ECMlink Part throttle knock

[ishnish]

Hey guys I just did my first two logs on 3rd gear pulls. Well it just so happened that at part throttle around 2400 rpm, I got 95* of knock (at the most). I'm new to all of this but I'm sure that can't be good. What exactly should I do? Should this be dealt in the same way as WOT knock? Do I just pull a degree or two of timing? I've attached both logs if anyone wants to take a look. Sorry if it may be hard to find but I'm not sure how to condense them. My second pull wasn't as bad as my first. Anyways, on log 1, the point of interest is around 155 seconds. I also had some knock at WOT throttle in Log 2 around 71 seconds. I pulled some degrees of timing on that one since it was WOT. Can I do the same with the part throttle knock as well?

I posted this on ECMLink forums but so far haven't had any help.

 

[snowborder714]

That'd be phantom knock. Go to the knock tab in ECU Config and change the RPM to 2600+ and the TPS to 25%+.

 

[ishnish]

Thanks Brian! What does changing those settings do exactly?

Are you referring to the ALS/Knck tab and where it says Knock Sensor control, I change the "Activate with RPM>=" value to 2600 (currently 2200) and "And TPS>=" value to 25% (currently 0%)?

 

[snowborder714]

Just controls how low on those two variables the ECU monitors the knock sensor signal.

 

[ishnish]

Isn't that more of a temporary fix? Or something to just cover up the problem?

Also, idk if this may help, but I think that sometimes when I get little spikes of knock (or large ones), it may be because of the surface I'm driving on. For example, sometimes when I drive on a bumpy road surface, I tend to get a bit of knock. Other times, it's normal. Idk if this info might help but it was just something I thought I'd share.

 

[snowborder714]

It's covering up the problem, but there really isn't a major problem you're covering up.

Never heard of non-smooth driving surfaces causing knock.

 

[turboglenn]

Isn't that more of a temporary fix? Or something to just cover up the problem?

Also, idk if this may help, but I think that sometimes when I get little spikes of knock (or large ones), it may be because of the surface I'm driving on. For example, sometimes when I drive on a bumpy road surface, I tend to get a bit of knock. Other times, it's normal. Idk if this info might help but it was just something I thought I'd share.

It's not really a problem is what it comes down to. the sounds the KS is picking up are harmless noises that come alone with simply changing the dynamic o the engines operating parameters from OEM. AS well as extra nises from wear and the changes in frequency that the block commonly resonates at due to aftermarket upgrades, increases in hp, and again wear.. Something as simple as the piston bore size changing from say boring .040 over can make enough changes in the engines sounds to give off false knock readings when the engine is infact running smoothly at a steady and moderate RPM and load

the stock KS is not only over reactive but is set to tune into a set frequency that the mitsu engineers determined based on the engine in it's stock configuration, as soon as we start modding the thing the knock sensor is slowly "going blind" (or deaf would be more fitting)... I chose to run wihtout any knock monitoring system atall for many years and did so succesfully and without engine failure (yet i'm sure the OEM KS would have been screaming at me the entire time and forcing me to dull down my tune (had i chose to have one and listen to it )

Now i run a J&S safegaurd knock sensing system and even that can be purposely fooled into thinking there's knock and i've had it cutom tweaked to fit my engine in particular based on boreand stroke as well as some other stuff that's beyond my comprehension but is what the guy at J&S eats and sleeps... YET,, I can cycle the ACpump on and off in a parking lot with my sensitivity set too low and make the car pull 10* of timing on all 4 cylinders just from noises that arenm't even coming fromthe engine internals. (the J&S is an individual cylinder monitoring setup and pulls timing from only the cylinders it senses knocking). suspnsionsand bad subframe bushings can play hell on a KS as well

Point is, the KS is something to take with a grain of salt.. it's more of something that you look to "behave differently than normal" before making a judgement call based on it's readings/output.. if you're 1/3rd thorttle uphill with low timing on E85 and a very safe CRUISING AFR and it's knocking everytime then it's probably piston wear, maybe even a bad wheel bearing, but it's not damaging the engine.. if it's always quiet then all the sudden goes crazy during an even that it would ignore 99% of the time THEN there's some reason to investigate what is going on

hope that helps clear that up a bit

 

[ishnish]

Thanks for all the info turboglenn. So then I'm guessing, from my graphs, it's probably picking up some noise and such that's causing the knock. What would be considered "crazy" knock? Cause on my first log everything was going smooth at 0 knock until at 147 seconds, it spiked up to 8.1* knock and then 9.8* knock 7 seconds later. Would that be something I should investigate? Today that knock wasn't as bad cause I got 0.7* knock at most while cruising.

 

[turboglenn]

I get the imcompatible file version when trying to view your logs, one of us has an older version of ECMlink on the PC (probably me i'd guess since i only have it for looking at other people's logs)

ANyway, if i could see them i'd comment more directly but iu'm guessing if it's at cruising and low RPM that there's something taking place like maybe an AC compressor cycling, suspension noise or something else. If it's under load and boost then i'd be more inclined to investigate the tune and then the hardware if the tune is good or changes to it have no effect on the knock

sorry i can't help, but i don't know how to upgrade my ECMlink version since i've downloaded it several times and still get this error on some people's logs

 

[snowborder714]

Download this and install.
http://www.ecmtuning.com/downloads/prerelease/setup_3_24_153_update.exe

 

[turboglenn]

Thank you sir!

 

[ishnish]

Thanks for the advice turboglenn. If you still can't figure out how to install it or something keeps going wrong, I'll try helping out. I had the same issue as well.

Well I'm gonna go change the settings that snowborder suggested. Hopefully this does help.

Now if I get 0.4-0.7* knock at WOT, is this something I should be concerned about? I got it for less than a second at about 6900 rpm.

UPDATE: Well I changed the settings but haven't had a time to log or stream yet. Now after these changes, will my graphs just not read any knock until above 2600 rpm? will it still show on the graph before 2600? And what does the TPS % change do? Sorry for all the questions guys.