Question About Pinking

[lordvader 0]

Hey all.

My 205 has been pinking (though here in Australia most call it pinging), and I'm curious as to why.

My understanding is when the ingition is too far advanced, the engine will pink. Understandable. Retarding the ignition or use a higher octane fuel should reduce the problem.

The thing is, I only ever use 98 octane on my car, so for it to be pinking the ignition must have been advanced beyond that for 98 octance. Why someone would do that, I don't know.

The other thing I've been thinking about (though I've yet to test it), is that the compression on my engine may be down, causing it to behave as though it were running a lower octane fuel (which is clearly a worse scenario than someone setting the advance too far).

Final possibility (hopefully), is that the dizzy is stuffed, or injectors or fuel filter clogged causing the engine to run lean, hence pink a little.

 

Basically, are there things that will cause pinking that don't indicate an engine rebuild ?

 

(for the record, my stem seals are gone, hence am burning oil, and will be replaced soon).

[Owain1602 0]

I wouldnt call the fact you had been using lower octance fuel worse than if the ignition was too far advanced. If it keeps on pinking you could end up with a bit of a hole in your pistons, which is not good. Why dont you just retard the timing a bit by turning the dizzy?

[Guest Chris Astley Motorsport]

Have you had the fuelling checked on a rolling road through out the rev range, If its running lean then this can lead to pinking, especially if you have high ambient tempertures!

 

Chris

[Alex G 0]

id check for a crack/leaking exhaust manifold first which can sound very similar to pinking, then try diagnosing the problem

 

lower compression is less likely to result in pinking

Edited April 23, 2006 by Alex G

[lordvader 0]

Are there ways to differentiate between pinking and a cracked manifold ?

The "pinking" presents itself when doing things such as going uphill in at low rpms ...

[petert 586]

maybe your vacuum advance module has run a muck? Have you verified the timing with a timing light? I know it's a bugger to do.

[jack biscuit 0]

you say your stem seals are shot, now how bad is bad?

 

are you pouring oil into those chambers? wouldn't burning oil in there effectively reduce your octane rating..?

[lordvader 0]

you say your stem seals are shot, now how bad is bad?

 

are you pouring oil into those chambers? wouldn't burning oil in there effectively reduce your octane rating..?

 

... duh !

 

That makes so much sense right now ! Never occurred to me that oil + petrol = lower octane .....

 

I'm burning a little under 1 liter / 1000 kms. I don't think it's being "poured" in, but there's enough ...

[hengti 2]

as the biscuit says

 

shot stem seals increase pinking in my exp

 

if it's really bad and you're worried about it going pop before you get the seals done, you could just retard the ign a little, or use an octane booster

[matty_gti 20]

how do you know when your car is pinking because some one has told me that my 1.6 is too lean and i dont really want to end up with holes in my pistons.

 

i can hear some taping or ticking noise which gets fatser and louder when the higher the revs??????

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

how do you know when your car is pinking because some one has told me that my 1.6 is too lean and i dont really want to end up with holes in my pistons.

 

i can hear some taping or ticking noise which gets fatser and louder when the higher the revs??????

 

 

Is it willing to rev its often the case when running lean they really dont like high rpm? What colour are your plugs?? Best bet is to get it on a Co machine.

[TT205 42]

Following my recent experience, if it's quite high mileage, take the rocker cover off and see if your cam lobes are still lobes not rounds!