P0332 Knock Sensor 2002 Sierra..help !

SmithR · January 31, 2010

I'm getting ready to do this repair myself. The parts have been ordered and I'm just waiting for them to arrive.

I went down to O'reilly yeserday to pick up my intake gasket and they had two different gaskets. One was plastic and one was metal with multiple EGR gaskets advertised as a problem solver kit. The counter guy couldn't really tell me much about it so I went with the plastic one at half the price of the problem solver. They wanted $75 for that one. Both were Fel-Pro.

For those that have already done this, can you tell me if your gasket was plastic or metal?

I'm replacing my knock sensors this weekend.

Parts I have:

FEL-PRO intake gasket Part #MS92211 $32.79 + shipping (It's plastic) from Rockauto.com

GM Knock Sensor Harness & Upper Grommets Part#12601822 $43.60 +shipping - from Paceperformance

Two knock sensors from Advance Auto. about $41 each.

Dose any one know if these are the same part that will fot a 05 gmc 1500 5.3

thanks for the help

racer14 · February 23, 2010

We did a knock sensor replacement on a 02 Tahoe on Friday, and the truck is still setting a P1639 code. Could this be coming from the wire harness? We had a P0300, P0332, and a P1639 from the beginning, changed plugs, wires, knock sensor, and gaskets, but the P1639 keeps coming back.

Any help?

Thanks!

donniecfd32 · March 1, 2010

I am new here. This is my first post, and I have to say this thread was a god send. Thanks to everyone for the photo's and info you have posted. It seems as though I have the same problem. 02 Sillverado 2500HD 4WD 6.0 142,000 on the clock. set code P0332. I am going to tackle this today. I have built many an old big block chevy hotrods but I'm not familiar with these new engines. Whatever happened to the day when a sensor R&R was a simple task? From the looks of everything here it doesn't seem to be to difficult though. I do want to make sure I have everything before I get started though. Here is what it looks like to me that I will need. Please chime in if I have forgetten anything. TIA

2 Knock sensors

2 boots

1 wiring harness

1 set intake gaskets

RTV

A boat load of carb cleaner

Are there any special tools required to get this job done? Have I forgetton anything?

I will say that this has been a very good truck. I bought her new with 46 miles on the clock. I use to haul my 69 Chevelle all over the country and now I tow a 31 foot travel trailer. She is bone stock save for a K&N airfilter. The only things I have replace on her is a Crank Sensor, Fuel Pump, brakes and a battery, and the usual hoses and belt stuff. I am a freak when it comes to maintaining my stuff. I guess it comes from being a retired firefighter. I've always used mobile 1 in the crankcase and in the diffs as well as had the tranny, transfer case and cooling system serviced on a regular basis. I have notice here lately that she has become a bit lazy and the mileage has fallen off. I hope this corrects these problems.

donniecfd32 · March 2, 2010

Well...got the job finished up and it wasn't that bad a job to do. As expected the rear knock sensor was rusty and overall pretty knarly. I replaced both sensors as well as the wiring harness and boots. I'm very impressed how much better the truck runs now. I'm am now ready for a season of Late Model Dirt Racing and sitting at the Camper drinking a cold bud or 2 or 20. Thanks to everyone for all the information that you have provided here. It sure made the job a lot easier.

Chris03Silver · March 7, 2010

yeah ill be doing this as well in my truck in the very near future... cant wait cause im also getting a P0300 flash check engine ... saying its misfiring but every thing checks out and only does it if she sits in the 2300-2500 RPM range for some time like accelerating on a on-ramp or passing ... i dont hear it missing so.. im assuming this is all linked to the dreded knock sensor code that is SES right now...

I am just hoping its not as dirty as a few of the trucks ive seen, the guy before me used it as a work truck so no telling whats under the intake manifold...

ecombe · April 17, 2010

Hi all. Joined the club due to this thread. Found it while searching for the dreaded P0332 fix. Pulled the code Thursday a week ago on my 02 Suburban, 3 days after giving the engine bay a good washing. (I only wash the engine bay about once a year.) Spent a little time each night for the past week to replace the knock sensors. Found them to be in crappy condition as others have found in this thread. #1 sensor was a little cruddy, but #2 was completely coroded sitting in about an inch or so of water. Just wrapped up the job today and she's purring like a kitten.

I replaced both knock sensors, the intake manifold gasket and the lower injector o-rings (that go into the manifold) - ($4.99 for a pack of 4!! Really!! They must cost all of .20 to manufacture). The factory service manual says that you can remove the manifold and fuel rail as a unit, but Chilton's recommends removing the fuel rail to avoid any damage to the injectors. It's only an extra 4 bolts and 8 replacement o-rings - so I removed the fuel rail from the manifold. Gave me chance to clean every thing in between.

The job probably took me about 7-8 hours total (over the week that I worked on it). I must've spent 2 hours of that figuring out how to remove certain connectors and taking my time labeling everything that got disconnected. Tear down took up the first 6+ hours. I got it put back together in an hour +.

grosss · May 28, 2010

Has anybody done this repair with the check engine light off? I got a P0332 a long time ago after driving through some deep water, and reset it a few times with my scangage. I know about the code but I don't like that bright yellow light screaming at me when I'm driving. The code would get thrown every so often, usually during a long highway drive or while towing. The last time I reset it was probably over a month ago, but it hasn't come back since. I'm going to do the repair this weekend, but I'm just wondering if I'll actually see a difference, or if since the CEL is off that it's been running fine.

I'm noticing low power at low engine speeds, the truck is pretty slow to launch and downshift, and sometimes it almost stalls when i start it cold. I'm really hoping this repair fixes it and it's not something else like a clogged cat or bad O2 sensor.

DeePa · June 1, 2010

I just finished up this repair last saturday.

I installed 2 new sensors, wiring harness, rtv'd the harness boots, installed new intake gaskets, fuel rail upper and lower orings, and cleaned the piss out of the manifold and intake.

The truck has much more power and my gas mileage is back in the 15-17 range. It had dropped down to 13-14 average.

I shut the light off a few times, but it would come back on within a few weeks each time. After the repair, it took about 10 trips to reset the Check Engine Light, but when it went off, the truck was more powerful and responsive.

It is a very easy repair to do. Dont be afraid of pulling the intake. It is plastic and one piece. Disconnect the fuel line before the fuel rails and the fuel injectors/ralls can stay in the intake.

I spent 2 hours cleaning the intake and manifold ports, as well as the throttle body. There were 2 open ports but i went ahead and scrubbed them anyways. The truck ran rough for a few seconds then cleared up. There was definately some carb cleaner and carbon in those 2 cylinders but it cleaned right up.

It was about a 4 hour job. I really didnt need the wire harness or both knock sensors. The rear was all corroded but not as bad as some of the ones in earlier posts.

Total Cost - 192 and 4 hours of my time.

Sensors - 70

harness - 45

intake gaskets - 50

fuel injector orings (upper and lower) - 20

throttle body gasket - 7

This repair could really be done for one sensor and the intake gaskets, so 85 bucks...thats if your harness is good and you keep the fuel injectors and rails connected to the intake.

As far as special tools, only thing people may not have is a 22mm socket to take the knock sensors out. Everything else was very basic. 8mm and 10mm sockets, extension, pliers, phillips and flathead screwdrivers, and needle noses...

FYI if anyone needs a harness, ill sell it for 20 shipped to your door....

Hope this helps.

Mike

grosss · June 2, 2010

Yup, my experience is almost identical to Mike's, I kept the entire intake manifold assembly together to save time and effort and just used fuel line disconnects to pop those lines off. You need to then just disconnect the main connector to the bank of coil packs on each side, and there's a ground strap at the back of the block holding the whole thing from getting out of the way. Oh also release the clips holding some of the wiring harness to the cylinder heads. The intake moves out of the way just enough to get to the knock sensors. A 3/4 socket works if you don't have a 22mm.

The light wasn't on before I started the job and so the second I fired up the truck she was running happily.. except for the plume of black smoke that came flying out the back because of all the carbon that I loosened up in the intake while cleaning it. My throttle body was sparkling clean by the time I put it back together!

After doing this repair I realized just how long I've had this problem for, probably some time in the middle of winter. When I put my new summer wheels on, I couldn't get the rear end to break loose unless I was going around a corner and blamed it on wider tires... but now I can get them to squeal!

I highly recommend doing this repair if you ever throw a knock sensor code, even if the light goes away,

dankapp · June 2, 2010

Well, I just tackled this job also. But the one thing I didn't do was read the instructions on the Intake Gasket. I bought the metal FelPro gasket set. Well if anyone has used this set there are "guides" that go over the head bolts. Well I was not paying attention when I put it back together and loosed the head bolts and tightened the gasket down with the head bolts. After cleaning everything up I noticed the instructions for the gasket and seen were it said to not tighten the gasket down with the head bolts. So my question is, what are my options? Can I leave it go or do I need to tear it back down and do it the correct way?

Hakman · June 16, 2010

Hi,

I am starting this job on a 2004 Suburban and before I buy the wrong gasket I need to know if I have a flex fuel or not. Any ideas?

Hakman

grosss · June 16, 2010

Umm.. I don't think GM was producing flex fuel engines for trucks until about 2007... if there's no flex fuel badge on the back of your vehicle and no information in the manual about it you're safe. Unless to you flex fuel means something different than running on both gasoline and E85 fuel.

qristofer · July 3, 2010

3/4 socket will not not fit on 5.3L knock sensor. The closest is 7/8 or a 22mm deep socket. Just found that out today when doing my sensors. Anyone know the size of the fuel disconnect tool. I think its 5/16" but not too sure?