engine ping and how it relates to timing

[Canadianbacon]

Hello.. I have a 2005 g35 6mt coupe and I definatly always use the good stuff when it comes to gas but lately Iam experiencing some minor pinging when accelerating out of 2nd and 3rd gears..especially when the rpm's may be a little lower than when driving more spirited. I am wondering if advancing the timeing is needed or should it be retarded?? I worried if it is advanced then it may cause the problem to get worse. infinity is gonna deal with it tomorrow but i was wondering if anyone had any input on this. also I was thinking that cleaning the throttle body might help out aswell. I beliveve the gas here is advertised at 91-93 octane but sometimes its almost like you get a bad batch. any comments left would be appreciated thanks from up north.

[pfarmer]

Hello.. I have a 2005 g35 6mt coupe and I definatly always use the good stuff when it comes to gas but lately Iam experiencing some minor pinging when accelerating out of 2nd and 3rd gears..especially when the rpm's may be a little lower than when driving more spirited. I am wondering if advancing the timeing is needed or should it be retarded?? I worried if it is advanced then it may cause the problem to get worse. infinity is gonna deal with it tomorrow but i was wondering if anyone had any input on this. also I was thinking that cleaning the throttle body might help out aswell. I beliveve the gas here is advertised at 91-93 octane but sometimes its almost like you get a bad batch. any comments left would be appreciated thanks from up north.

Typically you would want to retard the timing all other factors staying the same. But I would be concerned about doing this since either the gas has changed or possibly you have another issue going on that may need to be corrected.

Any modifications not listed, aftermarket exhaust, wiring changes, etc.?

Perry

[Canadianbacon]

thanks.. no its completly stock.. the pinging isnt horrible and truthfully it isnt always present but I can definatly hear it when it is there. I have full warr on the car still so I am hoping to find out tomorrow while in the shop. Our gas here is normally good so I am a little confused. There was one owner before me and I dont know if he used supreme or not but if he didnt could that cause something to go wrong if I am using it now all of a sudden? and with regards to what else could be wrong..do you have any idea what might cause this? care seems to run and preform normally it just pings every so often and it kinda drives me a little nutty.

[joe603]

Welcome to NICO!

(nice choice in G's BTW )

Probably just a bad batch of gas...I would fill up at a different place for a while.

[pfarmer]

thanks.. no its completly stock.. the pinging isnt horrible and truthfully it isnt always present but I can definatly hear it when it is there. I have full warr on the car still so I am hoping to find out tomorrow while in the shop. Our gas here is normally good so I am a little confused. There was one owner before me and I dont know if he used supreme or not but if he didnt could that cause something to go wrong if I am using it now all of a sudden? and with regards to what else could be wrong..do you have any idea what might cause this? care seems to run and preform normally it just pings every so often and it kinda drives me a little nutty.

I am not sure what the requirements on the older 35 engines were but the new ones will run on regular without major issues other than performance. If the owner did this on a regular basis then I doubt there really is an issue with the car, at least as far as electronics. You could have other issues that I would look at. One is how old are the plugs. If driven fairly hard then you may want to look at them if the mileage is up. This isn't to state that the plugs themselves are causing the ping but they may well provide clues by their condition. If it is the gas then the issue should go away with a fillup. Run the car nice for awhile at lower loads and burn it out as far as possible and refill.

Perry

[Canadianbacon]

Ok..will do.. thanks for the info.. the kilometers are low anyways.. it only has 40k on it so about 20 000 miles ill check into the plugs though all the same.

[tollboothwilley]

Some people have reported problems not with octane level of gas but the brand that they buy.

You might want to consider that some.

[pfarmer]

Some people have reported problems not with octane level of gas but the brand that they buy.

You might want to consider that some.

Not sure about Canada but a recent show on tv showed something very interesting ijn the U.S., most gas is virtually the same. That is that it really didn't matter much which brand gas truck you saw on the road they filled up from the same spigot at the local refinery. Part of this is that the contents of gas is heavily regulated.

I remember that in the case of the gas I used to sell (Hancock), all the gas in the area regardless of station was Richfield. The same truck would stop at our station, the Douglas station down the road, Richfield, nearly everyone in the area. The show basically stated that you should purchase based on price and flow. Buy at a cheap busy station.

Also I think that there really is no such thing as the mid grade in many cases, just a mix of the other two. With Hancock we had if I remember correct something like 10 grades. We had this big sign up on one of the pumps where you picked your make and model of car (easy back then as they were all American cars) and then selected what was referenced. We went from 500 - 550 in 5 increments. 500 was regular, 550 was 'hi test'.

Perry

[SVTCOBRA]

I also think you got a bad batch.Stay away from the mom & pops.Go to a newer station close to the hw that gets alot of turn over.Also, never fillup if there is a tanker unloading.Would also throw some Lucas gas treatment in there.