Alloytec 3.6 ve commodore knock sensors

[Man42104]

Hey guys, I’m trying to replace my knock sensors but can’t for the life of me figure out how to remove them? I’ve tried getting at them from beneath the car but there doesn’t seem to be enough space to actually remove them? Do I have to remove the exhaust pipe and engine mount to get at it? If anyone has experience in this I’d really appreciate it thanks!

 

[krusing]

Possibly that is correct,
Unless you have very small hands,

I haven’t replaced mine,
But, I did notice the location of one (LHS) when I had to remove the exhaust manifold for another job I was doing, (checking it for cracks)
And thought what a PITA it would be to replace them.

Replacing the sensors are easy,
It’s removing the heat shield, and the manifold will be the difficult part,
If the manifolds haven’t been removed before, the bolts a damn tight,
And care to be taken not to snap them off, especially on the Engine pipe, make sure you use WD40 or similar,
The bolts on the bottom of the manifolds is all done by feel, (working from the top)

Make sure you use a smear of “grease” on the manifold bolt threads,
“not copper coat”
as copper and aluminium can have a chemical reaction.
But use copper coat on the engine pipe to manifold nuts, and caution on tensioning them.

Cleaning the manifold mating surfaces will be critical for re-fitment so they don’t leak.

Believe me, it won’t be a quick job to do.

Edit :
I just notice you mentioned its a VE your talking about,
some VE's have different exhaust manifolds, so you may be in luck to be able replaced them a bit easier,
Dont forget to check the loom for damage and re-fit the heat shields.

 

[Man42104]

Possibly that is correct,
Unless you have very small hands,

I haven’t replaced mine,
But, I did notice the location of one (LHS) when I had to remove the exhaust manifold for another job I was doing, (checking it for cracks)
And thought what a PITA it would be to replace them.

Replacing the sensors are easy,
It’s removing the heat shield, and the manifold will be the difficult part,
If the manifolds haven’t been removed before, the bolts a damn tight,
And care to be taken not to snap them off, especially on the Engine pipe, make sure you use WD40 or similar,
The bolts on the bottom of the manifolds is all done by feel, (working from the top)

Make sure you use a smear of “grease” on the manifold bolt threads,
“not copper coat”
as copper and aluminium can have a chemical reaction.
But use copper coat on the engine pipe to manifold nuts, and caution on tensioning them.

Cleaning the manifold mating surfaces will be critical for re-fitment so they don’t leak.

Believe me, it won’t be a quick job to do.

Edit :
I just notice you mentioned its a VE your talking about,
some VE's have different exhaust manifolds, so you may be in luck to be able replaced them a bit easier,
Dont forget to check the loom for damage and re-fit the heat shields.

Late reply but I got around to removing the sensors, whilst a huge pita fortunately I didn’t have to remove the manifolds or anything, however I’m not convinced the knock sensors will be the cause of my problem so whilst I will be replacing them whilst they are out I went to check the wiring to the plug and got a good connection from the plugs to the knock sensor 1 and 2 pins on the ecu however couldn’t figure out what the other wire in the plug is and where about they connect too?