P038 knock sensor code

My 05 tacoma has been riding great lately up until today it threw a code P038 knock sensor. The thing is, I just got it back from my local Tires Plus as I got the tires rotated and balanced. They mentioned the "battery was weak" and if anything acts up they can fix it trying to upsell me. It's just very strange to me that my truck was fine with no codes and I get it back from their FREE rotate and balance ( I have lifetime rotate and balance on these tires there) and now it's throwing this code. Any suggestions ?

 

Any signs of a mouse being under the hood?

 

Not that I know of? What should I look for?

 

The knock sensor is a major pain in the ass to replace on the 4.0 dunno if there are shortcuts but factory manual says to remove head to change a 18 hour book time job.

We have had three issues at our dealer with knock sensors on tacomas each being chewed wires, it's in a valley on top of the block under the intake etc

 

****... so you don't think a tire shop could have caused foul play in an hour time span correct?

 

Would seriously doubt it, the repair would be far beyond any tire shop.

There is also certain requirements for a cel to set such as two drive cycles etc.

I would do some research on that code

 

I left the shop, made two stops no code. Got back to my apartment hung out for a while then when I left later this evening the code was thrown.

 

In the picture below it has one of the knock sensors circled in red, the other is almost directly across on the other side of the intake valley. Note the image shows the cylinder head removed. Someone on here has repaired the wiring without removing the head, but stated it was a massive pain to do so.

Here is the procedure from the shop manual for removal.
http://www.customtacos.com/tech.old...6toyrm/06toypdf/06rmsrc/rm2006ta/00500810.pdf

 

Our master tech has done repairs on the wiring but as you said it's a huge pain and he's been doing it for 20+ years

 

I've replaced the knock sensors without removing the water pipes, but its very very difficult. It's usually the subharness, and it's usually not worth fixing.

 

My question is - do y'all think there was any "foul play" involved where the tire shop messed with it?

 

Not likely since you would go to a different shop probably to get it fixed. It is not a quick and easy while you wait.

 

Ok thank you. I cleared the code with my reader. We will see if t pops back up...

 

Hi bishop84, as a Toyota tech are you saying you can get away without fixing the knock sensor? Tia