The knock sensor in my Series I is located just behind the starter.

I suspect the mechanic, who changed out my knock sensor yesterday, touched the starter solenoid with a tool (or the sensor itself) while installing it. This would have 'flashed' of course.

I got a few miles down the road and on comes the check engine light, along with the knock sensor circuit code. Engine started bogging when accelerating from traffic lights, etc. The scanner showed the sensor running anywhere between 40-55 and the knock retard at 3-5 degrees.

My question: could an electrical charge such as this ruin the new sensor?

EDIT>The old sensor would randomly show numbers up to 100, and once up to 170, but the knock retard always showed 0. I heard some pinging on shift so I replaced it. It was 18 years old, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. The fuel is 95 octane here (lowest), but of poor quality. I run fuel cleaner off and on at fill-ups. I took it out today and put it back in after checking wiring, etc. Still the same problem.