high KR on stock bonneville?

[younggunls1]

Hey guys

Did some logging yesterday just for the hell of it and noticed I am getting 1-3* of knock during acceleration and up to 6*

You can see in this picture I only went to about 58% throttle and 3300rpm and I got a bit over 5* of knock



And later I did a full throttle run up to about 5000 rpm and got 6* of knock after doing that.



Is this normal for a stock l36? I don't have a FWI on the car at the moment..just a shift kit and ported front manifold.

[Jfridge92]

KR's definitely not normal, but there's a few things that could be causing it.

The torque management can sometimes pull timing, not sure if that would show as knock necessarily, but the pcm pulls the timing in the same way it does when there is KR present. Make sure the plugs and wires are good, no exhaust restrictions (CAT), and maybe try a colder plug. The transmission is pretty noisy in these cars as well. They make a kit to dampen the sound from the transmission around the rear knock sensor, and that may help some. The power steering pump can also be noisy, and cause false knock.

First things first, find out of you're getting false knock or real knock. My car has a FWI and a canned tune, and I still see 7* of knock on occasion. I'm trying to sort it all out still as well. I have a thread on it in the 92-99 section. I'll try and dig it up, but that one and gweg_b have a few threads on knock. There are a lot of good things to try in them.

[nos4blood70]

An untuned L36 will happily knock up to 10 degrees in the right conditions. It's perfectly "normal". It doesn't hurt anything on the NA motors, it's just inefficient.

Mine would still get KR running 93 on cold nights.

Now with the tune I have it's pretty much gone.

[younggunls1]

Who did you get your tune thru? I'm planning to go with an overkill tune.. Read really good things on his tunes on Gp forums and have spoke with him about my car.

[gweg_b]

Yeah, mine reaches up to around 4* of knock retard on stock pulley, no matter the temperature (slightly less than 6* on a 3.6" pulley). Yes, mine's boosted, so obviously that's worse for a S/C'd engine. My current mods and canned tune didn't even seem to make a difference in lowering it. Apparently, mine was producing knock, even in stock form (just didn't know until I got my gauge).

Joesph listed a few good things to check. Check to see if the KR changes any when it shifts gears. That may give you a hint to see if it's related to the transmission (mine actually goes to 0 when changing gears). Check for any vacuum leaks as well. I had one at the TB, and after fixing it, my KR went down about 1.5-2* overall.

Hopefully you'll be able to get it solved. I'm at a point where I'm out of options, short of tearing the engine down and finding out if I already have damage. It's either that, or I have an insane about of mystery false knock.

[crash93ssei]

I have the same problem with my '02 SE, I often see 1 - 3 degrees KR while cruising at 60 and up to 6 or 7 under heavy throttle. It is also crazy insane slow as those who rode in it during the Michigan meet will tell you

[gweg_b]

Even for an L36, that car does not pull very quickly!

[younggunls1]

Did some WOT runs today and got close to a max of 8* of knock..forgot to look at what the knock was at during shifts, I will do that next time.

[nos4blood70]

Did some WOT runs today and got close to a max of 8* of knock..forgot to look at what the knock was at during shifts, I will do that next time.

I have an Overkill 93 tune. It is wonderful. You can ask Will. *shoot* boogies now for an NA, even I won't deny it that.

My fuel economy went up from it too.

[younggunls1]

Ya im gonna go with will as well. He talked me into an 87 tune tho since I got the car to save money and commute 400 miles a week. With premium being 40-65 cents a gallon more here I don't feel like spending extra on it. I did some 0-60 runs today as well and managed a best of 9 seconds even... Pretty pathetic. Hoping with a fwi back on I can squeeze that down a half second and then with a tune and hv3 another second to get me in the mid 7s. I'll be happy with that for a while.

[nos4blood70]

See where I get gas, 93 is only 20 cents more than 87 so it's negligible to me. But I had the 87 tune from Will on before I had the 93 for about a week. It is definitely a noticeable improvement, both in terms of drivability and performance. But I was hungry for more... XD

Only thing is though, Penny's tune is custom. I sent him scans of my car. Not sure how the canned tunes are.

[younggunls1]

See where I get gas, 93 is only 20 cents more than 87 so it's negligible to me. But I had the 87 tune from Will on before I had the 93 for about a week. It is definitely a noticeable improvement, both in terms of drivability and performance. But I was hungry for more... XD

Only thing is though, Penny's tune is custom. I sent him scans of my car. Not sure how the canned tunes are.

Ya at 20 cents more I wouldn't think twice about it..but here it is on average 40-45 cents more..as high as 65 cents I have seen so I have to weigh my pros and cons out

What did you take scans with? I really want HP tuners but just can't afford to get it, but I also really want a tune because the car is such a dog right now lol..it takes too much pedal to get it to move/downshift/do anything. I am so used to a manual trans that this automatic crap sucks again..and I am hoping a tune will help with the lag, help with some extra get up etc.. I don't need faster 0-60 times..just need better drive-ability/pedal manners.

It sounds like he can get me a pretty good tune canned or not. He seems to know his stuff and as long as it is "close" I am good with it, since I am not trying to make it fast..just better performing.

[00Beast]

Port your LIM. Factory, the ports are so mismatched it's awful.

[nos4blood70]

I sent him scans using HPT. He did a lot of drivability tweaks for me. It doesn't take as much throttle for it to down shift. It tends to hold gears a little longer so power is smoother and more on tap. Shifts chirp the tires at WOT, but are nearly transparent when just putzing around. It runs richer at WOT so your tail pipes turn black, but if you lift off just before a WOT 1-2 shift it backfires and sounds bad ass. XD I can get the LOW TRAC thing to light up when I punch it 25 now. Plus the sound changed too. The car just screams, especially through the FWI. One of my favorite mods that I did to my car. Did not think just a tune would make it this much more fun. I will say this though, be patient with Will. He's a very busy guy and tuning isn't his main job.

And yeah, port that LIM. That made a big difference too. Especially in the middle RPM range.