This exact hack worked for me also on 2000 es300 with 250k miles. Many thanks!

 

You really are the man, Bobster. To clear up 50% of the questions on this thread: 1) if you are getting BOTH P0330 and P0325 codes, you CANNOT do this hack. You MUST have one good knock sensor working for this to work as you are just feeding good info from the working sensor into the bad sensor wire. If you are getting both codes P0330 and P0325, you MUST replace both sensors and the harness with genuine OEM Denso parts. Do NOT buy Rock auto or auto zone parts. You WILL fail, have to do it again with genuine parts and be out all the money for the 1st repair. 2) If getting P0325, cut clear wire and splice clear wire on the connector side to the black wire. If P0330 (by far the most common), cut black wire then splice black wire on the ECU/white connector side to clear. 3) You don't have to cut all wires - just the bad wire. Just cut the bad code wire (P0330 = bad black wire. P0325 = bad clear wire) then remove 1/4" of sheathing from good wire - AKA other wire. Now expose 1/4" of bad wire (the one attached to the ECU/white connector) and just solder this bad wire to the open unsheathed/exposed area you made on the good wire. Wrap with tape. Tape off the end of the bad wire that you cut - the one that is coming from the firewallengine/sensor. You don't need this wire anymore but want to make sure it doesn't short.

 

I am from Oz.
my car is Toyota Estima 2001 (as known as Sienna or Tarago…) which has a bank 2 knock sensor bad.

from your post, I understood the way and I follow the ECU diagram of my car to find out which is KNKR & KNKL (knock sensor bank 1 & 2), then I cut off the KNKL (bank 2) line (grey) and connected it to the other. Then it means only knock sensor bank 1 send signal to both KNKR & KNKL in the ECU, then the ECU stops the limp mode. Drove 200Km today and it’s still fine!

thanks a bunch for your post, that saves thousands of dollars 💵 for many people.

cheers!!!!!

 

in fact we can still do it!!!
Just install 1 knock sensor to both KNKR & KNKL of the ECU, next to the ECU
the idea of it is ECU reads the signals from knock sensors. => we can give it the signals by installing a sensor where we want

 

The ECU is smarter than that. What do you think triggers a knock sensor failure?

 

Hey maxSteel. Just to be clear. I would gladly spend the $1,500 it will properly take to replace both knock sensors and related parts on my 2002 RX300. Gladly! The car has 168,000 runs and looks like new and I take it on 10 hour trips with my wonderful family on a regular basis. It must be in perfect shape for us. I bought it new with 4 miles in Nov 2002 and it has been PERFECTLY maintained. BUT I have two friends who had P0330 codes - one with a 2001 RX and one with 2003 RX. Now you probably know that the 2001 to 2003 RX are almost bolt to bolt identical (99-2001 is like a different SUV in many ways - that's a different thread). BOTH of my friends had the ENTIRE knock system replaced on their cars with Genuine Denso OEM everything -- harness, sensors, everything. Done by the local Lexus dealership. Guess what happened??? BOTH of my friends were AGAIN throwing the SAME P0330 codes within a year. Yes, no joke! None of our cars knocked, none ran less than perfect. Now, my friends are not going to spend another $1,500 each to have these parts replaced AGAIN for them to send the same code again in 6 months to year down the road. Obviously, all the sensors and related parts on these three Lexus RX300s weren't bad. That's four on one car, four on another and two on mine. This is a RECOGNIZED DEFECT from the engineers at Toyota. These are all possibilities: The crystals in the sensors are too sensitive, the sensors cannot differentiate between a hard bump in road and an engine knock, the harness is too fragile, etc etc etc. It doesn't matter because it's a defect. My friends and I have all soldered black into clear. All have one good sensor sending signal, none of the RX's are pinging or running rough, we all run 91 to 93 octane just in case. Difference: My buds are $3,000 lighter in the pocket because of this engine and engineering defect.

 

Hi Dan

I'm not defending the design, and I too had the code a few months after replacing the sensors and harness. I did the splice hack after that and have lived with it since. If it fails I will chase the wiring and see why. I think the knock sensor wires at the ECU go directly to the knock sensor harness connector so it should be straightforward.

My comment was in response to your suggestion "Just install 1 knock sensor to both KNKR & KNKL of the ECU, next to the ECU". I interpreted this as "stick a knock sensor next to the ECU", but that won't work. The ECU is expecting a "normal" waveform from the sensor when the engine speed is between 2,000 rpm and 5,600 rpm and will fail the sensor when it doesn't get it.

 

One of the advantage of paying big bucks to the dealership is that you get 1 yr of parts and labor warranty. At least that is my impression as I do my work myself. I did the actual replacement and had trouble free 150K miles afterwards.

Salim

 

Thanks to everyone who posted on this !!
I did the hackn on my RX300. It worked, and now driving great again. It was easy and relatively quick. Taking out the glove box was the hardest part!!

 

Hey guys. OG here! lol.... I have not been here for years ans just logged in. Glad to see many were helped.

 

Could be the most popular post ever. Thanks!

 

hate to dig up this dead post but I’m stumped. I got a 2000 RX 300 for free last year. I’ve run into the knock sensor codes, so I did the wire splice and it worked for about six months. Now the code is for both knock sensors being bad. I went ahead and drilled and tapped the engine support bracket and put in a new knock sensor there. I have ground at the sensor, continuity from the ECU all the way out to the sensor, but I’m still getting the code for both sensors being bad. My question is what sort of reading am I supposed to be getting and where am I supposed to be getting it from , the ECU or the sensor? The harness and sensors are new, but they are Dorman brand sensors. I just purchased some Denzo sensors, but they won’t be in till next week. Any help between now and then would be much appreciated.

 

If you don't use genuine knock sensors you'll likely never solve your problem, and they have to be mounted in the correct locations. I'm betting the "Denso" parts you bought are fake buy the real thing or keep buying parts over and over.
https://www.amayama.com/en/part/toyota/8961512090

 

I appreciate it. The sensor I have in right now are Dorman brand from advance auto. I just bought some denso sensors and they’ll be in next week. Is there any reading I should be seeing? I get like .05 volts at the ecu and a fluctuating .03-.05 at the sensor. I don’t know what I’m looking for in that regard.

 

Simplified the knock sensor is a microphone and the ECU is listening for a "normal" sound when the engine is between 2000 and 5600 rpm. If it doesn't read that waveform it assumes the sensor or harness is bad. It's possible the Dorman sensor mounted in the bracket isn't producing the correct signal. Only way to test it is probably with an oscilloscope