new Daewoo Nubira owner... engine light question.

[diesel_benz]

Hi everyone,

Despite my username, I do own a Daewoo (I did have a 350SDL benz but it was too much work to keep up with). I recently got a 2001 Daewoo Nubira CDX at a very good price. It has "supposedly" 43k miles on it. I changed the rotors and pads but other than that everything major seems to work.

Keep in mind I'm a young guy (22) and don't really know a whole lot about cars. I can do basic maintenance myself but came to this forum hoping I could learn more about my car.

This past weekend I went to the poconos. On the way there (and on the way back) I noticed a lot of trouble on steep hills, where I would have to push the pedal down hard to finally jolt the car into some speed. I haven't had the car long so I don't know if this is normal. Anyway, on the way back the CHECK ENGINE light came on. After I got back home I went to autozone and they read the OBD2 and found P0327 code. Apparantly, this code has a probable cause of a faulty knock sensor. So I went online and ordered the part.

Last night I was coming home and it was snowing and very slippery. I was having some fun with the car doing some sharp turns, but on one of them I hit the curb slightly. Everything seemed fine and I also notice my check engine light was OFF. This got me wondering, was the knock sensor faulty in the first place, or just loose wiring that may have been knocked into place when I hit the curb?

So, my questions are-

1) How can I troubleshoot to see if the knock sensor is in fact faulty? I really don't even know where it is located or where the wiring is.
2) Is there any tuning I could do to get some more performance out of the car?
3) Any sensors that I should take readings of using obd2?

Sorry if this is wrong forum- moderator please move it for me. And thanks in advance for help.


p.s. This is a completely separate issue, but I thought I may throw it out there. On the gearshift there is a "power" button that is supposed to lower the rpm at which the auto transmission changes gear. I was trying it out but I did not see any POWER light come on on the dashboard (I know the light works though because it lights up temporarily on startup).
I took the gearshift off and found two wires, one black and one white, going nowhere (they were cut with a little copper showing on each). I thought that wasn't good so I taped each end and put it back. However, I am fairly sure those wires control the power switch and I'm not sure why they are cut. I know the dealer I got it from won't know anything about it. What can I do?

[diesel_benz]

I got my new knock sensor in the mail yesterday. I would like to test if my current one is actually bad or not, or if it just had loose wiring. Can someone help?! Thanks.

[MMamdouh]

i guess you can't test it unless you got a scanner and check for its readings while it is on the car and engine running

MMamdouh