Let's talk about ping
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,235
Likes: 2
From: Haymarket VA
CI 7-8 Veteran
Let's talk about ping
Ok, so I can be incredibly dense at times, this clearly being one of them. When I first got my heads and cam done, WKMCD asks me if my car has been pinging a lot since the change. No, not at all I reply. Of course, I'm still wondering about that knocking sound coming from what sounds like underneath my car. Fast forward 9 months to this weekend. I'm driving back from the Outer Banks and I'm listening to the sweet and not so sweet sounds my car makes and lo and behold! it hits me! That noise is ping!
So my questions are, what is ping? (I'm guessing a pre-detonation of unburnt fuel) what bad things am I doing to my engine with all this ping? How can I rid myself of this terrible scourge?
So my questions are, what is ping? (I'm guessing a pre-detonation of unburnt fuel) what bad things am I doing to my engine with all this ping? How can I rid myself of this terrible scourge?
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 68
Likes: 0
From: San Diego CA
basically you engine is detonating before the piston reaches the top of TDC.
this is caused by a low Octane rating on the fuel you are using more often than none - most new on board diagnostics systems are smart enough to retard the timing on these newer engines to help reduce pinging under a hard load or in some cases when just cruising along.
I see that you have done heads and cam work so you are probably running a bit higher compression than what the car had stock - to keep this from happeneing you are going to need to run a higher octane fuel - probably above the 91/92 you can normally find at the pump
residing in Virgina you might be able to find 100 octane right at the pump a bit more easier than I can being here in California.
You can always have a custom tune put on the car to help with the pinging issue as well from a repituable dyno facility in your area - be prepared to drop a good amount of cash for that.
this is caused by a low Octane rating on the fuel you are using more often than none - most new on board diagnostics systems are smart enough to retard the timing on these newer engines to help reduce pinging under a hard load or in some cases when just cruising along.
I see that you have done heads and cam work so you are probably running a bit higher compression than what the car had stock - to keep this from happeneing you are going to need to run a higher octane fuel - probably above the 91/92 you can normally find at the pump
residing in Virgina you might be able to find 100 octane right at the pump a bit more easier than I can being here in California.
You can always have a custom tune put on the car to help with the pinging issue as well from a repituable dyno facility in your area - be prepared to drop a good amount of cash for that.
