Hi,

I was replacing my knock sensor and pulled a little too hard when trying to disconnect the sensor from the connector and the male end of the connector disconnected from it's wire (see attached).  It's in a tight spot to solder the wire back to the connector.  Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

Knock sensors usually go bad on these cars.   I picked one up cheap from ebay...works great.   I would just go ahead and get a new one.

 

Tom

Knock sensors usually go bad on these cars.   I picked one up cheap from ebay...works great.   I would just go ahead and get a new one.

 

Tom

That's the engine-side connector, not sensor-side which can easily be removed by sticking a pick or very small flathead in gently pulling if you press on the locking tab.

 

 

You'll have to get creative as the wire is just barely long enough to connect. If it were me, I'd try and get the metal connectors out of the plastic housing and recrimp them to fresh wire. Other option would be to cut the wiring from a donor (same year) and solder that into yours. Get some heat shrink tubing and be sure it seals a good 1/2" beyond. Then maybe electrical tape the entire wire(s) for added strength and moisture resistance.

if it's an older car, might be the last knock sensor it ever gets - I might cut the other conn off, prep all 4 wire ends, crimp butt splices on, pack them in dielectric grease and wrap in tape.

 

EDIT; wait, if it's a stylle of knock sensor that has its connector molded on - no pigtail, might need to visit a junkyard and do as suggested, solder and shrink-tube the connector onto your harness. Keep the new length as short as possible - I think KS signal might be confused if a lot of electrical noise gets on the wiring.

Edited October 8, 201510 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

You can solder in a clean stretch of wire, but I'd at LEAST heat shrink it. I know O2 sensor wire on some cars is extremely sensitive (like my Saab 9-3) where even moisture on the wire can skew the readings. Tape over a hot engine will become a mess and won't hold in the long run. 

 

You can solder in a clean stretch of wire, but I'd at LEAST heat shrink it. I know O2 sensor wire on some cars is extremely sensitive (like my Saab 9-3) where even moisture on the wire can skew the readings. Tape over a hot engine will become a mess and won't hold in the long run.

knock sensors aren't quite as sensitive as 02 sensors, they have a lot less control of the engine. I've spliced them together before and had it work fine. Good 3m electrical tape helps a ton