Faulty knock sensor

[Xist]

Okay, Nancy told me that I needed to replace two air conditioning hoses, not power steering!

My roommate told me to purchase bottles of power steering fluid from the 99¢ store, but I do not like the idea of dripping power steering fluid all over Arizona. Also, I told him about power steering fluid saturating the alternator belt on my Prelude and my alternator going out.

Some shop also convinced me to replace my rack and pinion, also claiming that power steering fluid ruined it.

He told me to charge up my refrigerant, that is what he does every six weeks.

I really do not like the idea of dripping that!

I found "A" AC hoses on car-part.com starting at $45, although I wonder what the other hose was, if two were leaking.

The power steering hose starts at $40 and one place has both!

Should I order them? I just looked at my repair manual and did not see anything relevant.

[Xist]

My roommate is trying to convince me to pour freon into my leaking system today. I keep telling him that I need to study for a test and he just asked "What does that have to do with anything?"

[Xist]

Well, my roommate is upset because I went and bought car parts instead of putting my car on power steering fluid and freon dialysis. I just decided to track down both AC hoses on car-part.com, so I went to pull up a Subaru supplier to look at the diagram. They offered the parts for less than "MSRP" and the Google ad gave me a coupon code for an additional 15% off. I looked at several other sites, one had lower prices and one charged less for shipping, but the coupon code was the deal maker, at least since I did not even know how to find the part used.

"Full price" was $762.22, but I got the parts for $501.47 before shipping and handling ($71.75).

I guess that I need to find a good temp agency after finals. I have nine business days before two days of drill and fifteen days of annual training and nineteen business days before returning to school. I was supposed to work for my father, but that is not going to work out.

I want to put in my hundred hours of observation so that I can get my Speech-Language Pathology Assistant license. If everything else goes according to plan, I need that by January in order to apply for the Master's program that I want, but I would need to get out of annual training, and I do not know how likely that would happen.

[Xist]

The other day I needed to purchase a few different things and study for a test. I need all of the help that I can get on those. I hate Walmart, but I decided to do one stop and be done instead of going to multiple stores. So, I bought food, duct tape, and bike stuff, so I have been riding to class in the morning. After class I rode to a bike shop to purchase a lock and some other stuff.

It added up and I said "I'm running out of money!"

"It is better than a car!"

I need a hug... preferably from someone rich and generous.

[Xist]

An hour before my second class, I got my bike out of my car, but the tire was flat. I just patched it the other day and it had been fine since.

Of course, everything that I needed to repair the tire was at home, so I started walking, and it took a couple of hours to be on my way--right about when class was ending!

I rode home eight miles, not having gone further than half a mile in years. My backpack was pretty heavy and I sure was tired when I got home!

My car needs engine work...

[Xist]

Well, this is my tenth post in a row. If I just hand over my money to Pep Boys, I will nearly be out of money. I really hope that I can get some feedback because I am really stressed!

I started this thread reporting that I took my car to my previous shop for a P0325, Knock Sensor Circuit Malfunction. They wanted nearly $500 to fix it. My new shop said that I just needed some engine treatment and the code went away for a week and a half, but it came back yesterday, and now my engine ran a little rough.

I heard what sounded like a very rough engine and it was my car. The technician came in saying that I was only running on two cylinders, but that sounds like far worse of a problem than I had been experiencing. They say that I need a $266.80 valve adjustment, which is all labor, but the total is $300 more than that:

Engine Light diagnostic: $44.99
Shop Fee: 35.00
Tune up package
Remove and replace spark plugs: 60.03
Additional access time - remove: 64.20
and replace spark plugs:
NGK Spark Plugx4: 9.96
Adjust Valve Clearance: 266.80
Pepguard Limited Extended Labor: 58.65
Warranty
BWD Custom fit ignition set: 36.39

Parts: 46.35 Labor: 436.02 Other: 93.65 Tax: 6.55 Total: 582.57

Of course, my roommate who is upset that I am not continually pouring fluids into leaky system butted in and said the entire thing is preposterous. Problems with cylinder firing are invariably the result of bad spark plugs and\or wires.

Well, they say that I need to replace those, which cost $46.35, the least expensive entry in the entire estimate. They just want to charge $124.23 to replace them.

Why don't I replace them myself and see if that fixes my problems?

They say that if the valve clearance adjustment does not fix the problem then I need new cylinders and valves.

Regretfully, I have a "service plan:"

Engine: All internally lubricated parts contained within the engine block, cylinder head(s) or rotary engine housing(s); oil pump; timing belt or chain, timing gears and timing tensioners; water pump; engine block, cylinder barrels, engine head(s), rotor housing(s) if damaged by the failure of an internally lubricated part. Dipstick and tube; harmonic balancer; oil pan; timing chain cover.

I cannot imagine that it would cover a valve clearance adjustment and they would only cover cylinders and valves "if damaged by the failure of an internally lubricated part."

So, ride my bike eight miles tomorrow, replace the spark plugs and wires, and hope that it is enough?

[vskid3]

Sounds like your mechanics are more interested in throwing parts (which is your money) at the problem and hoping they fix it than troubleshooting.
How many miles does the car have on it? Have you checked/posted on any Subaru forums for help?

[Xist]

Originally Posted by vskid3

Sounds like your mechanics are more interested in throwing parts (which is your money) at the problem and hoping they fix it than troubleshooting.
How many miles does the car have on it? Have you checked/posted on any Subaru forums for help?

Vskid3, thank you for your response. Hopefully any further notifications do not go to my spam folder!

The car just hit 105,000 miles after I had them replace the timing belt. I posted on subaruforester.org, but my response notification went to my spam folder. "crewzer" wrote:

Can you double check the P035 code? I think it might be missing a digit.

I corrected my posts. It was P0325.

I also posted on cartalk.com and I could not find that notification in spam. I think that it was lost to the ether--or never sent:

It was running fine except for the CEL right? Then some kind of engine treatment was done, and now it's idling rough? I guess the first thing to determine is what exactly was done as part of this engine treatment. I think the best plan is you want to get it back to where it runs ok, but the CEL is on, then fix whatever is causing that. It may be the original problem was just that the knock sensor electrical connector had come loose.

I arranged for a ride tomorrow morning so that I can replace my spark plugs and wires. I could have ridden my bike eight miles each way, but I cringed at the idea of carrying all of my tools on my back!

[Xist]

Well, I am pretty sure that I have confirmation that my problem got worse after Pep Boys got their hands on my car, I only had the one code, P0325, and then they told me that I had two cylinders misfiring, yet I did not have any of the following:

P0301 Cylinder 1 misfire detected
P0302 Cylinder 2 misfire detected
P0303 Cylinder 3 misfire detected
P0304 Cylinder 4 misfire detected

What in the world am I supposed to do about this?!

[Xist]

Reading through the Subaru forum, people keep saying "If you get a bad knock sensor code, replace your knock sensor!"

They mentioned finding them cheap on eBay. I found one for seven dollars, with free shipping! There is one on Amazon for $12.50, also with free shipping.

I looked at several Subaru parts dealers and I would have ordered from one, had I not wanted to do this tomorrow (today (in a few hours)).

Well, it was "today" when I started looking.

I looked at local auto parts places until I decided on O'Reilly. They had the knock sensor, spark plugs, and wires, and I also ordered a spark plug socket and a torque wrench. I read that knock sensors were easily damaged by incorrect torquing.

I also read that they are sensitive to orientation. That sounds fun.

Well, I am going to try to get some sleep. It seems like all that I am doing is sleeping and trying to figure out how to take care of my car.

My finals are on Friday.