Slight problem...the other day I was going down the freeway here in fresno and pinned the throtle to get around some guy before my exit and I head the car pinging. I've never had that problem before with this car. I had it tuned up about 20,000 miles ago so I don't know what's up. Perhaps a fouled out plug or bad wire...I just don't know. Don't really want to take it to a dealership and have it worked on if I don't have too. Thought about just replacing all the plugs but not sure that will help. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. It isn't a huge problem but I would like to get it resolved. Just so you all know I'm running on 87 octane and have never had a problem with it till now. Don't want to run higher octane if I don't have too. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks in advance.

Ryan

 

I opened this post expecting to tell you to tune your full throttle circuit, but you dont have a carbureator.

I am not the biggest of EFI experts but I would think that you have a dirrty injector, or two. That would lean down your fuel for that cylinder and may cause it to detonate.

As I said I am no expert, but it sounds fuel related. Wait, what happened to the knock sensor? That should have resolved it without you knowing anymore that turning on you check engine light.

Hmmm... Throw some injector cleaner in though, for sure.

 

I put some injector cleaner in it this afternoon but I don't wanna hit WOT until I run this tank through the system. Hopefully that is all it is...haven't used any injector cleaner in about 6 months so I figured it was time anyway. Any other thoughts by perhaps some TPI owners woud be appreciated.

Ryan

 

305 perf 89-94 to run good 87 a little low on the oct. My car was brought up on 92 94. I has no love for 87-89 it pings. I have to run at least 90 to keep her happy. So the problems may be in your gas too. If it keeps it up try a higher oct. Motors seen to learn what oct you use and perf it when they get old and worn.

 

Check the ignition timing. Too much timing can cause the ping.

 

You probably just got a bad tank of gas. I would not run 87 in your car even though you've never heard it ping before. It still could have had pinging in the past, but the knock sensor took care of it and you never heard it. Now it's loud enough where you can hear it, and it's too much for the knock sensor. Could be crappy gas, bad injector, carbon build up, or any combination of things that happen as an engine gets old. You could try new plugs, wires, distributor cap,and rotor, and check the timing and the fuel pressure. The owner's manual says to run 91 octane or better and I would stick to that. If you still get pinging on 91, then there is something wrong.

 

My Car would have a PING just at idle (87 Oct)... then i put some 91 Octane in it.... still will ping every once in a while but nothing like it did... the 91 has made it run better also... i had this slight hesitation when taking off... havent had it since i made the swich either. sure it may cost 10 cents more but think about it... if you filled up from E that might cost an extra 2 bucks if that.... its worth it!

 

Well my car has never pinged on 87 so I don't know....and I doubt it is just bad gas cause I've run 3 tanks through it since I noticed the ping and all the tanks have come from different places. I guess this weekend I'll pull the plugs and see if any of them are fouled out, and perhaps just replace them all, after that I guess plug wires, cap, and rotor even though the ones I have are less that a year old. Oh well. Any other info would be appreciated guys...

Ryan