How does the average person tell if he or she is pinging? I hear a lot of noises coming from my engine and I dont have a clue which one might be "pinging" I have found my performance has been lacking in recent months but I dont know what it could be? I have a 17%, 65k miles, OBX header, alta (modified) exhaust, alta intake.. Any help would be nice!

Thanks,
Jm

 

With the mods listed, esp a 17% pulley and no tune you most probably are pinging. You will hear a tapping/clicking sound under WOT and esp on hotter days. Take your windows up and you should be able to hear it coming from around the front driver side area. I would strongly suggest you get a tune and prior to that you go one stage colder plugs. I am veru sure you are leaning out with no tune. You might be even be in need of JCW fuel injectors to go alonge with that tune.

 

+1

Had it happen to me once. I got a really garbage tank of gas, and the sound was pretty evident.

 

Beware of crappy gas it claimed many engines in vegas.....

 

I have the colder plugs already, which I had forgot to mention.. I want to get a tune but I live in Canada and I cant bring myself to buying a tune from some loser, when there is Jan who makes miracles and does it for a living... there is no aftermarket for Minis in Canada as far as tuning goes... it really sucks... and as far as injectors go, I didnt know I should have bigger injectors without a tune?

 

I have similar mods to you and I have been tuned by the master himself Jan @ RMW. Jan has actually spent many tireless hours on my car trying to "tune" out the ping in my engine. I would like to take the time to publicly thank you for you efforts Jan! He even tuned out all the power last time I saw him to see if the ping would subside to no avail. My car pinged before I brought it to him for the first tune.

I think I have the problem narrowed down to a couple things.

#1- Carbon build up in the engine
#2- Some imperfection in the head.

Something is causing a hot spot or ignition point in my combustion chamber. I tried running Seafoam thru my car but I didn't run enough so it didn't work. I'm going to try again, Seafoam is supposed to get rid of carbon deposits. If it still pings after cleaning I'm going to try getting a scope to look around inside the combustion chamber to see what's going on.

Anyway, I still believe a tune would certainly help you take full advantage of your modifications and might get rid of the ping for you. I know it has helped some I just am not that fortunate.. I think Jan can remote tune, might be an option for you.

 

If you are hearing detonation then it is already pretty bad. Pinging or detonation occurs well before the human ear can hear it. Also a tune does not get rid of detonation if it is caused by carbon deposits. If that is the case you should address that problem first.

Silversmoke06 the so called bad gas from Nevada was never proven and if you compare mods that were on the Minis that had engine damage there seems to be at least one common item.

 

sounds like those with 17% pulleys are having the pinging problems. Is this an issue with 15%?

 

I don't agree with this statement. There are plenty of people in my club with similar mods to mine and don't have pinging.

I would agree that the 17% will generate more heat so the chances are higher however

 

That statement could get interesting, definitely grabbin' the popcorn...

 

If you're pinging your in too high of a gear for WOT. Downshift and enjoy the party.

If we all drove our cars like we stole em then we'd have less carbon build-up issues. I clean out the pipes at least once a week.

Jeremy

 

Seriously... one of them was a stock MCS Cabrio from northern cali, another was my car, and I'm not sure who the 3rd was. Those are just people that I know about... not counting the other cars that filled up there.

Rather coincidental that with 10.5 air fuels and 85 degree intake temps a motor with less than 30k miles on it cracks a piston in half with all 4 pistons showing signs of HEAVY detonation. All after filling up at one station in particular which gave other people (That I don't even know) issues as well.

And just because there was no public disclosure of a resolution doesn't mean that one wasn't reached.

Why insinuate things to start drama?

As for Carbon Buildup, run a bottle of seafoam through the gas every few months, and suck a bit through the vacuum lines (and put some in the oil) every year or so. Your engine will run pretty clean

 

No pinging problems currently (I have a 15, and have always had a 15).

 

Detonation or pinging/knocking is usually an issue when boost is increased. In the old days we would advance (or retard, it has been awhile) the timing to compensate the addition of a supercharger with a timing light and trial and error. With the newer systems one would probably re-program the ECU. I haven't heard it from my MCS but I have heard it in a small-block Chevy and it is a rattling/chattering sound when the engine is placed under load (i.e. pulling up a hill or hard acceleration in higher gears). You might also want to try an octane boosting fuel additive in case it is bad gas.