how to tell if you knock sensor is working

[brandons 95]

is there any way to tell if your knock sensor is working without any type of data logger or dsm link

 

[92rsawd]

there was a post on this site somewhere of how to make your cruise light show you when your knock sensor reads. I may be wrong. it could have been the club dsm page. it's been a long time since i've read it.

 

[injector]

why do you think your cracnk sensor is bad? are you getting intermittent power loss under 50%+ throttle? if you are it could be the cam or crank sensor, if the sensor is completly gone the car wouldn't start, this happened to me but it was the cam sensor, first i started getting intermittent power loss then my iac went bad wich fried my ecu, replaced the iac and ecu and i still had that problem with a code 11 "intermitent signal from ckp or cmp sensor" changed the sensor and the problem went away then it came back when the pins in the harness got dirty, replaced the harness and the problem went away completly, the easiest way to check is friend a friend or someone with a scanner and take them for a ride while you or someone else reads the scanner if the sensor is bad it'll tell you wich one is bad.

 

[katz]

Hook up a timing light and tap the back of the intake manifold very softly with a hammer. If you see the timing move, the knock sensor works.

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

The only way to really test it is with an oscilloscope. The easiest method would probably be to log a run and check for dips in your timing curve, but for that you would need a logger. For me, though, a logger would be far easier to come by than an oscilloscope. You could remove it, though, and check to see the condition of it. If it is obviously damaged or covered in disgusting gunk, your probably going to want to replace it. It's not hard to get to so that would be another option. Be careful when your putting it in that you torque it correctly. If not you may receive false knock readings. Good luck.