Detonation during WOT

[Yellow 281]

My car (02 GT) detonates extremely bad in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear at full throttle. Does anyone else have this problem? My car is bone stock with 38 thousand miles.

I thought the knock sensor would retard the timing to eliminate this but it doesnt. Is there anything I should check, or is it just time to switch to premium fuel? Thanks in advance for the assistance and input.

 

[jstreet0204]

My car (02 GT) detonates extremely bad in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear at full throttle. Does anyone else have this problem? My car is bone stock with 38 thousand miles.

I thought the knock sensor would retard the timing to eliminate this but it doesnt. Is there anything I should check, or is it just time to switch to premium fuel? Thanks in advance for the assistance and input.

GT's don't have knock sensors. If it is something that has recently started, you might try some seafoam to clean out any carbon deposits that may have built up.

 

[DBMSTNG]

bad tank of gas?

 

[Yellow 281]

GT's don't have knock sensors. If it is something that has recently started, you might try some seafoam to clean out any carbon deposits that may have built up.

Really? No knock sensor...that's a bummer. It recently started and has persisted through 4-5 tanks of gas.

These questions might be dumb, but what is seafoam and where would I be cleaning?

 

[phalcrow]

Does it sound like marbles rattling around in there?

 

[twogts4us]

Does it sound like marbles rattling around in there?

Does it matter? I don't see where reverse thinking is really needed here as he's already defined the sound he's hearing as detonation. Appears that he knows what he's hearing...

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Well, it could be a loose heat shield on the cats. Or it could be detonation which is caused by a great number of things.

Try switching to premium gas. Its cooler out now so detonation should not be much of a problem...