The knock sensors in these cars are suppose to be very good but they can only do so much. I would put in the highest grade premium that is offered in your area. Even if you can only pump in a few gallons it will help raise the octane.

 

A knock or pre-ignition happens when the fuel/air ignite prematurely (to early) cause a ping (called knock) like sound, the lower the octane the faster the fuel burns. The higher the octane rating the slower it burns, the 87 octane doesn't have enough explosive energy to force the piston downward. High cylinder temperatures can also cause your engine to knock, solution is to find a way to lower your intake temperatures, a larger intercooler and or meth injection can suppress knocking. The knock sensor should still prevent knocking when using low octane, could be a bad batch of fuel.

 

I bet it backs timing down when it knocks, but it's going to put it back where it's supposed to be after a while. Then it will knock again and pull timing again. One knock isn't going to cause it to pull timing for the rest of the cars life.

 

i posted at comment section on youtube too, same problem. some people think that i'm an idiot for using this car after sh.tload of failure and service bill, i know i am, but i really want to believe if i solve this, everything is gonna be fine, really. i mean, engine is smooth as silk, power delivery is smooth, turbo is whooshing like it's new; but if i want some power at low rpms going uphill, this happens.

it's not about premium gas nor intake temps, i changed tensioner (it's seems less common after changing tensioner though), injectors, sparks and hpfp. and even though i'm driving like a grandma, without any leaks, i'm burning more than 1 quart of oil per 1k miles.

it's probably because of the carbon deposits. if you can get it cleaned, i say do it.