Knock warning after ecutek tune
 

So I started to notice that ecutek has been triggering knock warning (CEL flashes) while I’m in 1/2/3 gear and driving around 1500-2500 rpms, it happens pretty often. Is anyone else having this issue? Also there are times my cruise control flashes and I can’t change maps, I have to turn the car off and on again.

What could the problem be? Aggressive tune?

Never has happened to me, i find it weird that it knocks at such a low rpm. Whats your oil pressure look like? Does the car knock on full pulls too?

Hey man, glad to here I'm not alone with this. I had knocking error like crazy with my UpRev, so much so that we had to go to UpRev personally and get them to read the data because the tuner was worried the engine was toast!

Heres the short of it.

The tune has its own calculations to read the knock sensor and the factory computer also has. Generally your car usually only has the single knock sensor from the factory reading everything and that ok, but when you add the factory tune with the aftermarket tune, you now have 2 different systems reading the knock sensor. They basically fight each other in some situations.

Even though your reading a knock sensor you are most likely not actually experiencing a knock. (you would here / feel it if you were)

In the end we figured out with my set up that the following was the cooperate.

I run cut out exhaust with test pipes, When running the car with cut outs closed we did not throw the knock sensor on the tune or the factory read. When cut outs were open we through the knock code only on the tune but not the factory reader. The tune is reading at such a different level then the factory reader that it was picking up the crazy vibrations / sound from the cut outs. By increasing the knock range in the tune program we eliminated the issue.

Been running the car track set up all summer, never had an issue or thrown a knock sensor issue since.

Feel free to msg me for more info, I can go into much more detail on the resolution with this issue.

Hope this helps

Never WOT, only when in low gear at low rpms w/ 30-40% throttle at most.

Thanks for the info Cranberry, that's good to know and also relieving, I did message the tuner to see what he has to say. My only other issue is when my cruise control light flashes and I can't change maps, I haven't tried flat foot shifting to launch control when it flashes so I'm not sure if everything is disabled. I will have to test that.

Had the same issue when remote-tuned. :shakes head:

After i got a "real" dyno tune by Seb it's all good!!

It sounds to me like you are lugging the engine. Dropping down a gear and getting the RPMs up might help.

Might want to try a tank of high-octane gas. If the knocking stops, get your tune adjusted (or start using hi-octane fuel).

I'm awaiting a reply from the tuner, it was Kaizen Tuning here in MA, the are pretty reputable and I did dyno tune. I could possibly run in lower gear. I haven't changed my driving style at all. I'm thinking it's what the Cranberry said about knock reading from Ecutek... well at least I hope it is. I won't know until the tuner takes another look.

Just curious if you have fixed the issue?

I had the same issues, car just pulls timing. Car never did it on uprev which was weird. One way to see if your car is actually knocking is to record your knock sensor and listen while you’re making pulls.

I get the flashing cruise light also on ECUTEK. I dont use the cruise so its not a bother for me.

I also had some knock warnings, that I could identify as happening at the with both high octane fuel and 87 on the data logs. The tuner and I decided it was ghost knock and we raised the threshold for the sensors. Problem solved.

The knock correction system is quite complex. The primary decision making factor is the knock sensitivity map, which is a general one implemented by nissan. Each engine will have its own unique signature. Using my tuning software, I'm able to generate knock sensitivity compensations based off of hundreds of megaytes of log data, producing a very unique knock signature for the engine which can be applied to help the ECU tell the difference between real knock and simply a noisy cylinder/engine.

Using limited log data can work to determine some of these thresholds, but the sheer size of the map and the conditions it covers makes it almost impossible to get accurate results from just a handful of logs.

Once the threshold(s) are crossed the ecu responds by pulling timing respective to how much the threshold is crossed. Timing keeps getting pulled until noise levels stablize. The ecutek knock warning simply flashes when the ecu has corrected the timing by a certain amount. Some tuners leave it at the default -3 degrees, some set it to -6, whereas others disable the feature.

Once the timing is pulled to around -9 correction, the ecu switches to a fail-safe mode map and the corrections can actually appear positive rather than negative.

The more corrections the ecu makes, the more power you will loose. This is becuase incorrect timing off by as much as 2 or 3 degrees will cause a loss of power that will remain until the ecu decides to advance the timing back once it thinks it's safe.

If anyone is interested in learning more or getting their calibration adjusted to be as perfect as possible, please feel free to reach out for assistance. I do all the tuning using data analysis software that I've developed specifically for doing various types of tuning. I require large amounts of data to produce effective results.

One thing that was not said here is Nissan highly recommends only using “top tier” gasoline in all of their model vehicles. It is crucial what gasoline you use with the ECUTEK and UpRev tunes for our Z’s. Also if you use generic additive low quality gasoline pinging or detonation can and will happen. People getting a ECUTEK or UpRev tune on any Z need to clarify how they want their tune done before hand.

So probably need a little more information on this. Like was it doing this recently after a tune or had it been a lot of miles? What’s your normal driving like, aggressive or mild? Have you actually done some logs and seen just how far out the ignition correction is?

I was starting to get some occurrences as well under part throttle and a decent load like a steady incline and also some occurrences between a 1-2 shift with 7 AT. Most of my driving is pretty mild on the street (I need my license for work and can’t risk being stupid) and it’s been a while since I’ve had a track day. Anyhow mine has cleared up after using some amsoil p1 injector cleaner (which is basically a valve cleaner, other brands have the same stuff) doing a long trip to so cal and some mild pulls where I could, also I added a catch can setup as any oil in the intake system will lower the effective octane rating. This has seemed to clear up the part throttle medium load and has only had minor occurrences over something like the grapevine in summer (steep, high altitude and hot). The 1-2 shift occurrences were cleared up with z1 poly diff kit. Haven’t had an occurrence since however I did all this right before the weather started getting milder (was still summer just not mid summer), so I won’t really know 100% until mid summer again.

In my case with mild driving it can cause more deposits on the backs of the intake valves which can then absorb some fuel like a sponge and make you AF off a little just enough to cause some mild occurrences. Was never bad enough to feel or hear but I guess enough for the sensor to trip.

no, the issue is still there. I get it from time to time. I try not to drive it at such low rpm lol. Kind of sucks. I still get the cruise light flashing and not being able to change maps as well.