replacing a knock sensor

[Cirus_93TSI]

the jdm engine i bought is finally in my car. i left work today, hopped in it and started it up. runs fine, but after a few minutes the CEL came on. so i plug my logger up to check the code and its the knock sensor.

i just want to know how to put in a new knock sensor in the car. i used the search but all i turned up wa dozens of threads about tuning and such. how hard it is to do doesnt really concern me, my friend is a skilled mechanic so labor isnt a problem, and a knock sensor is cheap enough.

im mostly truing to find out where its located, cause i saw a thread about someone disconnecting and recrimping the wire or something to see if it was just a bad connection to the sensor, or a bad sensor. i figure this would be a good idea to do before i start pulling things apart that just got put back together.
so if anyone can enlighten me as to where the sensor is and how i would go about doing this i would appriciate it. or if someone would tell me how to change the sensor that would also be appriciated. cause if it can be changed in less then 7 hours then it can be done in a day while installing my fluidyne at the same time

also, is it safe to drive my car to and from work? its still set on a low boost level from when the old engine had a blown head gasket, and im not planning on running it real hard, so im pretty confident im not getting an unsafe ammount of knock that isnt getting seen.

any help or input is greatly appriciated
thanks in advance, Brian

 

[gsx_tuner]

If the knock sensor doesn't detect knock, it won't retard the timing, that is all it does. It is located in a hard to reach spot, underneath the intake, screwed into the block itself. There is a wire that is in it, but it could have came out. I think it's some kind of gel or putty that keeps the wire in there. It is the size of a big stubby bolt, and it is gold. I bought mine for 40 bucks, so they are kinda cheap. You will have to move the hoses out of the way to prolly see it, it would be better to get to it from the side that has the timing belt. (or I could have just said driver's side) Let me know if you find it. Good luck, -Ross

 

[Cirus_93TSI]

my logger reads a timing advance of 7 at idle, when i get moving and on the gas it quickly goes up to 34 and stays around there. but im on about 13 psi, as low as my gate will go, so it shouldnt be a problem. but i thin there is some unseen knock and the timing sholdnt be advanced that much so im driving like grandma

me and my mechanic friend looked at it a little while ago, but it was pretty dark, so ill look at it again tomarrow morning. the shop that put the engine in did a shitty half assed job(for example, they told me my fluidyne wouldnt fit, put my stock radiator in crooked so the bottom isnt in the core support at all, and left the radiator fan unhooked), and all my emmisions crap has long been gone, so we can see most of the back of the block.
we have never done a knock sensor on a dsm, we used to do only hondas and my mechanic friend just recently bought his dsm. so we kinda know what were looking for but not really.
we did see a circular piece attacthed to the block, under the intake mani, right about in the center of the block. it didnt have any wires comming from it, it didnt look like it was hooked to anything but the block

would this be the knock sensor? like i said, it was pretty dark but it not having any wires comming from it would explain the problem if thats it

 

[jra4e]

that should be it, i bet the shop that installed the engine accidently ripped the wire out, but mine is in the center of the block, maybe 6-8 (guessitmating) inches down from the intake mani

 

[Cirus_93TSI]

i got a better look at it this morning, and there are 2 things i can see on the back of the block. neither have any wires comming from them.
1 is in in about the middle of the block from the drivers side to the passanger, its round and looks to be about the size of a silver dollar, give or take. it has some kind of plastic/rubber piece on it, to me it looks like it might have had a wire connected to it
there is something else that is a little higher on the block and a little more toward the drivers side, it has some sort of metal piece somewhat surrounding it, its hard to see exactly. its smaller and looks bronze colored

i dotn know exactly what im looking for, so i dont know which one it is. do you know where the wire thats supposed to connect to the sensor comes from? because id rather find it then have to re-wire the knock sensor to my ecu.

thanks for all your help

 

[purplehazetsi]

your knock sensor is under ur intake manifold. you might need the same tool to take it out as the o2 sensor... good luck

 

[Cirus_93TSI]

ok, having estiblished where my knock sensor is, where should the wire that hooks into it be comming from?
cause like i said, i would much rather try and find the wire and hook it up then rerun the wire to the ecu