ECMlink Help with tuning SD. What next?

[Justin DuBois]

I'm thinking the IAT input might not work at all for this, because maybe the knock sensor voltage is ac rather than dc. So then an ac voltmeter might be more like what you'd need (Vac on a multimeter). I can try to check this out sometime in the next week or 2 here on my car. I still have the ecu+ that made my old logs, and I'm going to run the knock sensor wire to it again pretty soon. When that's going I can see what the Vac and Vdc scales on my multimeter read on it - if either one of them agrees with the ecu+ which for sure has a proper input for this voltage measurement.

I think the knock sensor is akin to an audio microphone. The signal is very weak in terms of voltage modulation. Not something you can measure with a multi-meter - maybe an o-scope. Honestly I've never spent time trying to intercept or put a switch on one. I also think the ECU is signal filtering for its version of the sensor - 1G for 1G, 2G for 2G. Someone here has probably tried different combos.

 

[We're on Boost]

I think the knock sensor is akin to an audio microphone.

Yes, it is a piezoelectric microphone.

Not something you can measure with a multi-meter - maybe an o-scope.

Yeah I think that's how it's going to turn out.
I think an expensive meter like a Fluke 87 would do pretty well for the normal running (no knock) parts of it. But a meter like that costs $450 these days, and I don't know that it would pick up the knock spikes very well or at all, because they are such short duration. I'm going to try it with my old 87 which I bought in the mid-80's. It gives plausible readings on an audio signal. See video.
Anyway I'll try to see if it reads knock sensor voltages at the same value that my ecu+ does. And I can try that with a cheaper meter too.

When it comes to multimeters under $100 there are so many gotchas with them, I don't know what would happen. You need to be able to take it out of auto-range so it stays in one range, you kind of need one of those "analog" bar graphs on it, a "Record Min Max" would be nice, and meters have limitations on the accuracy due to frequency, signal strength, even weird stuff like whether the ac voltage is 0-crossing or not.
Here's the ac voltage reading spec for my old Fluke 87. Usually the manuals for the cheaper meters don't even want to talk about some of this stuff.

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A good place to learn some things about knock sensors and how to dial one in on a Universal stand-alone ecu, is in the Help for the LINK G4X stand-alone ecu.
To get that, go to their web site,
https://linkecu.com/software-support/pc-link-downloads/

Pick Download for G5 / G4X
Pick English Only or whatever,
Find the exe file in your downloads folder (this file is about 74 MB)
Install it to your computer (Windows)
Bring it up, Pick Help, then pick Contents,
Key in Knock on the search line,
Then pick List Topics.
TaDa, the top 4 topics listed are all or most of the good stuff!

A lot of the stuff you read in those Knock topics is stuff that would help if trying to verify an unknown sensor for our use in ECMlink, so it's not a waste even if you never go Stand-Alone ecu.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

If you end up trying one of the non-OEM knock sensors that came up in this thread......

I ordered 2 6 bolt knock sensors from a vendor I found while on Amayama. It was AliExpress and the sensors were listed as MD141510's. They were very easy on the wallet. I ordered them the 17th and they came in today. A few pictures for the thread.
I figured $20 bucks was worth a shot. They look identical. I have not tested them yet on an engine. I'm not promoting them but showing options that are out there if you dig.
Marty

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[We're on Boost]

I ordered 2 6 bolt knock sensors from a vendor I found while on Amayama. It was AliExpress and the sensors were listed as MD141510's. They were very easy on the wallet. I ordered them the 17th and they came in today. A few pictures for the thread.
I figured $20 bucks was worth a shot. They look identical. I have not tested them yet on an engine. I'm not promoting them but showing options that are out there if you dig.

That's pretty interesting. Did you have tracking on the shipping? Wondering where the shipping to you started from.
Is it a Chenho brand?
I'll keep my eyes open for any updates you might have on these.

Man, when I google "Ruian Chenho Auto Electric Co Lt" it gives me a ton of results. Even a contact person:
Ms Mara Ma
NO.301, Xinhua Rd,Tangxia Town,Ruian City ,Zhejiang Province, China

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I had confirmation of the order and updates on shipping and even when it had cleared customs. No issues. I was as surprised as you. Now if they work the same. I should have ordered 3 and melted the goo out of one for the price that they were, just to see if the same thing was inside as one of my old factory sensors.
THIS one is close but not the exact company I got those 2 from.
I am looking for the exact link currently. I did come across another "too good to be true ad", but it is super economical HERE.

 

[We're on Boost]

I am looking for the exact link currently. I did come across another "too good to be true ad", but it is super economical HERE.

This one, the Chenho, was $10 yesterday when I looked at it. Now it's $1.32

THIS one is close but not the exact company I got those 2 from.

This one I didn't see yesterday, but I see it is $17.77 today.

But it sounds like you are saying that neither one of these is the one you bought?
On your shipping updates, they would probably show the city of origin. That would be a little interesting to know. If I ordered some I'd look to see if they shipped from the same city yours did. Just for the heck of it mostly, no big deal.

 

[enriquez2000]

This one, the Chenho, was $10 yesterday when I looked at it. Now it's $1.32


This one I didn't see yesterday, but I see it is $17.77 today.

But it sounds like you are saying that neither one of these is the one you bought?
On your shipping updates, they would probably show the city of origin. That would be a little interesting to know. If I ordered some I'd look to see if they shipped from the same city yours did. Just for the heck of it mostly, no big deal.

For $2.24 with shipping id buy it for someone to test

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I looked back at all the emails and I got an update every day until they showed up. I can't pull up the initial order to show what city it came from now.
Like Sean said, for CHEAP, what is there to loose but a little chump change and a week of time. At the same time, I understand you sure don't want to put a "dummy" sensor in and blow a motor when you've added too much timing and no sensor to correct your mistake.
Here is all the invoice info:

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[We're on Boost]

For $2.24 with shipping id buy it for someone to test

I think if you don't already have an account at AliExpress and you go to the web page for the Chenho sensor in the next ~8 hours they will give you a price of $1.32 and free shipping
That's what I just did. They showed it as a new customer only offer, and quantity of 1 only, not more than one.
I would just say, don't use your credit card. Use paypal or something similar.
Their video on a turntable shows this as part CH-KNS064 with OE alternate part numbers MD141510, E1T15075, and SU3303.

I looked back at all the emails and I got an update every day until they showed up.

I see you did get yours from the Chenho store.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I fkn definitely used a PP account and good call on that since we all know where these are coming from. Thanks for pointing THAT out!

 

[We're on Boost]

I took a good look at the Chenho knock sensor that came a couple days ago. Every physical detail that I can see looks very good. One thing I couldn't see until I tried to turn an M10 x 1.25mm nut onto it to check the threads. The nut didn't want to go on. I checked the thread with a 1.25mm pitch gauge. It's correct. So I put a 10mm x 1.25mm threading die on it (this exact Hanson/Irwin ) and just turned it by hand (not using any type of die holder) about 2 turns. That cleaned up the lead-in to the threads where it apparently wasn't rolled fully, at the very nose end of it. So now that's perfect.

Everything else looks good. The sleeve over the cable is metallic lined inside, for EM shield I suppose (see pic below).

I'm having trouble doing what I want to do, which is to start logging knock sensor voltage again with my ecu+, and then see what kind of voltage readings I get on a multimeter from the same wire at the same time. The trouble is, I got that input on the ecu+ wired up to the knock sensor wire, but no voltage is recorded on the ecu+ while driving! I mean there is not even a red trace running along the 0 line. There's just nothing, as if that input is turned off or something. On the same drive I got normal knock retard and Rawknock numbers in ECMlink.

I've got an email in to Tom Collins with some questions about it. He has usually answered in the past. This is very unexpected though. A couple days earlier my AEM oil pressure gauge had started putting out nonsense numbers, like when your voltmeter is "reading the air". But all I did to "fix" it was unpack all that wiring to the ecu from where I keep it stowed, repack it, put the cover back on with a little more space under it, and wow the gauge worked again perfectly. A couple days before that all the gauges in my jeep quit working. Man it's been like Expedition-X around here lately with gauges!

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