Knock sensor on Honda Accord 2005 and Honda Odyssey 2002

Do I really need to replace knock sensors on my cars?? It turns out
that some rats in my yard have eaten through the wiring to the knock
sensors causing the check engine light to go on. Interestingly the
lights went on in both the cars within a day of each other -the 2005
Accord only has 50,000 miles while the Odyssey 2002 has 110,000. The
dealer says that the knock sensor tells whether the engine is "hurting
itself". Is this true?? They want $345 to replace the sensors??? Can
I just drive the cars and wait and see if their is a pinging problem
and then let them fix the cause of pinging??

 

wrote in @a26g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

Do not drive the cars any more than necessary until you get them fixed.

You absolutely require those knock sensors. The engine's computer uses
those in order to determine the maximum possible ignition spark advance
that it can use without incurring engine damage.

The engine's computer defaults to a "limp-home" spark map in the absence of
knock sensor input, but I don't think you're meant to rely on this as a
usable everyday setup.

At this point you have nothing to lose by attempting a repair of the wiring
itself. If an electrically clean enough connection can be made, you might
be able to save the cost of new sensors.

Or did the filthy little bastards damage the connectors themselves, or did
they leave too little wiring to splice in new pieces?

 

The rat problem needs fixed first then the wires. Rats just love that Honda
wiring for some reason...

 

I was going to say something about the rats, but I figured the OP would
have Googled that already. TONS of online information on getting rid of
filthy rodents.

Rodents make good target practice, but you'll never kill enough of them
that way.

Dirty, sneaky, pooping, pissing, munching, evil little critters. I hate
them with a passion.