Hi Guys,

Car was running real well up to today. Here is the back story: Haven't used the car for about 3 weeks. Decided to take care of the cabin filter.

Not only was the filter bad but there was leaves, gunk on the sides and below the cabin filter box.

Removed the 4 bolts holding the cabin filter box assembly in and vacuumed out all the debris. (Drain on bottom of cabin filter are was clear)

I ran some water on top and on each side of the cabin filter box to rinse out the rest of the debris down the drain. Put everything back together with a new cabin filter.

Start the car with AC on to ensure all is well with the cabin filter and boom... restricted performance P0332 (low voltage)

Shut the car off. Put my CTek charger on it for about an hour, started the car again. Let it idle and no P0332. Took the car around the block and again RP and P0332 pending.

Low battery? Possibly I got water where it shouldn't have gone.

Opinions welcome and thanks. I'm hoping a Knock Sensor replacement is NOT on the horizon...

 

A very good summary here:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article...lerie-johnston

If the cabin filter drain is blocked then water can affect the ECM. In your case the drain was not visibly blocked but you
could possibly have got water on the ECM main plug and possibly into the ECM itself.
I would check that first since it appears that a knock sensor replacement is quite involved

 

I'm really hoping not but it was my first thought when the RP popped up.

Luckily it's hot and dry up here in NJ so I'm going to leave it alone for a few days to give it a chance to dry out.

Also leaving the car on the CTek as well.

 

If there is water on the plug and inside the Ecu it's best to open it up and dry it out

as soon as possible.

If it's left it gives it a chance to cause damage eg corrosion.

Just my opinion.

Hope you get it fixed

 

If the PCM may have got wet then don't leave it - get it out and dry it, first by blotting with lint-free paper towel to make sure you get any contaminants off.

 

Will get to it right after work today

 

I want to update this. Took the cowl off and the covers exposing the PCM. Took off the plug and no evidence of water ingress. Decided not to go any further on this. I put some dielectric grease for good measure.

My CTek charged up the battery. Started car and drove it. No P0332 and not pending either. The interesting thought here is after shutting the car off the battery seemed to go south quickly.

My Innova showed anywhere between 11.6V to 12.3V, which is in "asking for trouble" terrority.

Additionally, not sure how old the battery is but I know it's not OEM spec. The car has sat for long periods of time and very short drives, a recipe for premature failure.

Going to have the battery load tested over the weekend and if it fails off to Home Depot...

 

Well, back at it.

Replaced battery with Exide Extreme. Somehow water is finding it's way to somewhere it doesn't belong.

Heavy rains today. Started the car and boom RP. Hooked up scanner and P0327 this time.

Took a flashlight and noticed water all the way down and back on firewall. When I removed the cabin filter assembly I noticed white streaks down the firewall. I did pull the PCM harness - no signs of corrosion.

Checked inside the vehicle. PCM was dry but the felt above it felt moist.

Dammit. I might have forgot to mention all this started after getting an aftermarket windshield fitted. Once the weather breaks I have to take everything apart and this time taking the PCM out as well. In the meantime I have a trash bag fitted to the passenger side of the windshield/hood.

 

After further checks for resistance one KS is out of range and the other is "marginal". I understand these go around 100K miles or go kaput when exposed to coolant.

Well, this car had a major coolant leak when I took ownership. Looks like I'm diving in. (And changing everything out on the way into the depths of the engine, including the hose under the supercharger)

I have 2 new Denso KS sensors on hand.

 

Is this a big job? I got a P0327 with restricted performance the last few days (keeps coming and going) indicating a bad knock sensor. I hardly ever drive the car but I am getting getting to put in on rotation -

 

For the NA engines not so bad. For the SC version they are on each side of the valley hose under the supercharger.

Check ohms for the knock sensor itself. You should see 200K ohms +/- 5%. I just re-checked both my knock sensors today and they were around 115K ohms - well below spec.

As a test I put a 200k ohm 1/4W resistor on the harness side and this showed both knock sensors need to be swapped out.