Hello,

this will be my first attempt in 6 mo of ownership to repair anything under the hood,... save me at least $300 CDN, hopefully.

What tool/wrench/etc should i purchase to change KS... some have said to remove the entire assembly and not stick my hand in between intake etc... is that what others would recommend? If so, what tool do i need then?

Will check to see if i can find any KS on ebay.ca - dont wanna pay duties if buying from .com

thanks in advance, and any other advice for a newbie taking on new and exciting challenges?

 

KS isn't really that bad. Just carefully read the stickies and if you have slender/small hands it shouldn't be too bad. Patience and band-aids.

I have meaty paws and I got it done with minimal blood but saved big $$$.

 

regular ratchet. 1' long extension, and universal head . . . the attachment with the swivel head (I cant think of the same for some reason).

I had that and got the KS done in record time my first try. shouldnt take you more than 10mins.

 

I have small hands so all I needed was a ratchet with a 12mm socket. I did have to use a bar just as some leverage when loosening the bolt because there wasn't enough room to break it free with my hands but that was it. It took me about 10 minutes as well.

If I were you I'd try to reach down in there and feel the bolt with my hand just to see if you have small enough hands to do it without extensions. Make sure that the motor's not too hot either

 

12mm (or is it 14? the stickies should say) shallow socket, u-joint (preferably, if you can, find the socket size you need with a u-joint affixed to it, and atleast 1' of extensions.

Now, getting it loose is the easy part. you can fish in the extension with the u-joint + socket and get it seated pretty easily, having someone shine a light in there so you can see what you're doing. In my case, the u-joint setup only worked with the extensions angled up AS FAR AS POSSIBLE up towards the intake, getting it as upright as possible (which is still probably less then 45* or so from horizontal.)

Once you have it seated properly, just turn it as quickly and hard as possible to break it loose. If you're lucky like me, you will have an assistant with tiny hands who can then go in and unthread it by hand, and hand thread the new one, and tighten in the same manner.

For me, it took ~ 10 minutes total (most of the time was figuring out how to get it loosened.)

 

have bandaids on stand by! I agree with the others...if you have small hands, stuff your hand down there with a 1/4" racket with a 12m socket and go to town. And yes, make sure the motor is cool!

 

wear nitrile glove on the hand which will get into the death valley. use a 12 mm WRENCH where you can also angle lock the other end with another wrench. it's a little crafty to do, but you can definitely manage it without taking out the manifold and stuff..

 

Well I must have small hands then, or maybe I'm just really skilled, because I can do it without having to use extensions or without dropping bolts and wot not. If you want to drive to Illinois I'll do it for 5 dolla

 

Thanks a lot for all the help... on my way to Canadian Tire, maybe even find a K&N air filter there... on a simlar topic, any highly recommend using the KN oil filter?

thanks again guys

 

the hardest part for me was getting the bolt through the ks and on the place it mounts... I couldn't get my hand down there and see what I was doing at the same time, so I duct taped the ks and the bolt to the socket, not to tight though, and that worked fine. After I stuffed my hand in there to get the duct tape and cut it pretty good lol

 

So... whre did you get the KS finally?

 

I used the extension method.. had the knock sensor out in about 20mins and not a single cut as theres no need to stick your hand in there

I used this setup of extensions:
1/2 socketdrive + 1/2to3/8 + 10"3/8 extension + 3/8to1/4 + 1/4 swivel + 1/4 12mm



I found the grabber tool the easier way to position the bolt and knocksensor apon replacement. You will still need a magent pickup tool incase you drop th e bolt in an awkward spot like I did in a bit of a valley.