I'm pulling out the engine on my FC to have it rebuilt and street ported. While removing the engine harness from the ecu, I found the knock controller just floating around (unbolted). Upon inspection, I would consider it K.O.

What would be the symptoms of this unit not working? I'm just curious if this was the real issue as to why my car never ran right when I bought it. Its been a year since I bought it, drove it on/off the tow truck, blew 1 donut and parked it. Damn car is full of *$#%^+! rigs.

 

probably not the best answer you were hoping for but....
mid/late 80's electronics on cars... not that good! It's useless. A bump in the road will set that thing off. The factory test method? Hitting the engine with a hammer and checking to see the timing drop. If your car wasn't running right, this thing had nothing to do with it. You can get rid of it.

 

@beefhole what does it actually do? I'm do not quite understand its function.

 

I believe it's supposed to retard the timing when it detects knock. Beefhole mentioned the 'hit the engine with a hammer' test, it's in the FSM.