I have owned an 88 GTA for about a month now and i have yet been able to see what she will do.Since owning the car i get pinging at anything over 1/2 throttle anytime at any temp.The car stays a notch above 190 on my digital dash.I always run high octane.I just replaced the cap and rotor.I checked the plugs and they are all new looking and i regapped them all to .035.All plug wires are newer.I have checked and rechecked for vaccuum leaks and replaced some of the crappier looking ones today but that made no difference.Also just had timing set to 6 degrees btdc.After i set it the car ran good for a day but the pinging has set back in.I unhooked the est wire on the fire wall when setting timing.What else is left??I am getting no trouble codes and the car runs great otherwise.No antifreeze in the oil or vice versa.Any ideas??Thanks,chris.

 

i would retard the timing till it stopped

 

Go to the nearest NAPA and buy a can of SEAFOAM ( or GM top engine cleaner at the dealership ) ...follow the directions...

Smoke the neighbors out....


The drive it to see if the pinging / detonation is gone...

Normall it's caused by carbon build up on the pistons / valves etc and this actually caused "hot spots" in the cylinder and actually raises the compression ratio a bit...



Try it and post if it works or not.


Hope this helps.

 

Well i tried the seafoam.It was easy to use and the car smoked for a long time.I took it out and that sucker still pings/smokes at half throttle.I replaced my plug wires and O2 sensor yesterday.Car idles better and seems to be getting better gas mileage but STILL pings at half throttle or more.Even after replacing all of that the engine still shakes and vibrates at idle and is very hard to start when cold.Could this be a leaky injector(s)??I am very frustrated and running out of money.ANY ideas are very appreciated.

 

how many miles are on it?

 

Just turned 110,000.

 

Just a wild idea, but you might check the timing again and make sure the distributor didn't shift after it ran fine for that day or so. Maybe the distributor calmp bolt wasn't tightened down......

Or do you have a lot of slop in the distribut itself?

 

I will be buying a timing gun this weekend.Only other thing i suspect would be the fuel filter.I havent changed it but would this cause all of my problems??

 

I will be buying a timeing gun this weekend and retiming it.One other thing i can think of is my fuel filter.I havent changed it yet.Could this be causing some of these problems??

 

Possibly, too little fuel will cause pinging. They're cheap, since it's been awhile I'd probably replace for good measure.

 

If yours is an 88, you should have a computer controlled engine, no? Is your knock sensor working? Did you properly check and set the timing? The computer controlls the actual timing along with the knock sensor.

When you replaced the O2 sensor, did you disconnect the battery so the computer has to re-learn the settings?

 

Ya know.. I have an 87, 305 TPI and I had a lot of trouble with ping. I replaced my injectors with a set from a friend, and it still remained. I have recently had to replace my injectors again (one went bad, they were junk injectors), and again a set from another friend, but this time they are 350 injectors, so I'm running slightly rich. Guess what, the pinging is completely gone. So I am guessing I was somehow running lean the whole time.

On another note, do you burn much oil? I heard somewhere on the board that if you have leaky valve seals, or are getting oil into your cylinders any other way, it can lower the octane rating of the fuel, causing ping. I don't know if there's any truth to this, but I would check and make sure your PCV is operating correctly. If you are burining oil from leaky valve seals, might be time to do something about that too.

Check your timing again, make sure it is set reasonably. I still had trouble at 6*, but it was a lot better back there. Change your fuel filter, and if you're still having problems, I would tend to think your injectors may need servicing or replacing... but check your fuel pressure first, make sure it's not the pump.

Last idea... Slipped balancer, maybe the mark on your balancer isn't where it should be, the rubber "band" inbetween the inner and outer hub sometimes lets the outter hub slip, and therefore your timing mark is no longer accurate.

 

I hope to be buying a timing gun soon.My car smokes basically everytime i start it.Hot or cold it doesnt matter.It definitely needs new valve seals and those will be getting attention in a few weeks.I still have never been able to floor my car which sux after nearly 2 months.I am beginning to wonder about injectors.If i find some on the cheap side i will get them.Also,the PCV rattles.Does that ALWAYS mean its working properly??I am just throwing money into this thing right and left.I just picked up a fuel pump relay,another rotor button and the fuel filter.

 

dude, stop throwing money at it until you at least have a timing gun!!! 30$ i think at autozone.

 

What he said.

Unless you can actually hook it up to a scaner and read why its pining most likely someone advanced the timing too much. A knock sensor gone bad could be a possibilty but I highly doubt it would effect anything at 1/2 throttle.