danutt 4 Report post Posted June 22, 2010 the car is an e36 325i vanos lately i have noticed flat spots in power and at times its a noticable amount slower than it normaly goes had it scanned and the knock sensor came up as a fault this as far as i know tells the ecu when to retard or advance timing how much are these lil buggers??easy to replace?? cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BM WORLD 1283 Report post Posted June 22, 2010 what fuel do you use ?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danutt 4 Report post Posted June 22, 2010 tried full tank of 96 then of 98 and no difference its not to do with the fuel grade i only use the good stuff and the fact that a fault code listed the knock sensor as a problem says it all cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted June 22, 2010 tried full tank of 96 then of 98 and no difference its not to do with the fuel grade i only use the good stuff and the fact that a fault code listed the knock sensor as a problem says it all cheers The knock sensor fault code may not be the problem. The error code may come up as the result of something else and may not actually be the fault. Is the fault code an active fault or a stored fault ? The vehicle must be driven and the live data checked. It may be running too lean because of an air leak or faulty air mass sensor reading out of scale which will not generate a fault code for the sensor. Error codes don't always mean that the fault is actually the sensor, you quite often get codes which are the result of something else. Who checked it for you and what scanner did they use ? Did they drive it with the scanner hooked up to read live data ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danutt 4 Report post Posted June 23, 2010 did a little bit of research and a dirty mass airflow sensor can cause some of the symtoms i was experiencing if not all took airflow sensor off and bathed it in cleaning alchohol (safe for electronics) then used an earbud and alchohol to clean a bit more and left to dry for an hour walla....beautiful! car goes waaaay better...no stuttering no pinging no hesitation and when it kicks down it really reacts like it should highly recommend this $15 airflow sensor cleaning process, it may even give back some lost ponies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BM WORLD 1283 Report post Posted June 23, 2010 do you have a pod type or k&m panel type filter , as these let a fair amount of dirt through which stuffs up afm's Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danutt 4 Report post Posted June 23, 2010 yea it has the k&n panel filter bud had it since i bought the car and its still in good condition ill just wash the maf and filter at the same time every few months Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*Glenn* 854 Report post Posted June 23, 2010 Don't use oil on the K&N filter. Clean it & fit it dry. Just clean it more often Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danutt 4 Report post Posted June 23, 2010 yea never have haha all good thanx mate got a black e36 cupe left door card for around $50 bux? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites