[Gerhard]

Ok,

My first question is about KNOCK. I'm beginning to suspect that my car has been KNOCKING, and not something worse.

The odd thing is that there is no MIL/DTC indicating that the car is KNOCKing... but it's quite loud.

Just how bad can KNOCK be on a 5th Gen before you actually get a MIL?

I recently got a #61 DTC/MIL that indicates the primary O2 sensor is slow to respond. I reset the mil and it went away.

I then went out and got a bottle of RedLine Injector cleaner and ran it threw a tank of gas.

I then replaced the fuel filter (which had about 60000-65000 miles on it).

Oddly, I haven't been hearing the rattle/tick noise from the engine.

Would any of this solve a bad KNOCK problem?

(I'm trying to determine is it really was KNOCK, or if the cold weather is prevent a suspected wrist pin problem from showing.)

The second question deals with spark plugs and fouling.

This is a picture of the spark plug out of my #1 cylinder:

It's been in there about 50000 miles.

What does this grey crap on the electrode mean?? Is this a symptom of anything I should be worried about??

-Gerhard

 

[Vapor]

the cap means it's time for new plugs.

poor ignition performance could explain your knocking issues as well. and the O2 sensor. if you weren't burning the fuel properly it could confuse the O2 sensor and your ECU

 

[Gerhard]

The cap?

You mean the crap on the electrode?

-Gerhard

 

[Vapor]

crap. with no r. haha. damn typo, I wish my damn keyboard would keep up with my brain. :laugh:

 

[axion68]

yeah, looks like it is time to replace your plugs. you have a lot of deposits from oil and/or fuel additives on the electrode and ground strap.

What grade of fuel are you running? even if you run regular the knock sensor *should* be retarding your timing to prevent pinging. However you really need to replace your o2 sensor in the future, since it has already thrown a MIL. Your o2 sensor is pretty important (especially the primary one) and they go bad from time to time.

 

[Gerhard]

yeah, looks like it is time to replace your plugs. you have a lot of deposits from oil and/or fuel additives on the electrode and ground strap.

What grade of fuel are you running? even if you run regular the knock sensor *should* be retarding your timing to prevent pinging. However you really need to replace your o2 sensor in the future, since it has already thrown a MIL. Your o2 sensor is pretty important (especially the primary one) and they go bad from time to time.

Well, I just replaced the cap and rotor... which I had also had on the car for about 60,000 miles as well. They were very corroded.

I'm beginning to suspect that the crap on the plugs (from 50-55k of use), the 60k clogged uel filter, the O2 being at 100k, and the highly corroded cap/rotor were causing rather serious knock (which sounds like a flutter/rattle/ring noise...).