Knock Sensor

The knock sensor is designed to sense when fuel is burning unevenly and causing "knocking" or irregular vibrations in the engine. The knock sensor consists of an electric coil that is wound around two ceramic rods with a magnet in the center. Engine vibration makes the ceramic rods vibrate. This disturbs the coils magnetic field and alters the current passing through the coil. This disturbance returns to the computer as a signal pattern that the computer analyzes. The computer then determines whether the vibrations are characteristic of engine knocking.