OK, I know pretty much everything about a knock sensor, except I don't know if I should change it or not.

My car is a 99 SE 5-spd. It has 77k miles and the KS has never been changed. Do you think it'll give soon? Should I just as well replace it? I notice that when accelerating hard, after about 4.5k rpm the car doesn't accelerate all that well...or at least as well as it used to back in the day.

So, do you think that changing the KS at 77k miles will make a huge impact and improve performance by a lot?

Thanks

 

Check your codes, a bad knock sensor will not trigger a check engine light... if not just keep her the way she is...

After you check the codes, give her a nice tune up

 

If this was true, you would know when to change it.

 

yeah, maybe you're right

 

wait im confused and a newb....if a bad knock sensor will not trigger the check engine light then what is worng with my car cause the engine light is on and it gives me 0304 code.

 

Don't fix something that ain't broke

 

can some1 help me out please

 

Just reset the ECU & your check engine light should go away. I recently did mines & I got 3 trouble code. One of them was the Knock Sensor trouble code. I resetted the ECU & the trouble code went away.

 

yeah , 0304 is the knock sensor code.. I am going to replace mine today... Ive noticed that by acceleration and gas mileage was horrinble... Hopefully this will change today

 

0304 might mean that your car has knock/ping as well.... it does not always mean that your KS is bad.

 

so is there anything i can do to figure out what it is...cause i was quite postive it was my knock sensor and i was planning on getting it fixed cause my acceleration is slow but since u guys said that a bad knock sensor doesnt trigger the check engine light im kinda confused on what my problems...would my best bet be to go to a shop and have them take a look at it. Thanks for your help

 

Knock sensors on maximas generally get 'over sensitive' and retard the timing all the time. This is the reason they don't throw a trouble code. They are just doing what they are supposed to do... just too often.

I noticed the fuel mileage dropping a couple or so mpg and a hesitation and drop in power... especially at lower engine speeds. (around 2k-2.5k rpm) It was also downshifting out of OD on some of the steeper hills around here... where it didn't use to. It wasn't ALL that obvious, but adding a new knock sensor woke it right up.

You'll need a 12mm swivel socket (not just a regluar socket on a swivel extension) and a long extension to remove the old one. It also helps to have someone with small hands get the new one started.

Good Luck!

 

is there a way to get rid of engine knock or ping?

 

change your ail/fuel ratio.....

 

That is not true.

 

Resetting the codes doesn't mean that you've fixed the problem.