ggenovez

Hi all,

I was just wondering how many pings are acceptable / Cell?

I drive about 10 miles to work every day, and I get 0 pings until the truck's thermostat opens. then I start to get a ping here and there, pretty much random. Some cells may give a ping/second...

I've started backing off the timing and certain cells are bellow factory...

Are those considered false pings?

Thanks in advance.

George
90 burb 7747 ECU

Grim Reaper

I will assume these are strictly "ECM detected" and not actually audible. If you can actually hear them, then you definitely want to take action. But, if they are inaudible, based on what you describe, I wouldn't get overly concerned.

Ultimatley, you want to strive for no knock detection, but the random occasionaly "ping" is nothing to worry about. And, it may even be "false" and caused by a lot of other things such as your exhaust occasionally hitting something, a rock or object being thrown up by your tires and hitting your under carriage. It may also be bolt coming loose and requiring tightening.

But, ignoring all those, given the high cost of gas you may even be getting "poorer quality fuel". Back in the 70s when gas prices were rising through the roof, it was very common for gas stations to "cheat the public" and give them lower quality fuel than they paid for.

ggenovez

Thanks Grim,

Yes these are ECM detected.

So even though I'm below factory timing on some cells, your recomendation would be to keep on retarding until there is nothing. Correct?

I'm guessing that if it is something that would require tightening, I would see pings everywhere. I don't see anything at all below 1200.

I did notice that when the timing was too advanced the spark count would jump by 5-10 and the cell count would be in the 100-200 now on that same 10 mile trip I'm 2-5.

Thanks again.

Grim Reaper

First make sure everything is tight and maybe listen a bit.

Before you start "reducing spark"...especially if you have a stock bin with stock timing (both manually set at the distributor and within the timing tables); look for certain "common events" that seem to cause knock events to occur and record how much timing it's removing.

I found on my car, that when the engine was cold and just started, I got "most of the knock retard" events. But once my engine was FULLY warmed AND I restarted my engine (this was a key event), I got no more knocks detected. However, if I DID NOT restart my engine, my engine was more sensetive to knock detection and pulling timing.

I then concentrated on working on removing timing advance while the engine was cold and that fixed everything - and I didn't even have to restart the engine either (though I never did find out why restarting a warm engine would stop the detection...but since I fixed it when the engine was first started when cold...I didn't bother anymore).

ggenovez

Awsome,

Looks like I have the oposite problem. I don't get any knocks until the engine warms up. usualy starts just as the thermostat opens.

Now I did notice that when I use the air conditioning the amount of pings shoots up. doubles or tripples.

Any advice on that?

Thanks again for all your help