Knock Sensor and mechanic
03-27-2008, 06:12 AM
#1
Knock Sensor and mechanic
So ive noticed that my fuel economy is about 300-400kmh city/highway so after reading a couple of posts on here i decided to change my knock sensor. I called a mechanic today abotu replacing it and I told him the reason was due to my poor fuel economy and he told me that the knock sensor doesnt affect fuel economy and I should more look into see if my 02 sensors are bad?
03-27-2008, 06:16 AM
#2
First of all pull your codes (search) and see if you have a ks code. I just replaced mine (10 minute job) and noticed quite an increase in mpg and performance. It feels like a completely different car under 3k rpm now. The ks determines ignition timing which is directly related to performance and mpg.
03-27-2008, 06:22 AM
#4
CEL didnt come up but my car has 150k mileage and it is a 98 so i figured i might aswell replace the knock sensor but i guess im better off to find a mechanic to test the codes for me? hmm dam it so now i have an brand new knock sensor sittin in my room for no reason lol.
03-27-2008, 06:23 AM
#5
but yes the knock sensor will affect gas mileage. i got about a 60-80 mile per tank increase after changing it.
and most mechanics want to try to remove the manifold to get to the knock sensor. including the part you are looking at over $400 for the job.
instead, get someone with small hands to reach down into the manifold valley.
and most mechanics want to try to remove the manifold to get to the knock sensor. including the part you are looking at over $400 for the job.
instead, get someone with small hands to reach down into the manifold valley.
03-27-2008, 06:44 AM
#6
KS will not turn the cel on. And manually pulling the codes is quite simple.
03-27-2008, 04:38 PM
#8
Ok so i just realized that might engine coolant is getting drained pretty fast, i filled it about a bit over a month and its already near the bottom.... could this be part of my gas mileage issue? and should i take this into the shop?
03-27-2008, 05:17 PM
#9
but yes the knock sensor will affect gas mileage. i got about a 60-80 mile per tank increase after changing it.
and most mechanics want to try to remove the manifold to get to the knock sensor. including the part you are looking at over $400 for the job.
instead, get someone with small hands to reach down into the manifold valley.
and most mechanics want to try to remove the manifold to get to the knock sensor. including the part you are looking at over $400 for the job.
instead, get someone with small hands to reach down into the manifold valley.
Read your owners manual or use the free search. You can check the codes with a small screwdriver and getting to the ECU to the right of the gas pedal. Or go to Autozone, Pepboys and they'll check the codes for free using their scanner which plugs into the port by the fuses where your knees are.
03-27-2008, 07:10 PM
#10
thats the weird thing, the needle is workign fine and usualy goes up to the mid point b/w cold and hot but my reservoir is near the bottom for the coolant :| Hmmm yea ill just take it in to a shop and get them to check the codes.
thanks alot for all your help
thanks alot for all your help
Solid advice right here.
Why throw money away on a KS if it's not needed? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Maybe so, but this really only applies to 99 CA spec maximas. Everything else is a piece of cake.
Read your owners manual or use the free search. You can check the codes with a small screwdriver and getting to the ECU to the right of the gas pedal. Or go to Autozone, Pepboys and they'll check the codes for free using their scanner which plugs into the port by the fuses where your knees are.
Not related to gas mileage. If you can't troubleshhoot/fix it, then yes take it to a shop. Whatever you do, don't let your car overheat. Keep an eye on your needle.
Why throw money away on a KS if it's not needed? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
Maybe so, but this really only applies to 99 CA spec maximas. Everything else is a piece of cake.
Read your owners manual or use the free search. You can check the codes with a small screwdriver and getting to the ECU to the right of the gas pedal. Or go to Autozone, Pepboys and they'll check the codes for free using their scanner which plugs into the port by the fuses where your knees are.
Not related to gas mileage. If you can't troubleshhoot/fix it, then yes take it to a shop. Whatever you do, don't let your car overheat. Keep an eye on your needle.
03-27-2008, 08:58 PM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,391
uggh
ok have you had any work on the car done since it came into your possession ? things like alternator replacements, throttle body removal, rad removal, water pump removal would cause coolant to leak out of the system/drained from the system....
so thats one thing...
you do know that coolant reacts to temperature and the level may go up or down depending if the car is hot or cold by as much as 5cm or so ?
if you have no leaks under the car, then its it very likely the o-rings on the water pump are leaking coolant into the engine mixing it with oil...you could have white smoke coming from the tailpipe is this is severe enough... try touching and smelling the engine oil and see if it smells different than usual
other than that i hope you just forgot to monitor the level and it has always been that way...... i dont know what coolant you are using but go to your local nissan.infiniti dealer and ask for Nissan Long Life Coolant.. expensive 4L bottle but worth every penny, then go to a grocery store and get a jug of distilled water.. mix 50/50 and refill the bottle over the max line on hot, dont worry it will be fine, watch after a day of driving and keep an eye on it... nothing to take it to the mechanic for, he will have no clue, what will he do take the block apart or take out the water pump and charge you 5 hours of labout just to tell you something else is wrong ?/?
sorry for the rant, didnt plan it
ok have you had any work on the car done since it came into your possession ? things like alternator replacements, throttle body removal, rad removal, water pump removal would cause coolant to leak out of the system/drained from the system....
so thats one thing...
you do know that coolant reacts to temperature and the level may go up or down depending if the car is hot or cold by as much as 5cm or so ?
if you have no leaks under the car, then its it very likely the o-rings on the water pump are leaking coolant into the engine mixing it with oil...you could have white smoke coming from the tailpipe is this is severe enough... try touching and smelling the engine oil and see if it smells different than usual
other than that i hope you just forgot to monitor the level and it has always been that way...... i dont know what coolant you are using but go to your local nissan.infiniti dealer and ask for Nissan Long Life Coolant.. expensive 4L bottle but worth every penny, then go to a grocery store and get a jug of distilled water.. mix 50/50 and refill the bottle over the max line on hot, dont worry it will be fine, watch after a day of driving and keep an eye on it... nothing to take it to the mechanic for, he will have no clue, what will he do take the block apart or take out the water pump and charge you 5 hours of labout just to tell you something else is wrong ?/?
sorry for the rant, didnt plan it
03-28-2008, 05:28 AM
#13
i came into possesion of the car in january and i checked the vin with nissan dealership to see if any recalls were needed and they said everythign has been fixed, and i also checked it at a mechanic before i bought the car and there was no leaks, or any other problems except a bit of rust. I did take it to mr.lube for my first oil change and i changed it to synthetic and got my fuel filters changed and some other things. The only new modification to my car is a stereo system with sub and amp. oh and mr.lube only found a bit of sweat but nothing else. Hmm my friendonly filled the coolant up to like 2/3rds of the reservoir and before he filled it when we opened the collant cover it was empty but reservoir had a bit of coolant at the bottom. And stil lno leaks or sweat and no white smoke.
thanks,
chris
thanks,
chris
uggh
ok have you had any work on the car done since it came into your possession ? things like alternator replacements, throttle body removal, rad removal, water pump removal would cause coolant to leak out of the system/drained from the system....
so thats one thing...
you do know that coolant reacts to temperature and the level may go up or down depending if the car is hot or cold by as much as 5cm or so ?
if you have no leaks under the car, then its it very likely the o-rings on the water pump are leaking coolant into the engine mixing it with oil...you could have white smoke coming from the tailpipe is this is severe enough... try touching and smelling the engine oil and see if it smells different than usual
other than that i hope you just forgot to monitor the level and it has always been that way...... i dont know what coolant you are using but go to your local nissan.infiniti dealer and ask for Nissan Long Life Coolant.. expensive 4L bottle but worth every penny, then go to a grocery store and get a jug of distilled water.. mix 50/50 and refill the bottle over the max line on hot, dont worry it will be fine, watch after a day of driving and keep an eye on it... nothing to take it to the mechanic for, he will have no clue, what will he do take the block apart or take out the water pump and charge you 5 hours of labout just to tell you something else is wrong ?/?
sorry for the rant, didnt plan it
ok have you had any work on the car done since it came into your possession ? things like alternator replacements, throttle body removal, rad removal, water pump removal would cause coolant to leak out of the system/drained from the system....
so thats one thing...
you do know that coolant reacts to temperature and the level may go up or down depending if the car is hot or cold by as much as 5cm or so ?
if you have no leaks under the car, then its it very likely the o-rings on the water pump are leaking coolant into the engine mixing it with oil...you could have white smoke coming from the tailpipe is this is severe enough... try touching and smelling the engine oil and see if it smells different than usual
other than that i hope you just forgot to monitor the level and it has always been that way...... i dont know what coolant you are using but go to your local nissan.infiniti dealer and ask for Nissan Long Life Coolant.. expensive 4L bottle but worth every penny, then go to a grocery store and get a jug of distilled water.. mix 50/50 and refill the bottle over the max line on hot, dont worry it will be fine, watch after a day of driving and keep an eye on it... nothing to take it to the mechanic for, he will have no clue, what will he do take the block apart or take out the water pump and charge you 5 hours of labout just to tell you something else is wrong ?/?
sorry for the rant, didnt plan it
03-28-2008, 08:48 AM
#15
true, but don't rely solely on the needle. I forgot that I had drained most of my coolant while working on my car once...I went to the gas station and the needle started to go up, but soon went back to cold. My guess is there wasn't enough coolant in there to give it an accurate reading.
Anwyay, if I hadn't remembered that I drained the coolant, and gone back to fill up, the needle wouldn't have showed it since there was too little in there and I would've been F'd a couple minutes down the road.
Anwyay, if I hadn't remembered that I drained the coolant, and gone back to fill up, the needle wouldn't have showed it since there was too little in there and I would've been F'd a couple minutes down the road.
03-28-2008, 03:42 PM
#16
OK so after going to the dealer and talking about coolants from what he told me:
he said just b/c the reservoir is low does not mean you have a coolant leak. He told to me only worry if it overheats, or is totally empty, starts burning, or i might need a coolant flush if in my car i feel the heat go from hot to cold.
So for now i guess i will leave it or i might just go into nissan and get a coolant flush, its about 130$ for a machine coolant flush.
he said just b/c the reservoir is low does not mean you have a coolant leak. He told to me only worry if it overheats, or is totally empty, starts burning, or i might need a coolant flush if in my car i feel the heat go from hot to cold.
So for now i guess i will leave it or i might just go into nissan and get a coolant flush, its about 130$ for a machine coolant flush.
03-28-2008, 03:53 PM
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,391
Are you in the US or canada?
i got a complete power flush for like $80 i think from canadian tire, i did bring my own nissan long life coolant, i would not use anything but that fluid in these cars
BTw if it overheats its too late, if its burning white smoke its too late...fix the problem before it gets worse is the right way to go about it
but thats the same advice i gave you, just monitor it and see if it gets lower...
i got a complete power flush for like $80 i think from canadian tire, i did bring my own nissan long life coolant, i would not use anything but that fluid in these cars
BTw if it overheats its too late, if its burning white smoke its too late...fix the problem before it gets worse is the right way to go about it
but thats the same advice i gave you, just monitor it and see if it gets lower...
03-28-2008, 04:38 PM
#18
if youve got a leak or something, why couldnt you take it somewhere and have them pressure test the system. if there is an external leak, you will definately see fliud coming from the source. if you have an internal leak, head gasket water pump, whatever, they should see on the tester that the oressure is not holding and this should send up a red flag to someone. . .
03-28-2008, 05:57 PM
#19
im in canada, toronto actually and dealership was quotin 130 for flush. I dont think i see any white smoke :| i did smell a bit of gas from the tailpipe though? what happens when it becomes to the too late point?
Hmm so i guess i shoudl fill up the reservoir again and monitor it. I'm colour blind so I dont even know if the dam coolant in my car right now is green or pink blah :|.
and dealership was quotin 130 for flush. I dont think i see any white smoke :| i did smell a bit of gas from the tailpipe though? what happens when it becomes to the too late point?Hmm so i guess i shoudl fill up the reservoir again and monitor it. I'm colour blind so I dont even know if the dam coolant in my car right now is green or pink blah :|.
Are you in the US or canada?
i got a complete power flush for like $80 i think from canadian tire, i did bring my own nissan long life coolant, i would not use anything but that fluid in these cars
BTw if it overheats its too late, if its burning white smoke its too late...fix the problem before it gets worse is the right way to go about it
but thats the same advice i gave you, just monitor it and see if it gets lower...
i got a complete power flush for like $80 i think from canadian tire, i did bring my own nissan long life coolant, i would not use anything but that fluid in these cars
BTw if it overheats its too late, if its burning white smoke its too late...fix the problem before it gets worse is the right way to go about it
but thats the same advice i gave you, just monitor it and see if it gets lower...
03-28-2008, 06:18 PM
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,391
well im in Toronto as well, were you under a different nick on torontomaxima.com beforeit went down?
anyways colour blind ay ? thats sucks man, how can you drive then >? you assume the top light is red, middle is yellow and bottom is green?
must suck, but then again - its unique !!!
anyhow; gas smell from exhaust is fine, its some gas unburnt i guess i duno im no exhaust expert, if its too late ? well if there is coolant in the oil then i think the piston rungs MAY be getting damage from that, or not i dont know... but its not good
its not the best idea to mix coolants, but it also makes no sense for you to get a flush if the coolant is leaking into the engine... i duno somehow i cant trust a pressure test, who knows if thats reliable, its a good idea to inquire about prices for those,,,, but try this, dont add anything,,, just monitor and see what happens... take a look every day or every other day at the resevoir, and go from there...
anyways colour blind ay ? thats sucks man, how can you drive then >? you assume the top light is red, middle is yellow and bottom is green?
must suck, but then again - its unique !!!
anyhow; gas smell from exhaust is fine, its some gas unburnt i guess i duno im no exhaust expert, if its too late ? well if there is coolant in the oil then i think the piston rungs MAY be getting damage from that, or not i dont know... but its not good
its not the best idea to mix coolants, but it also makes no sense for you to get a flush if the coolant is leaking into the engine... i duno somehow i cant trust a pressure test, who knows if thats reliable, its a good idea to inquire about prices for those,,,, but try this, dont add anything,,, just monitor and see what happens... take a look every day or every other day at the resevoir, and go from there...
03-28-2008, 10:47 PM
#21
ok so if reservoir doesnt go down from the low amount taht its right now till after like 2-3 months im good? is there a certain amount of time it should last till? no i went by the same nick on tmec i only got my max in jan so joined tmec around that time :P want to meet and inspect my max for me lol before i go crazy lol ?
i only got my max in jan so joined tmec around that time :P want to meet and inspect my max for me lol before i go crazy lol ? well im in Toronto as well, were you under a different nick on torontomaxima.com beforeit went down?
anyways colour blind ay ? thats sucks man, how can you drive then >? you assume the top light is red, middle is yellow and bottom is green?
must suck, but then again - its unique !!!
anyhow; gas smell from exhaust is fine, its some gas unburnt i guess i duno im no exhaust expert, if its too late ? well if there is coolant in the oil then i think the piston rungs MAY be getting damage from that, or not i dont know... but its not good
its not the best idea to mix coolants, but it also makes no sense for you to get a flush if the coolant is leaking into the engine... i duno somehow i cant trust a pressure test, who knows if thats reliable, its a good idea to inquire about prices for those,,,, but try this, dont add anything,,, just monitor and see what happens... take a look every day or every other day at the resevoir, and go from there...
anyways colour blind ay ? thats sucks man, how can you drive then >? you assume the top light is red, middle is yellow and bottom is green?
must suck, but then again - its unique !!!
anyhow; gas smell from exhaust is fine, its some gas unburnt i guess i duno im no exhaust expert, if its too late ? well if there is coolant in the oil then i think the piston rungs MAY be getting damage from that, or not i dont know... but its not good
its not the best idea to mix coolants, but it also makes no sense for you to get a flush if the coolant is leaking into the engine... i duno somehow i cant trust a pressure test, who knows if thats reliable, its a good idea to inquire about prices for those,,,, but try this, dont add anything,,, just monitor and see what happens... take a look every day or every other day at the resevoir, and go from there...
09-09-2008, 10:52 AM
#24
Newbie - Just Registered
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 2
twiztid HELP HELP
whats up guys i have a 98 maxima standard with a cold air intake and i went threw a 6 inch puddle and my intake sucked it threw the motor and stalled out. the next day i took the spark plugs out and shot some water out.put same plugs in turned it over and the oil is white. i drained the oil put new and its still the same and now its barley idealin.it souds like a type riter can somebody help me out and tell me what to do people are tellin me i threw a rod...
09-09-2008, 10:56 AM
#25
whats up guys i have a 98 maxima standard with a cold air intake and i went threw a 6 inch puddle and my intake sucked it threw the motor and stalled out. the next day i took the spark plugs out and shot some water out.put same plugs in turned it over and the oil is white. i drained the oil put new and its still the same and now its barley idealin.it souds like a type riter can somebody help me out and tell me what to do people are tellin me i threw a rod...
Oh, and use this next time rather than threadjacking.
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...e-posting.html
09-09-2008, 11:06 AM
#26
Sounds like you hydrolocked your engine..
Oh, and use this next time rather than threadjacking.
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...e-posting.html
Oh, and use this next time rather than threadjacking.
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...e-posting.html
It might be too little, too late!twiztid twiztid is online now
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