helps, but last week I had a small exhaust leak on my flex pipe and I had that fixed hoping it would stop this clicking noise, it did not and now I know it’s not that at least. The car has 28,000 miles and I’ve Driven it for 1 year putting 5,000 miles on it.
Replace the knock sensor and both codes will likely go away. Make sure the wiring to the knock sensor has not been damaged or the connector fouled in any way.
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Is that really it though? I’ve read that the noise I hear is because of the gas igniting instead of running smoothly, is that related?
Yes it is related. That ping you hear is spark knock or detonation. Like B-Bs in a can.
The knock sensor detects that noise mostly before you hear it and backs of the spark advance killing your power. Or it knocks the spark back a LOT really killing your power.
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Uneven detonation of the incoming gas/air mixture is one way of describing spark knock, which is destructive to the engine if it is not quickly remedied.
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Okay thank you guys, I won’t be able to do anything until Thursday. I will post back the results when it’s fixed.
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I just thought about this, I had the noise and questionable acceleration before my check engine light and spark knock codes came on. Does that mean it was going bad or just another issue? I understand I asked a similar question earlier. And, it’s recommended that I use regular fuel, I’ve read that using a higher grade fuel can prevent pre-ignition in the engine. Should I be doing that from now on, or would that be like putting a band-aid on a bigger issue? Thank you.
It’s true that higher octane gas will reduce or possibly eliminate the tendency for spark knock, but it’s also true that this is essentially a band-aid for an issue that needs to be repaired.
If your chest x-ray showed a tumor, would touching-up the x-ray eliminate the tumor?
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If timing and everything else is set up as it should be, mid grade/premium fuel is the next step. Years ago I had a Pontiac that needed mid grade to keep from knocking but I didn’t go there until I was sure everything else was as it should be. Get your timing issue settled first.
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Hey guys i’m back. I took my car to the mechanic and he said that Spark Knock Sensors generally don’t go out and that if anything it’s the connection that goes to it that goes out. Also he said that the sound it’s making is internal in the engine and the sensor isn’t able to correct that and suggested I should take it to the dealer to have it looked at. I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow afternoon.
Now to my point: So I think he erased my codes for the spark knock issue, and since then I haven’t had the noise associated with the spark knock and I haven’t had the codes after driving and scanning it. ( I’ve driven it trying to produce the same sound and code for the past 2 days ) My question here is why isn’t this pre-ignition problem consistent? Why isn’t it always happening? Is it just some weird compression issue? Meaning I actually just do need the midgrade fuel?