What is pinging and what does it do to the motor? Also how much pinging does it take to hurt the motor? If you have a chip and it starts to ping should you get out of it right away? If you don't what could be the short and long term effects?

Thanks

John

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93 Teal Cobra #4656
2000 Silver Lightning #4524

 

pinging (detonation) is like, bad or something.
i'm a rookie, so if i'm wrong, someone correct me..

if you get your air/fuel ratio too lean, you could melt your pistons.
I would think ANY ping would be bad.
mike (from superchips) said that if your chip was just right, you may hear a couple of slight pings when you go WOT.
so, i think that he believes a couple of knocks arent too bad.
i personally lift my foot as soon as i hear it. my truck pings from 110-120 mph @ WOT.
if i add octane boost, i dont get ping, but the octane boost will leave deposits on the plugs (see Silver_2000_: )!'s post on plug color)

short and long term effects include:
engine replacement
engine replacement
engine replacement
hair implants (for all the hair you've pulled out over blowing your engine)


brooks




[This message has been edited by clonetek (edited 03-14-2001).]

 

ANY pinging(detonation) is BAD. Is does not neccessarily mean that your air/fuel ratio is too lean. Your A/F ratio could be at 11.5 to 1 which is very safe, yet your motor could still ping because of too much timing. Detonation can also occur and not be heard. Be carefull.

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Jeff
93 Mustang GT: 11.40 @ 124.5 (old combo)
00 Lightning: Born on 6/15/00 Died on 3/03/01 RIP
www.unlimited-racing.com

Moderator - Bay Area California Chapter
www.svtperformance.com

 

Pinging, is also associated to low octane, in plain english the low ther octane the hotter gas burns and explodes to fast in the cylinder which you here the pinging.
Try a higher octane and check timing.

2001 F-150 Super-Cab Sport

 

http://www.safeguard.bizland.com/detonation.html

Ignore what they are trying to sell... it doesn't yet work with the L

 

The answers to this are:

1) Yes, pinging is bad
2) All Lightnings are calibrated for 87 Octane at the factory, because Ford knows that some people will ignore the "Premium Fuel Only" label and try to cheap out of $3 a tank on a $32,000 truck.
3) Your dealer can recalibrate the truck for any octane you choose, it's even free.
4) the difference in performance after the dealer does it is noticable
5) DO NOT tell them to set it up for 100 octane or some outragous calibration unless you're really gonna start buying every tank of gas at the airport, set it for whatever gas you really use. Setting it higher than what you burn is just as bad as setting it too low, prolly worse. Mine is set for 93 Octane.

Hope this helps,

G

 

Factory_Tech,

What's the dealer set to change the octane setting?

 

Factory_tech would this still be something to have done if you have a chip installed that requires 93 octane?

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93 Teal Cobra #4656
2000 Silver Lightning #4524

 

One other question. If I let my motor ping a couple of times because I tried different gas stations and some octane boost is it possible that I caused some damage that might haunt me down the road?

Thanks to all that have replied.

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93 Teal Cobra #4656
2000 Silver Lightning #4524

 

yeah... if you have a chip, is the recalibration needed?

brooks

 

Everyone is pretty much correct in what they're saying.

To answer you last question...the answer is that if you've experienced a bit of detonation then you're probably ok. That does NOT mean to continue to let the problem continue! What typically happens over time (or when severe detonation occurs under higher loads...for instance, 110-120mph when the truck is in 3rd gear) is that the ring lands will crack and you'll break a ring or two. This will lead to lower compression in the effected cylinder, extreme oil consumption, and probably a blown head gasket as well. Even worse, you could instantly put a hole in a piston, but that's more typical of a nitrous-injected engine than a supercharged one (at least if we're talking street motors here).

I will disagree with Mike at Superchips that even a tiny bit of knock is ok. If this were a 8.5:1 CR naturally aspirated engine, it wouldn't bother me, but we're talking a supercharged engine where cylinder pressures are extremely high.

The pinging you might get in an old 4-banger S-10 pickup (my dad has one) going uphill in 4th or 5th gear isn't a big deal...its not great for the motor, but more than likely you're not going to hurt it.

Detonation under boost is bad...period. Get out of it, pull the chip, whatever. There's no real way to say, "ok, its only been doing this for 3000 miles, so I've got XX,XXX miles left before problems occur." The next time could be the last.

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Wes Tarbox
90 LX 5.0 (10.69 @ 134.7)--597rwhp/590rwtq
96 Cobra (12.34 @ 115.8)--392rwhp/433rwtq
99 Lightning (13.20 @ 103.8)--364rwhp/447rwtq
00 Expedition XLT 5.4
http://hometown.aol.com/wa2fst/home.htm