"Clicking" on WOT shifts with an auto? Help! :(

Hey guys. I have been hearing a clicking sound when my car shifts from 2nd to 3rd at WOT. It happens right when it shifts, such as right before the RPM's drop and it finishes going into 3rd.

It has this accelerating click. It's like "click, click, click click clickclickclick!" But it does all that in about 1 second. I guess it's a click, and not a grind. I don't really know how else to say it other than a "click" sound. It sounds like something is loose, and finally coming together or something.

From the driver's seat, it sounds like the noise is coming from the middle of the car, slightly in front of me.

Any clues about what this is??? TIA.

No one had the "clicking" sound before, huh?

Pinging, or something else?

I'm not sure that it is detonation. When I install the diablo tunes, I only use the "Factory HP" tune. That one is not supposed to alter torque or HP #'s. All I do is adjust my shift firmness, take off traction control, and set the torque upshift modulation to 100%. The way I take that, it means that it doesn't modify the stock air/fuel mixture or spark timing, which means I shouldn't have to run on higher than regular gas. I could be wrong though! If anyone knows more about this than I do, by all means let me know. I sure don't want to hurt my car.

The only mods I have on my car are a MAC catback, C&L Trueflow pipe, and the diablo factory HP tune. I am planning on new spark plugs and a high-flow catted X pipe.

Yeah, it's weird to me. I've never noticed it in stock form before. I'm thinking I might just reset the car to the factory defaults in the predator tomorrow, which will un-mate it from the unit, and then run it and see if it does the same thing. The only time I hear this "clicking" is right before it shifts! It's like a click, or a tick, or something right at the peak of the RPM's from a 2nd to 3rd WOT gear shift. I don't recall hearing it at all in a 1st to 2nd WOT shift.

Any other ideas? Is it possible that I'm hearing pinging? I have never heard a car ping before, so I wouldn't know what it sounds like. I've heard people say I should hear it when the car is under stress, or going up a hill, or something like that. So to me, this seems like it isn't that if I only hear it right at the shift point of 2nd to 3rd. More ideas of what the problem could be would be extremely helpful though!

My gas has been old for the past 2 weeks then. I don't think that's it since I fill up about every 3-4 days.

I'll try higher octane gas and let you guys know what happens.

BTW, I restored the factory settings from the diablo, and it still makes this sound.

I'll try higher octane and see what happens.

Thanks for the input guys. It's really helpful to hear what everyone has to say.

What I'll do is see if a higher octane gas fixes the problem. If so, then that is probably what it is. Like I said, I reset the car to stock so that the predator isn't even mated to it anymore, and it still does the 'clicking' thing.

Honestly, it sounds like some sort of synchronization is out of whack, or something, with the 2 to 3 shift... like something is just slightly off enough to make the car sound off with these "clicks". I just hope it's the octane gas, and nothing else. It is just strange that it would do that after I reset the car to factory - especially since it never did that before.

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks!

It appears to have been pre-ping. I put 93 gas in, and it's been great ever since. I'm going to try 89 next.

Thanks for all your help guys!