Two weeks back I went up to see Harvey in Darlington, and to get Darren to do me an oil change while I was there.

Just south of Darlington, on the A1, is a Shell garage. I filled up there. They seemed to be having some work done, several pumps were out of action being worked on, but business was as usual, despite the wait.

I filled up with V-Power and went on.

I was surprised to note, once I turned off the A1 towards Darren's, that my KL lit up like a Christmas tree every time I went over 0.8 bar boost.

It's been like that ever since, so I've kept off all but the mildest boost. Until yesterday, when I re-filled with Tesco Momentum, and lo and behold, no more knock

So, despite being MAPPED on V-Power, the stuff I bought made it knock like crazy. What's the betting I got a tankful of 95 octane for my not inconsiderable money at Shell?

And had I NOT had a KL, I could already have fekked the engine.
Let's be careful out there, guys and gals.........

 

Good post. We had a little more than 0.8bar the other day though

 

+1 for Tesco Momentum

 

Iv considered a KL myself for this exact reason, but I understood that as Iv got a Simtec the CEL would flash if it detected any det. Is this correct?

 

IMHO A KL or similar device is absolutely essential for a tuned turbocharged engine. The scenario you describe is far from uncommon and were it not for the KL you would not have known until you broke something expensive!!

I'd be writing a letter of complaint to Shell about that garage! You never, know they might send a nice man down with a chemistry set to check the petrol being sold at the pumps.

Ns04

 

Yes, but it's a good idea to check with your mapper that the feature has been enabled and set at the appropriate threshold. I'm sure they would have though!

 

I'm having a map tweak in a couple of weeks,I'll check with him then. Thanks.

 

gd post and shows even putting in Vpower could be less and **** the engine up.

lucky u had a knocklink in the car,

i picked on up few months ago and its getting fitted to mine for peace of mind.

 

wow,must be the 1st thread ever to not have the phrase cocklink referencing the knocklink, how times change !

altho, its worth testing the thing with a screwdriver/hammer 9the sensor on the engine) as i was merrily thinking my red lite didnt illuminate and it turned out,on testing the sensor, the solder had broke on the red lite LED LOL

so you cant always trust the things, but they are a mild safety device, i like mine LOL

 

Wheres the best place to buy a knocklink as they seem to be hard to find these days!!!

 

They are very old technology now, for the money, you can buy better, but if one comes along cheap enoguh, they are worth it, but new i think they were like £100, for £50 more you can buy alot better nowadays, but again,if 2nd hand for £40 or so, they are a good buy,if you can find them that is

 

Wish I'd had one the day Mine went pop to the same issue.. 95 in the 99 tank merily hammering the living daylights out of it. Didnt end well

 

mine dropped from 1.1 bar to 0.6bar for a whole tank of TOTAL 97 super a while ago (best we can get around here, £1.53/Litre).
Fixed as soon as I got some Tesco99 in a week later.

Robbers!

 

Sometimes is good to have Knocklink,agreed

We are running Syvecs and KnockLink too,but sometimes KnockLink just is too sensitive,but in reality is just engine noise or gearbox noise from Syvecs logs,i've been few times pretty scared when KL just started flash,but at the end has been just gearbox/engine noise,because our KL is setup'd little on sensitive side(but this is good rather have sensitive like none KL)

All depends on more factors,but really best is setup the KL with det can

Jura

 

I've got KL custom fitted into speedo housing



Essential bit of kit IMO.

 

No question about it, they work. I once had fuel in mine that was over a year old and the KL lit up like a xmas tree on boost. New fuel and all back to normal.

 

the same thing happened recently with tesco's near me.they were having all the pumps and tanks cleaned and said it was just routine but the lad doing it said they have contaminated all the tanks and full of sludge,no wonder my scooby and even the mrs fiat sporting had been running crap lately as only ever use the garage to fill up.not anymore though.

 

Where can I get a knock link from?

 

Agreed - i also wouldn't have another without an AFR of some description.
I had an Autometer AFR which by no means is nothing more than an indicator of what might be going on with your engine. After fitting i understood that on WOT it should stay solid green but mine went green then crept back to amber. This made me do a Delta Dash run with the kind help of someone off Scoobynet which showed i was indeed running lean. Long story short, my MAF was failing but as the CEL only shows a failed sensor, i was unaware until i fitted the gauge Truth be told, i only bought it to fill the hole that was left when i got rid of a boost gauge in favour of some Defis - but it was probably the best £50 i'd spent on my Scoob

 

ok what is this knock-link thing??
at a guess it detects knock??
but knock from what??
why essential on turbo cars??
how does it work??
where to buy??
how much??

i think alot of the times you guys forget how clued up on things you all are, some of us (me) are beginners at scoobs/turbos and have no fecking clue what your on about..

thanks

 

It's mOre common than peeps think. "most" peeps in std car or even a std scoob wouldn't notice the difference. I've heard of at least 10 instances of it happening because of KL. I wonder how many 2.5ltrs have fallen foul of ****e fuel

A post from a few years ago

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...ml#post4067740

 

I've got a KS3 and apart from when I've given the car the beans then it never bleeps anything which is great but I find that having a set of Defi gauges and a KS3 I tend to spend some time monitoring the gauges and KS3.

I agree that having the warning is great but don't other members find that they from time to time are keeping an eye on the oil pressure gauge plus viewing the KS3 to check for the highest knock reading on your trip?

Thankfully I will be ditching the Defi's and KS3 when I get my Simtek (now Alcatek) ECU firmware updated plus mapped and will be going for a Toucan display, where I can I believe turn off certain readings unless there is a problem. So the only time I will be worrying about a problem will be when it happens, ignorance is bliss as they say and I like bliss.

 

Knock or Detonation is the pre-ignition of the fuel air mixture in the cylinder. The greater the RON figure the less prone Det is to happen, it is essentially a item on turbo cars due to the increased pressure within the cylinder causing extra heat within the cylinders.

 

Essential bit of kit?? You're having a laugh!

 

Funny you should mention that Tyron,I am putting serious thought to selling my defi's/KS3 and getting a toucan screen when I upgrade the simtek

 

went to scoobyclinic on friday and spoke to Kev(the gaffer)top bloke
was thinking of a few upgrades which led to him showing me the toucan display that works well will the new alcatec ecu. great bit of kit
alcatec ecu £1000+vat
toucan display £300 plus but worked out cheaper than defi s,look on youtube to see how it works

 

Go on Shaun - I'll bite, why not?

 

Yeah, sorry:

Knock, also known as det, or pinking, is caused by pre-ignition, that is when the mixture in the cylinder ignites BEFORE it should.

On a petrol engine, the explosion (ignition) in the cylinder should happen JUST BEFORE the piston reaches the TOP of it's upstroke. (TDC).
This will give it exactly the shove it needs to complete the most powerful downstroke.

Unfortunately, if the explosion occurs too far before the top, it has the effect of stopping the piston dead in it's tracks, or trying to, and the resultant forces are transmitted to the bearings on the crank and those at the big ends, where they cause the bearings to deteriorate, rather quickly

On a turbo car, det is more likely because of the extra fuel and air mixture in the upper cylinder, and the fact they they run hotter.
Subaru engines don't like knock. It MAY be because of the horizontally opposed format, but they seem to be LESS able to withstand bouts of knock than other performance engines. Maybe because the pistons are opposed, so any knock is acting against knock from the OTHER side, doubling the force? I don't know enough about it to say, but it would seem likely.

The knock link is an electronic gizmo that sits on your dash, or can, with patience, be built in, and responds to sounds coming from the engine via a knock sensor, bolted over one of the cylinders.
Once installed, it is adjusted so that it hears nothing when the engine is running normally. If it hears excess noise, it flashes up a warning via a row of LEDs, the more of them that light, the worse the knock

Where to buy I don't know now, they may still be available, they may have been superseded by a better type, (KS3), which is also dearer. You could Google "buy knocklink" or try ebay, or some of the tuning firms like API, Harvey Smith, AS Performance, Scoobyclinic, Scoobymania, Powerstation, etc.
They used to be around £100-£120, and are a doddle to fit.

HTH.

 

Yes and you can now have it upgraded to take corrective action and put a knock warning on the Toucan screen if you prefer.

 

Thanks Martin,
This is something I'm now considering now Iv heard about the Simtec update.