pinging n/a petrol engine

[kabukiman]

Hello everyone!

So a while ago I posted a similar thread, but about a different vehicle.

I was suffering from intermittent pinging. Eric had this to say back then:

“I’ve been thinking about this a given that you’re in Australia I’m guessing you’re in a pretty hot climate which means that you probably run the aircon a lot. This might create a condition in which the engine is too hot and therefore can detonate or preignite, I’m wondering how you could combat this because if you put in a cooler thermostat you will offset the fuel mix perhaps enough to cause performance problems and compromise fuel economy, perhaps you could find a radiator with a larger core which might be able to cool more efficiently than the one that you have. ”

Now, that particular car turned into a major lemon and I ended up letting it go. Sadly unlike some of you fortunate fellas in the US there are no lemon laws here to protect people. Ford screwed me over hard.

I am currently driving another car. It’s a ’12 Hyundai i30 (I think they call them the elantra touring or something different over there). This particular one uses the beta II 2.0L if anyone is familiar with them

The only trouble I have had with this car in 9000km is that it pings when the weather is hot (which is often down here, especially at this time of year.)

Hyundai specifies 95RON fuel as providing the best performance, but the dealers say the cars can stomach 91 also (which is our minimum). I notice a few new hyundais ping in the hot weather (hell so do most cars here) and I have always run my cars on premium so this has lived on a diet thus far of 95RON and, occasionally 98

It pings a little on 95, especially if the air con is on.

I have tried 98 as I said, which generally stops the pinging. However I don’t see why my little hyundai should need the really expensive stuff (95 alone is commonly $1.60 a litre here…)

It pings angrily on 91.

The weather is nuts in Melbourne, one day it will be cold, the next hot and humid, then we will have a thunderstorm, then it will be cold and dry again. The past two days have been very hot and humid, and as Eric guessed I run the aircon a fair bit.

Yesterday it was pinging quite noticeably, so I tried adjusting the throttle position sensor. I had read a lot of motorbike owners adjust theirs to stop pinging. I was not sure what factory specs are for the one on my car, it read 0.2 volts at idle and 8.3 or something at WOT. I adjusted it to 0.3 and idle and something more like 8.7 at WOT.

I believe the theory is that slightly higher voltage will mean a tiny bit more fuel is used, which should help reduce preignition.

Well, it did bugger all as far as I can tell. Perhaps it pings a little bit less, but it’s still there when the car gets hot.

Speaking of temperature, the gauge never moves past halfway. It sits there no matter what the weather is like. I am running the factory spark plugs.

I will pull them and have a look later, just in case one is buggered.

The car has had an oil change but no other work yet, I don’t know what else to tell you. If you guys can think of anything to try or any potential causes that aren’t the fuel used, please help me out.

Before you ask, I have contacted hyundai. A service manager is a mutual friend so he doesn’t bullshit me. He told me the 1.6 engines ping here commonly and there is a reflash for it. But not so on the 2.0L as it is far less common. The most they could offer is a test drive to assess the severity

Thank you all!

Topic

[kabukiman]

Have taken it on some longer drives and driven it hard today on the highway….

Very little pinging. I could count the individual ‘tink’ noises I heard on one hand for the past 48 hrs. So I’d say it’s looking to be a success, but early days. I will keep driving it for now and see how the plugs look in a while

You were right Eric when you said in one of your older videos, to stick to the basics first.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’m glad you’re on the path to eliminating the problem. It’s been my experience that it’s the little things that get you so it’s always a good idea to stick with the simple stuff first. Keep us posted.

[kabukiman]

Okay well after some more driving I am fairly certain it is pinging less than it was before.

The thing is it appears now to ping just a tiny bit at lower revs, and more often at a steady speed and not climbing a hill etc. Whereas before, the ping occured in hot weather and during acceleration

So it’s definitely doing it less, and only now at low rpm, and now often without much load on it.

Which means perhaps it could be the car advancing the spark timing a tad too much? I have read this is a problem with some nissan engines, they advance the spark timing very aggressively and rely on the knock sensor to stop the process, but they ping for a short amount of time regardless.

So if I had a combined problem of heat and incorrect spark timing I have now eliminated half of that problem. At least that’s my theory, and driving it now leads me to that conclusion (based on what I am hearing)

So my question now is what can I do about this process when it is automated? Should I check that my knock sensor is working? The car is ony young and presumably the computer was checked during its two services.

Is it worth taking the car to a tuning specialist or is there a way I can remedy this myself?

Thank you for your help, I’m getting closer to fixing this and it is a nice feeling

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