problem with my car today. took it for a ride and a guy next to me on the freeway was pointing at my right right wheel trying to mouth something to me. I pulled off to take a look and a sensor was hanging down, dragin on the ground. prettty beat-up and battered from the bouncing around under there. I heard a noise but thought it was my wheel bearing that is bad.

It looks like a round thing attached to one wire, looks like it was taped onto the sensor. way too hard to track it down out there so I tucked it up in under the car, and headed off....I did notice that my temp of the motor was unusually hot, in the red for the rest of the 20 mile trip. Must have something to do with the sensor being grounded out or something.

what do u guys think it is? Liek I said it was a round thing, with one connector...about 2.5-3" in diameter.

probably nothing...should I worry. i am now leaving for a trip, about 40 miles away with the car, and do not have time to check it out.

I will check the board later to see what u guys suggest! thanks

 

Im not sure but it sounds like it may be the sensor for your electric fan, but i didnt think it was long enough to hang on the ground.

 

looked like a TOP kids would play with.

 

lol

wouldn't it be easier just to take a pic of it? and where exactly is the sensor located? "right right wheel" doesn't tell me much about it's location

 

No camera.....sorry.

the wire looks like its hanging down right next to the block on the passengers side. i can see a hole in the block, where it might belong just above the oil pan seal about 1/2 way back...

Not too sure......I have to go now on my trip...

Any ideas please post, i will check back tonight....:hail:

 

im gonna take a wild guess. It goes in the engine block and your car is overheating.

Coolant Temp sensor?

 

I'm thinking that's your knock sensor, a little more like 1.5" than 3". If you saw the hole in your engine, then you should have seen a trail from where all the coolant drained out. From the picture you drew it looks like the threads were still in there, thats why I'm saying that the coolant should have drained out. Of course the sensor could have rotted away and broken off, then you would still have coolant.

The high temp could be caused by some detonation that the knock sensor wasn't able to correct for since it fell out. Or if the coolant is gone... well you get the story for that.

 

Well I hope you make it where you're going and back again!

If it is indeed supposed to be in the block, I would guess that it is the knock sensor. There's only 2 sensors that look like that on the passanger side. Coolant Temperature Sensor, in the head on the passanger side, this controls your electric fans. Then the knock sensor, which is closer to the bottom of the block, near the oil pan.

From what you described, I would say Knock Sensor, but when you said the engine was running Hot, That makes me thing Coolant Temperature Sensor... Is the tip of the sensor broken off? or does it look like it came unscrewed?

Good luck!

 

To be honest I didn't think either wire would be long enough to reach the ground, but the coolant sensor wire is longer I think. However, that sensor is MUCH small than 3" around and doesn't have that noticable of a round top-like section to it.

 

I agree with SlowTA and that its your knock sensor. This would alow the loss of coolant which would cause it to over-heat. Here is a pick of a knock sensorhttp://www.california.com/~eagle/figs/ksensor.jpg

This will help you to ID the part

Bill

 

time for a compression or leak down test... make sure your head gasket it still there when you get it fixed.

 

As stated by:FstBrd6point3

Good Point, I Agree. Running an engine hot like this can cause serious damage. This can include head warpage. I'd also do a Coolant system pressure test as well. Head gaskets have several passages built into them. Some for oil, some for coolant and then of couse the cylinder ring to seal the cylinder and the combustion chamber. You may have just "lucked out," but its wise to check to make sure. If it checks out okay, I'd retest in a few weeks just to be certain. And keep an eye on your coolant and oil also.
Just sugestions.

Bill

 

lol, i thought it was funny that today, i was looking at my engine and noticed the knock sensor resembled the picture this guy posted... so the moment i come on the post to reply and say i think it's the knock sensor, i see everyone and their mother's also added that it was his knock sensor. hmm....

i think that was your knock sensor dude, lol

 

OMG, that is your knock sensor hands down, by the pic.

A 40 mile trip has the potential to kill your engine if you keep running it in the red.

It acts as a coolant plug in the bottom of your block, mostly likely you have dumped all your coolant and serious problems now are almost unavoidalbe if you are still driving on it.

 

Yep that must have been what it was.....noticed when I got to my destination ~40 miles away, that there was an ominous glow coming from under the car.....took a look and it looked as if the headers were glowing from being HOT...

Car actually seemed to run unusually well on the way there...

I drove it all the way home as well.. It ran very well coming home too...do you think it would hurt it to just leave it as is?

I really only like to polish the outside of the car, and don' really care if the headers get burt looking

 

Yes, you need to get that fixed or you WILL blow your engine. Running that hot is torture for your engine. If nothing else, get a new sensor, screw it in, and fill up on coolant.

 

First check your coolant level. The next thing you need to do is jack up the car and get under there to see what is going on. If it is the knock sensor, that is a part you can get aftermarket fairly inexpensive. The knock sensor goes into the side of the block, but the coolant fan switch is on the head. If the plug has come off the fan switch, then the only way to turn on your fan right now is to turn on your A/C. I would not recommend driving until you fix whichever part is not right.
After you fix the overheating problem, I would suggest that you change your oil. Running your engine too hot is just murder on your oil. While you are at it, look at the oil coming out to make sure there is not chocolate milkshake coming out with the oil. That would be coolant mixed with the oil and either a blown head gasket and/or warped/cracked head. Are your heads aluminum? Aluminum likes to warp at very high temps.
DO NOT IGNORE THIS PROBLEM!!!!

 

Gotta love air-cooled SBC's...... Givin' the germans a run for their money

 

Well. I tried to get the sensor to screw back in, but it was pretty mangled. But I plugged the hole with a wooden dowel I found in the yard. Just pounded it in as far as I could, then sawed off the rest flush with the block, with the a hack saw.

Wierd thing is it keeps overheating?

 

the missing knock sensor should set off the check engine light, not to mention that dowel is either going to blow out, or rot after not too long

 

Reading this just makes me LOL a bit. Can't help it - it's for no particular reason other than that I don't think you're quite aware of how potentially catastrophic your problem could be.....

This is a serious problem. Frankly, it is amazing that the engine hasn't completly seized yet with - what, about 80miles of driving with little or no coolant?? You're going to want to hang on to this car - it's got 9-lives.......

And buddy, I can see cramming a dowel in there for a short, quick fix or something but you're talking about your cylinder block here. The knock sensor (I too believe this is the thing dangling and bouncing down the highway) screws into a water-way in the block. SO, if it's out, coolant can freely just run right out of your engine. You really need to get a bicycle or some other mode of transportation to get around for a while until you get it fixed - that is if you value your car in any possible way.

Please believe me - no insult intended at all with this - But if you're at all familiar with the Red Green Show (a canadian favorite), cramming a piece of dowel into a hole in an engine block is just what he'd do. As I and others are trying to tell you, this is serious and I can only say if you value your car at all, even just the slightest bit, DONT DRIVE IT UNTIL YOU FIX THIS PROBLEM!

Good luck,
K

 

Wow. Sad and funny at the same time. Good luck with the rebuild.

 

That's because there's no coolant in it.

When you were going to school (assuming you're not still), did you ride the big bus or the "little" bus?

 

Todays students are not taught to think, its just "garbage in-garbage out." Although, I've had several "short-bus" students who'd be able to fix this after explaining it to them only one time. I've even had a few that could take a look at what was going on and fix it without even asking me the first question.

At this point, I think its time he took it (had it towed) to someone who knows what their doing. Otherwise, he's going to be replacing the engine if it isn't already at that point.


Bill

 

I smell a skunk in the wood pile here I might be wrong but I don't think so, look at the rest of his posts !

 

That was in the back of my mind as well. After reading his "Other" posts I believe this to be the case. Get aload of this Post:


Hey ghost_man, people subscribe to this fourm as well as others that they may learn and help each other out. This is not a joke to us, we do not care for people who come in here and waste our time and effort. In the automotive field, technicians can make over $100,000.00 a year. This is no joke! Some of the people in here are ASE & Master ASE Technicians, Shop Owners, Electronic Engineers, Automotive Instructors as well as Do It Yourself'ers. We're trying to work together and solve problems. If you can't behave in this manner then I ask you not to post any more of your nonsense in here.

Bill

 

Sorry that I did not understand the consequenses of my fix.

No need to get angry at someone for asking a questions.


I should add that I have no formal training with vehicles.

 

Never underestimate the magnitude of ignorance folks.

And in my field I see lots of it - ignorance is not a bad thing in my mind AS LONG AS they are interested in learning. I just get really pi$$ed when ignorant folks have no drive to learn anything - in my field, it usually results in animals that suffer from it time and again - no excuse - period.

We, or at least I, am not trying to stifle your interest in cars there ghost_man. If you truly are not just playing with us, don't worry about being ignorant about what the right fix is - asking questions here is a start. The only thing is, we seldom see questions like yours (which seem rather absurd - no insult intended) because the vast majority of people here have been wrenching on cars for many years - it becomes second nature after a while. Cars problems, for the most part, are often common sense fixes and having that car sense takes time - we all had to do some reading, talk to people and just working on them often.

On a serious note, buddy - there are tons of books out there on car repair in general and many on 3rd gen f-bodies as well. At the very minimum you need to get yourself a Haynes and Chiltons repair manual for 82-92 Camaro and Firebird. I'll not say that every last thing in these books is correct - every manual has it's mastakes. But it's better than ---- well, trying to cram a dowel into a hole in the cylinder block with out a clue as to the consequenses.

If you are fooling with us - my disclaimer - then STOP IT!! Otherwise, don't get discouraged but you have got to do some learning for your self too.

K