Knock sensor fault P0328

[LukeLuke]

Hi everyone, long time lurker first time poster, because I need everyones expert opinions.

Car: 2003 Nissan Skyline 350GT Manual, roughly 150k km's

Storytime:
When i first bought this car it used to bring up the parkbrake light followed by the slip light and the VDC light, turns out it was a connector in the coil harness.
I also replaced the coils (with splitfires from kudos), spark plugs, both o2 sensors in the exhaust, engine oil with flush and cleaned the VVT solenoids.
Car ran fine for 6 months, drove it everyday. Then the same lights started coming on basically everytime i drove it, but it ran perfectly fine. Drove it like that for probably 6 months everyday.

I got a work car and the 350gt sat in my garage for 12 months.
I didn't realise how long it had been, went to move the car, started it with a jumper pack and took it for a small test drive, it ran like crap, hesitating and just having no power. I soon realised it needed new fuel in it.
I have since replaced the 2 cam angle sensors and the crank angle sensor, drained the fuel, put fresh 98 in it, drained and replaced engine oil.
Took it for a test drive and HOORAY, no lights on the dash anymore! But unfortunately...it still keeps retarding timing and has no power where it used to. I have let it idle, drove around very slowly to let the new fuel filter through and it's still the same.
I pulled all the spark plugs and they look pretty good, all the same, just a bit of orange on them.

I have used my Nissan Data Scan app and I am getting a knock sensor error P0328 KNOCK SEN/CIRC-B!. I have ordered a cheap knock sensor from eBay but I would like to hear what everyone has to say, I can't hear anything obvious coming from the engine, but it's always been kinda "ticky" sounding from what I remember.

I also get 2 other codes intermittently. P0011 INT/V TIM CONT-B1 and P0021 INT/V TIM CONT-B2

Any input is welcome, I'm not looking forward to digging out the knock sensor, so maybe there is something else to try first.
I also recorded a log when I was doing my short most recent test drive, I have attached it.

Thanks in advance guys!

NDSII20200531_120933[1].log

[sonicii]

you can bypass the knock sensor with a resistor as a test.  But you would want to make sure the engine and electronics are otherwise healthy.  Engine shouldn't knock if all is working well.  Knock sensor is only there as a last resort protection and isn't used if all is otherwise ok.

As for the other cam timing codes, I'm not sure, but maybe check ground points on the engine and in the engine bay.

[The Max]

22 hours ago, LukeLuke said:

I also get 2 other codes intermittently. P0011 INT/V TIM CONT-B1 and P0021 INT/V TIM CONT-B2

It could well be the root cause of your fault and the knock sensor is reading legitimate pings. Start simple, as sonicii suggested, checking the knock sensor and all your ground points because the chances of both cam sensors going intermittently bad at the same time seems a bit odd to me.

[LukeLuke]

32 minutes ago, sonicii said:

you can bypass the knock sensor with a resistor as a test. 

Appreciate the reply, would you be able to tell me a bit more about what this process involves? I know where the harness goes to etc, just not sure about the resistor part.

17 minutes ago, The Max said:

It could well be the root cause of your fault and the knock sensor is reading legitimate pings. Start simple, as sonicii suggested, checking the knock sensor and all your ground points because the chances of both cam sensors going intermittently bad at the same time seems a bit odd to me.

Thanks! I am reluctant to think it is actually knocking, only because it never had that problem before it sat for a year, unless I did permanent damage to it during my 5min test drive with bad fuel?

I'm definitely going to be checking all the earths that I can find, that makes sense to me. I appreciate the help guys, let me know if you think of anything else.

[GTSBoy]

2 hours ago, LukeLuke said:

Appreciate the reply, would you be able to tell me a bit more about what this process involves? I know where the harness goes to etc, just not sure about the resistor part

Resistor in place of sensor. 470 kOhm, IIRC.

[sonicii]

^^  probably this, I would just google it as I haven't done it on this car before, it just needs to be a value the ECU will see as a healthy knock sensor, if you just unplug it, the ECU will notice that and permanently retard the timing.

Unplug the sensor and fit the resistor between the 2 pins on the ECU side of the wiring.

NOTE - if your car really is knocking, this removes the ability of the ECU to compensate and may cause engine damage..!!

[LukeLuke]

OK guys, the plot thickens, so because I had already ordered the knock sensor, I have decided to go ahead and fit the new one rather than try the resistor. I am pulling it apart and im noticing quite a bit of oil in the plenum. I have attached some photos. I've also noticed as I've taken the lower plenum off that number 5 intake is a lot worse than the rest. Also attached a photo of this.

I've ordered a new PCV Valve and I will clean out the tube for it, but is there anything else that might cause oil to be in the intake plenum?

[LukeLuke]

Holy S#%T, so I assume this is the problem...looks like mice have stolen some heat shield off my firewall and made a nest in my engine block, while they were there it looks like they have chewed up the knock sensor harness... is that what it looks like to you guys?? Crazy..

Edited June 8, 2020 by LukeLuke
Reformatting

[GTSBoy]

Well. Yeah.

 

Also, on the topic of what causes oil in the intake tract other than bad PCV valves, the causes include bad turbo seals and f**ked engines.

As an extension, causes of actual knocking include oil in the intake tract.

[The Max]

Yep, that's one seriously roasted knock sensor cable.

[sonicii]

Knock sensor wiring certainly needs to be sorted.  The flexible plastic sheath has probably just broken down due to the heat in that area.

Oil you are seeing is normal, remember the PCV sucks oil vapor from the crank case into the intake manifold, so some does settle and build up after a while, nothing to worry about there.  If you are really worried, once you have cleaned it all up, install a catch can.

[LukeLuke]

1 hour ago, sonicii said:

Knock sensor wiring certainly needs to be sorted.  The flexible plastic sheath has probably just broken down due to the heat in that area.

Oil you are seeing is normal, remember the PCV sucks oil vapor from the crank case into the intake manifold, so some does settle and build up after a while, nothing to worry about there.  If you are really worried, once you have cleaned it all up, install a catch can.

Thanks for the reassurance. I just have seen some videos of peoples plenums and they are pretty clean, but hopefully as you say, nothing to worry about. The sheath and wiring has definitely been chewed on, there was also a bunch of gross stuff I had to clean out of the valley of my engine, bur nice and clean now.

I don't know why that small harness is so hard to find, I had to order it from someone wrecking a 350z. Couldn't find it anywhere else.