knock/ping/detonation sensors for M50 NV

[fo3]

My car has to have them right? Right?
I was thinking of replacing mine but they never existed. realOEM is greyed out with no part number for 09/90-08/91

09/91-08/92 NV gets me a part number of 12141735910, but don't worry, they are unavailable as well. Probably no good to me as they were some changes between 90 and 91 anyway so I don't buy anything unless I can verify any differences. In this case it's comparing a ghost with a NOLA part though.

All I can find is TU/vanos 92+ sensors 12141738667 that every site tells me won't fit, so it seems whatever they used in the TU vanos engine is not compatible. This isn't strange because it's the same problem with MAFs.

Some unicorn BS again. Has anyone ever replaced knock sensors on a NV m50?

[The Chauffeur]

I think we don't have them?

When I first got my car, I also looked everywhere for them to no avail; just until very recently, I read somewhere that "the technical upgrade included variable timing yada-yada, and also anti-pinging sensors"... Don't quote me on that, I saved that info to my files, but I've been looking for it for the past 30 minutes without luck... Hope someone comes back with a definitive answer.

I feel your pain, as it's almost like we got BMW's test mules . Like you say with the MAFs, not to mention the battery in the engine bay, ICV, etc, etc. BTW, not to change subject, you can install a newer style ICV (with the corresponding holder and hose), wish it was the same case with the MAF.

[bigsixe34]

None on a NV. I had to buy 2 new ones to do the S52 swap.
Edit: on a '92 525.

[fo3]

Thanks.
It would be weird for any EFI car without a mechanical distributor to not have them as the DME controls timing.
I don't remember seeing them when I had the intake off, or playing around with the idle control - but then again I wasn't looking for them.

I know where they should be if I could check now, but it's raining buckets and the only garage I can park my car is so narrow I have no access to the LH side of the car so thanks for the replies.
It's raining so badly these last couple of days my room had water leaking into it yesterday. It made some magic smoke came out of my audio amp (few drops of water into the dust magnets that vented amps always become shorted a capacitor and turned it into a bullet - no audio for me on my PC until I mail order decent caps, because of course nobody sells anything useful in my city)

[whiskychaser]

I wouldn't venture out in the rain looking for knock sensors because I don't think you have them either. My Feb '92 NV certainly didn't. (It didn't have a cat either and left the factory like that but that is a different story)

FWIW, Realoem confirms that 12141735910 was superseded by 12141738667 and they are compatible.

There is a possible upside - if you haven't got something, it cannot go wrong

[fo3]

FWIW, Realoem confirms that 12141735910 was superseded by 12141738667 and they are compatible.

Yeah, I read and confirmed that from turnermotorsport.com. Which only added to my confusion because that's a pre 'TU' ie non vanos part number.

"if you haven't got something, it cannot go wrong"
Raises more questions for me. EFI/DME no dizzy, no ignition control. 91/95 RON going to be OK or screw things up? Doing a rebore and stroker build, possible forced induction with such a dumb ECU is out of the question. Might be the final nail in the coffin and get me on the RB path

[bigsixe34]

Send Jon (5mall5nail5) a PM if you're serious about boosting a NV. He knows everything there is to know about that. IIRC his final build was 2.9L and made 685WHP so it's the whole anything's possible with the time and money thing...
That said, even he will say the NV route is not the path of least resistance.
I haven't boosted one of these myself but I've seen plenty of builds go by on the screen and they've been mostly VANOS motors.

[whiskychaser]

A big thanks to bigsixe34 for remembering a user name correctly when I could not. Doing a search using Snail instead of 5nail did not work too well

[So Live]

Yeah, I read and confirmed that from turnermotorsport.com. Which only added to my confusion because that's a pre 'TU' ie non vanos part number.

"if you haven't got something, it cannot go wrong"
Raises more questions for me. EFI/DME no dizzy, no ignition control. 91/95 RON going to be OK or screw things up? Doing a rebore and stroker build, possible forced induction with such a dumb ECU is out of the question. Might be the final nail in the coffin and get me on the RB path

What do you mean no ignition control? The NV ECU definitely changes ignition timing based on load and all the other parameters, even without knock sensors. Not familiar with the octane conversions to RON but i'd run whatever octane fuel the manual tells you to.

Another issue is the support of the NV ECU for FI. The TU gets all the love in that department. Unless things have changed in the past few years you might be stuck going to a standalone ECU, which isnt the end of the world. The NV used a different style MAF and the interest was so low compared to the TU crowd no one supported them for turbo builds. There were some aftermarket chips but nothing for turbo/custom stuff. All that being said, people have been boosting engines without knock sensors for a long time (look at the e30 era and older crowds and any of the earlier megasquirt ECUs)! Just have to be a little conservative in your ignition tuning and really have to tune it on a dyno.

Hard parts wise the NV motors are great for boost though!