05 Maxx

I just got this check engine light recently and when I had it scanned at Autozone it came up with this code. I have only had the car for a month so I am not too familiar with everything under the hood. It's only a $10 part, but it's too cold to be out working on the car for any length of time right now.

Exactly where is it located and how time consuming is it to change? I forgot to mention it is a 3.5 liter. It seems to be running fine, so I may just try to run some better gas in it next time to see if that helps.

Thanks in advance.

irdaneel

Can't tell you where it's at or how long, but if your MIL is on, it's not because of the gas. The sensor will likely need replaced, and the codes cleared.

OnDaGround

It is because of the gas. If your car says to put in 93 octane and you are putting in 87 you may eventually mess your car up. Using 87 octane will cause your car to run like crap, and cause knock.

This is a good quote from wiki explaining what knock is (well its better then what I was going to say for someone who is new to DIY)--

"Knocking (also called knock, detonation or spark knock, pinking in UK English or pinging in US English) in spark-ignition internal combustion engines occurs when combustion of the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder starts off correctly in response to ignition by the spark plug, but one or more pockets of air/fuel mixture explode outside the envelope of the normal combustion front."

In other words this cause pre-detonation... shortest terms; engine go bye bye.

Here is the rest of the wiki link if you want to learn something.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_knocking

OnDaGround

you can actually test the knock sensor. test the ohms. You need to know what it should be reading. If it were me personally, I would replace the sensor if its only ten bucks, but I would also put the proper fuel in. Is the car running funny or is it just the light?