So, you put in a new sensor and.......? How do you know it's not working? If there's no knock then it isn't going to do anything.
You can bring the car up to 1500 rpm (neutral and blocked) and tap on the sensor location with something hard like a ratchet handle. the idle should stumble a bit and the gauge (if you have one) should flicker a response. Also you can monitor the knock count with a scan tool. It may also register a very little bit of retard, which is the idle stumble.