Hi,

I'm a new member. My wife and I have two atching OBWs. Mine is a 97 and hers is a 99.

Lately the check engine light came on and the code was for the knock sensor. Then the light goes off and days later it comes back on. Is really the sensor or what?

EJR

Go ahead and replace it. It takes about 5 minutes. On my 96 OBW (2.2l) it is just under the throttle, right of where air enters the engine. You will need a 10 inch socket extention. Make sure you spray it down with some WD-40 or something to get it loose. The part costs about $40 at Autozone.

I replaced the knock sensor this past Monday. The light turned on the day before and it was already off before I read the code from the memory. I believe that cam, crank, coolant temp., and knock sensors all fail because of a cracked solder joint between a terminal pin and a connecting wire inside, and that's why the problem is intermittent. Overall, I had trouble codes for 3 out of 4 those sensors (except for crank, which was replaced anyway together with the cam sensor).

Hi,

I'm a new member. My wife and I have two atching OBWs. Mine is a 97 and hers is a 99.

Lately the check engine light came on and the code was for the knock sensor. Then the light goes off and days later it comes back on. Is really the sensor or what?

EJR

 

A friend of mine had these same symptoms with his '96 EJ22 Legacy. He replaced the sensor, car runs a bit smoother under acceleration and no more CEL. I wouldn't rule out the sensor, in fact I agree, replace it.

 

-Heikki

Replace it. The housing is probably cracked, causing the sensor to return some garbage signals, which makes the ECU switch on the CEL.

I had the same thing happen to me, would go on and off after a few hundred miles. I have a 96 Subaru Legacy Wgn with 140000 mile on it. Finally the light stayed on long enough for me to get a reading at a local station and it was the knock sensor. Apparently a common problem with Subies. Unfortunately where I live in CT they flunk you at emissions if the light is on.

Hi,

I'm a new member. My wife and I have two atching OBWs. Mine is a 97 and hers is a 99.

Lately the check engine light came on and the code was for the knock sensor. Then the light goes off and days later it comes back on. Is really the sensor or what?

EJR

Unfortunately where I live in CT they flunk you at emissions if the light is on.

 

 

That sucks and really isn't fair.