I30 ping/knock

[greentea1]

Car is 2001 I30t with 89k miles. There are no codes!The symptoms are ping/knock when I accelerate with light to moderate pedal pressure in city driving and use 93 octane premium only. I have tried a treatment of Seafoam to see if it was due to carbon buildup, but that didn't cure it. I also get a rotten egg smell sometimes.Any suggestions?

[maxhopper]

The rotten egg smell is indicative of a bad catalytic converter. It will also decrease performance.

[greentea1]

Any suggestions about the ping/knock issue? If there are no codes is it possible for an O2 sensor to be causing this problem?

[maxhopper]

Probably not but if the cat is restricted, it could cause any number of problems.

[greentea1]

Today it threw a P0171 code...it's still pinging when hot. What to do now?

[xerexabante]

to help you better what is your setup on your car. i believe you might have a ecu coolant temp sensor bad. get your car on a obd scan to see what is going on. you can guess all along but the facts is what is important. you need to see the readings so you get the correct answer (diagnosis).

[greentea1]

to help you better what is your setup on your car. i believe you might have a ecu coolant temp sensor bad. get your car on a obd scan to see what is going on. you can guess all along but the facts is what is important. you need to see the readings so you get the correct answer (diagnosis).

Everything is stock, I just cleaned the MAF because of stalling. I have an OBD scanner and it just shows a P0171 with another 171 pending. I didn't reset the ECU after cleaning the MAF. I checked the plugs and they are a light grey/brown on the tips. Before I got the P0171 code it was suggested that I switch to a colder plug to fix the pinging. BTW--when it's cool outside (about 75 or below) there isn't any ping.

[xerexabante]

motors don't work harder when cool climates. thus no ping, ping occurs when engine load, or working hard. yeah try replacing your pulgs to oem, no bosch. either ngk or denso, nothing else

[greentea1]

UPDATE...The new MAF from Dave B. just arrived. First, I erased the current and pending trouble codes before installing the new MAF then, after installation I took the car for a ride and what a difference! The car feels like I gave it a tune-up and the best part is no more ping/knock!

Thanks again for everyones input!