I have a 90 Toyota Camry with 124k. The car gets good gas mileage and runs great. I just gave it a tune up because it felt like it was lacking some power after the tune-up, and an oil change a lot of the power came back but now I have a code 52. Code 52 points to the knock sensor, and i'm guessing the tickin sound i hear is actually a knock? How do I test the knock sensor, if it can be tested, and how do I replace/find it? Is there anything else that would cause a code 52? Any help would be appreciated. -Drew

I downloaded almost every Camry manual located in this stickys for my car and I cant seem to find anything on replacing the knock sensor. :( If anyone has a diagram or some step by step instructions it would be really appreciated.

If you have the PDF coming up you should be able to do a search for knock. The sensor(s) seem to be up under the intake.

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/13/eb/dd/0900823d8013ebdd/repairInfoPages.htm

http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/generic/p0325-knock-sensor-circuit-malfunction.php

howse this for funny, a friend said "O im doing to pick-n-pull i'll pull you a sensor or two so you can fix your car." He comes to my job to drop them off with a big smile and says "I got you three sensors."

Im happy because he states he knows where they go and everything but in reality he pulled me 3 coolant temp sensors thinking they were knock sensors. Killed my happy mood when I looked at them.

So now Im back at square one, the good thing is I know there are at least 3 of the cars sitting in pick and pull waiting to be stripped which may or may not save me a few hundred dollars. Now I just gotta figure out the fastest way to the sensor.

O and I still cant find the diagram but I have a good feeling where it is.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j140/drewet88/myspace/untitled.jpg Sorry bad pic.

From what I can tell it is under the intake but what I dont know is do I just take off the intake and BAM there it is. Or is there more to it, I dont want to take it apart just to see there is a lot more.

I have a 90 Toyota Camry with 124k. The car gets good gas mileage and runs great. I just gave it a tune up because it felt like it was lacking some power after the tune-up, and an oil change a lot of the power came back but now I have a code 52. Code 52 points to the knock sensor, and i'm guessing the tickin sound i hear is actually a knock? How do I test the knock sensor, if it can be tested, and how do I replace/find it? Is there anything else that would cause a code 52? Any help would be appreciated. -Drew

A knock sensor for a 1990 Camry is only on the 6 cylinder engine and not the 4 Cylinder engine. I'm not sure if you have the 4 cyl. or 6 cyl. engine in your car. You didn't mention it in your post.

JOET/CAMRY

its a 6 cylinder. i wouldn't look for the knock sensor on a 4 cylinder, i would never find it :)

Drewett88 - Yes at first glance Joet/Camrys questions seems odd but, after cruising these forums for quite a while, we learn to take nothing for granted (though I did just that). I haven't seen this situation on Camrys yet but, on other cars you can get a fault code meant for one engine on a car equiped with another that doesn't even have the component that was flagged with the code. Makes for a lot of confusion.

Never thought of that i bet it would made for a lot of confusion. I was not trying to be mean at all in my post, I just never thought that the code would pop up in a 4 cylinder.

So yea I'll just remember this moment, Thanks everyone, I think i know I have to go through intake and such, i dont wanna brake anything and I cant seem to find a book with details. My local autozone and kragens usually have them in stock but are completely out right now.

So I called around and got some good quotes ranging from 414 w/taxes to 900 w/o taxes. So i'll probably go with the 414 and just call it quits I'm giving the car to my grandma anyway so I just want to make sure its in good condition.

Not that it matters at this point but, the "procedure" for removing and installing the knock sensor is in the Engine Mechanical file in your factory service manual file at the top of the forum. Pgs EM-146 and 167. It's part of the engine teardown procedure. The diagram shows it in plane sight with the intake removed just as the Autozone link in my first post does.

yep I figured it out today. Was real fun when no one could find the part even though I had already ordered one at Napa. So now i must wait 3 days for autozone to get the part in and then i hope to end everything.

From what i could tell the wiring was fine, and according to the testing procedures at autozone the sensor was actually bad. Hopefully after this it will have full power back and I can move on to my next set of problems on a different car.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Never thought of that i bet it would made for a lot of confusion. I was not trying to be mean at all in my post, I just never thought that the code would pop up in a 4 cylinder.


Hey Drewet88,

never thought that you were trying to be mean. LOL everythings cool.:p

The 1990 Camry is a second generation ( 1987 - 1991) Camry and I know for a fact that the 4 cylinder Camrys of this generation do not have a knock sensor installed on the engine. I own a 1989 4 cylinder Camry.

I'm not sure how a knock sensor works but from the info you provided there not cheap in price.:frown: Take care.

JOET/CAMRY

yep i got the sensor put everything back together just for the code to stay on. I was like wtf?
I took it back apart and saw that the connecting wire was melted for some reason and I had to change that.
Now it runs like a champ, has all its power back and passed smog with flying colors.
At least I know i didnt change the sensor for no reason because it was bad regardless.