So I hear you have to take off the intake manifold to get to it? My question is do I have to buy new intake gaskets for the job?

 

When ya order your new knock sensor, get a new gasket to have in case the old one is bad after removing the intake manifold. Ya may not need it, but it would be wise to have it just in case. Why risk having to tear it apart afterwards....should ya have a vac leak ?

 

They are metal and reusable. Unless you bend or damage one (very unlikely) while removing them you dont need new ones. In all my years of taking the intake manifold (upper and lower) i have never had to replace a gasket

 

You should see if your dealer has the short wiring harness that goes to the sensor. I've seen way more rat damaged harnesses than sensors, although the last one I did, they chewed up the sensor connector as well. You could also ask them to sell you a couple feet of their rodent deterring tape, maybe from their service department, as it's about $30 a roll.

 

Careful when pulling the connector on the sensor, the plastic can be brittle and break.
You only need to remove the front lower intake from the cylinder head not the rear one, Its held on by 12mm bolts if I remember.
Might as well clean the EGR ports since the whole intake is going to be out. Good luck

 

This. Even installing be careful when plugging it in as to not pull to hard.

 

I have also read that you can access at least the sensor wiring harness/connector by removing the p/s pump. I can't verify that it works or not, or if it would only apply if you were just doing the harness, but not the sensor

 

I got everything thing off. Replaced the knock sensor and when I started to put the upper intake back on I made it to the first bolt which snapped when I was trying to torque to 16lbs according to my repair manual.. luckily my threads on the intake are ok.

 

And thanks for all the replies I appreciate it!

 

You could have gotten to it by removing power steering pump and bracket that holds the knock sensor sub harness. As for breaking the bolt what kind of torque wrench are you using? The torque spec is 16ft lbs for the bolts. I have seen people use cheap torque wrenches which I do not trust.