pinging?

It sounds like you are either lugging, which can cause pinging, or that your FP is on the outs (the low fuel level statement you made).

More info would be needed to diagnose further.

Good luck.

HISSIN50 said:

It sounds like you are either lugging, which can cause pinging, or that your FP is on the outs (the low fuel level statement you made).

More info would be needed to diagnose further.

Good luck.

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the same thing happens to my car and it has progressivly gotten worse. it is worse with the a/c on. i was thinking its a u joint problem since my mechanic replaced my first driveshaft with on from a junk yard and it was fine for a couple thousand miles but it making a similar noise as the original one was doing but not as bad yet. could i be wrong and its actually a fuel problem. i do have a vacuum leak somewhere that i hope to fix when i swap the intake next weekend. thanks

Lugging is when one is too long in the power band for present conditions (and gearing). An example. If someone has stock-ish gears and is in 5th gear at 40 mph and tries to accelerate hard or go up a hill. The rpm would be at like 1100 rpm (Making that # up - I have no idea since I dont do it) and it would ping till one gets up to a decent place in the powerband (or one kicks it down a gear or two).

Since people report it being worse with the A/C on, It sounds like heat induced detonation. The condensor kicks heat into the radiator, making the radiator less able to reject heat from the cooling system.

I would give the cooling system a once over, check ignition timing, etc. Also one can clean the MAF, ECT and ACT sensors, which really helps some folks (especially if one has an oilable air filter element). One can up the octane rating to help out as well. Top end cleaner also works for some folks.

A bad U-joint can cause noise, but not pinging. And the U-joint does not care if the A/C is on. One can check out the U-joints within about 2 minutes. Now lugging can load U-joints up, or allow one to hear squeaking within the joints, which one normally does not hear.

Good luck.

what octane gas are you running?If you are running pisswater here in NJ, I'd step up to a better fuel grade first.Try the simplest diagnostics first before you go ape ****. If you are running 87 octane, try an 89 or maybe "splurge", and throw in a couple of gallons of "SUNOCO" Ultra 94....see if that helps