It always seems to happen when Aircraft-Engineer is out of town! My Dragon threw a CEL today in Phoenix. It's hotter than heck, over 100 today, and on came the CEL. Fortunately, it was PO 325, the knock sensor code.

 

Dragon hasn't been rattling and knocking, and I just filled up yesterday. The MPG was 25.1 in city driving with the A/C on. Gas cap is tight, and just changed the fuel filter before leaving Seattle in March.

 

I know there's a knock sensor thread with repair instructions here, but here's what I need to know. I have limited use of both hands/arms, and I cannot get enough hand strength to loosen lug nuts without a lot of hard straining. Is this a job my hands literally and physically, strength-wise, won't/can't do? I can get a new OEM part, but I'd like some opinions if I could actually do the work myself.

 

If not, what's a fair price to pay a shop? Should this be done only by a dealer? Aircraft-engineer won't even be able to come to AZ until the second week of June, if I have to wait for him to do it. If I drive my car with the bad sensor (or wiring, I haven't checked to see if that's the real problem, yet), what's the worst which will happen?

 

TIA, (I'm melting!) four-fleet-feet

I have limited use of both hands/arms, and I cannot get enough hand strength to loosen lug nuts without a lot of hard straining. Is this a job my hands literally and physically, strength-wise, won't/can't do? I can get a new OEM part, but I'd like some opinions if I could actually do the work myself.[...]

The torque for the knock sensor mounting bolt is about 1/5 that of lug nuts, so that probably won't be a problem. The issue might be whether you have the right wrench extensions, etc., to easily get to the sensor.

 

 

Should this be done only by a dealer?[...]

Not necessarily; as long as the surfaces are properly cleaned and the bolt correctly torqued, any decent mechanic should be able to do it.

Doesn't really matter if you get it DONE at a dealer, but make sure you get the new one from the dealer, as the aftermarket ones are crap. It's a pretty easy job (One bolt and a connector) but it's kind of hard to get to, adn it can be pretty tricky to get the new one in there, I'd take it to the Subie dealer, for the extra $ for labor (Not sure what shop rate is there, here it's $85, and the knock sensor is a 1/2 hour job) it's worth it to not have to muck with it.

Found a sensor at the nearest dealer (21 miles away in Arizona IS near).

 

It was 110 yesterday, even worse than I thought. Strange thing: this morning, after driving through a construction zone, I parked and went into Albertson's. Light was on when I parked. Light was on everywhere I went yesterday, even after stopping/turning Dragon off at several stores until I found a store with an OBDII which fit. (Auto Zone - don't bother with Checker in Phoenix if you drive a Subie, 3 Checkers and none had it - 'we got Ford and Chevy, ma'am, maybe Nissan, Toyota, and Honda - Subaru, never heard of 'em, is that a new car?' After I told him it was a 97??? )

 

Light wasn't on when I started back up at Albertson's - a 20 minute shopping trip max. It's already near 100 and it isn't even noon yet. Drove about 12 miles back to Mom's and the light didn't come back on.

 

Anyone ever had this happen in extreme heat? Does this point to the sensor, or the wiring? I'm not sure what I should be looking for if it's the wiring connectors, save that they're clean - any points along that area would be appreciated.