Saw in an older post where some one was complaining of pinging. Was wondering if anyone else experienced this? I noticed mine was pinging today, especially when I was going up a hill. OM says octane requirements are 87 or above... Never had a late model car with this much pinging.

 

No bites, eh? For someones future reference then: I took it to the dealer, they did all the right things- checked for engines codes, checked the knock sensor, monitered fuel trims, etc., nothing was found and the mechanic couldn't replicate the pining mainly because it was a lot cooler that day (70F) and I heard pinging on a relatively warm day (86F) which was also unusually dry. Plus I had a mix of about 50/50 of 89 and 87 octane fuel in the tank. They told me next time I heard it on a hot day to just drop by and they would investigate further. I like that they didn't tell me to just put a higher octane fuel in it which would've been the cheap fix.

 

Stick or Automatic? If auto, then perhaps the trans isn't doing its job of downshifting, when needed. What are your revs when it starts to ping?

 

Automatic, it's not revving low. I've noticed pinging between 2500 and 3000 rpm going up hills.

 

Took it back to the dealer, was talking to one of the techs, seemed competant- talked about knock sensor and the timing being pulled back when it detects knocking. Left it with the tech so he could drive it home and back w/scanner hooked up(40 mile round trip, mostly highway, whereas my ride is mostly back roads) . Says the ECM picked an instaneous knock before they could hear it a few times, generated no codes. Says no noise heard going up hills and so basically it's a NPF. It's frustrating because it doesn't do it where you'd expect it, like up steep hills. More like when you have constant pressure on the throttle while going up a hill. I have 89 in it for now to quiet it down. Funny, I see instances like this up and down the web with no real solution.