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2001 C5 pings!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vette Virgin
  • Start date Start date
Chevrolet said they fixed it!

After keeping my Vette for 2+ weeks, they told me that they JUST got a memo from GM that told them that the recently manufactured knock sensors have been rating less then 100 ohms which doesn't affect the perfect timing.

They told me they went through 8 new knock sensors to get one that tested 100+ ohms and after installation, has not yet pinged.

Once I pick up the car, I will advise the forum my personal findings.
 
Pinging update

Its been 2.5 weeks since I picked up my vette from Chevy. Everythings been great until today.

After a 250 mile round trip to my inlaws in the mountains, I was stopped at a stop sign looking at a pretty good grade in front of me. I decided to turn on my AC and go WOT to see if Chevy did indeed fix my pinging. The acceleration was wonderful, BUT I did hear a small chirp. Much better then it would have before the new knock sensor, but it did indeed chirp/ping.

At this point, should I proceed in going after chevy with the lemon law. I'm worn out going to and from Chevy and for the most part, the car is working just fine and regular WOT doesn't cause the pinging as it did before. Only under incredibly heavy load did it happen.

Can I live with this without major long term problems with my engine? I need you guru's to answer that for me.

Thanks!
 
Spark knock -- ping

My '99 C5 pinged under moderate acceleration. It pinged more when the ambient temperature was above 80 degrees. I never could blow out the carbon enough to eliminate the pinging. Pinging existed from the time my C5 was new on to about four years and 28,000 miles.

I was resigned to live the pinging... just another manifestation of a GM product. It's a Vette, so it's OK.

At that point I took it in for a coolant change only because I always do maintenance early. I had no thought of pinging. The only work done that day was a full coolant change without any special flush.

When I left the dealer I immediately noticed that the temperature was fluctuating from 190 up to 230 degrees. Up to that point I thought my C5 was amazing in that it ALWAYS ran at 194 degrees. It very rarely went above 210 and then for only a minute. Now it was fluctuating!

The dealer could not understand or explain it. After about 200 miles of that, I insisted that he replace the thermostat with the standard - same - part number.

That did not stop the fluctuating from 187 to 227 degrees. The dealer connected a temperature meter through the OBD. As the car idled and when we kicked it, the temperature fluctuated from 198 to 227 and after reaching operating temperature from 227 down to 217 degrees.

This temperature change was then identified as normal. After Internet postings I learned that those temperature fluctuations are normal. My C5 had been abnormal all those miles when it ran at 194 steadily in hot and cold weather.

NOW, the reason I went through this explanation is that -- without looking for it -- I noticed that the pinging vanished and is nearly gone to this day!

No additives and no changes to anything other than -- for some still unexplained reason -- after changing coolant, the temperature started to fluctuate and the pinging stopped.

In this case pinging was caused by hots points of carbon deposits in the combustion chamber were igniting the air/gas mixture prematurely.

Because my C5 rarely went above 210 for more than a minute, carbon deposits built up in the combustion chambers. But now that the engine cycles through its temperature range (up to 227 and sometimes running between 217 and 227 degrees), the carbon gets burned off. Therefore, the pinging is gone. It only pings 'normally' in the hottest weather.

If your C5 pings excessively, watch your coolant temperature. It is normal -- and apparently necessary -- for LS1's to fluctuate between 217 and 227 degrees periodically and then return to the 190 area to burn off carbon deposits.
 
I have owned two C5's and both pinged a little a WOT. On hot days far worse. It also got worse with around town driving and after about 2K miles on the clock. Carbon build up and 91 octane gas also does not help. Seems like cutting the timing or an increase in F/A richness with LS1 Edit is the solution. Otherwise the pinging is normal IMO since these engines are 10:1 comp. ratio.
 
Hi there,
Pinging is NOT a normal occurance nor should it be thought of as such.
I stand by my recommendations.
Masking the problem with LS1 edit or another programmer is NOT the solution. This can only cause problems.
Allthebest, c4c5:hb
 
Tell ya what, Vette Virgin, I'd be glad to evaluate your pinging problem.

I see you're in O.C. I'm in West Covina.

Send me a private email address and let's set up a consultation.

If it's any help, I just road tested an 04 Z06. Drove the crap out of it and never heard a ping.
 
I'd like to take you up on your offer

I'll be out of town this weekend though.

As it stands, since the knock sensors have been replaced several times, I thought it was actually fixed but I took it up to 5000 feet and floored it going up hill with the AC on and I heard a little rattle of pinging. My GM guy said it was the computer adjusting to the altitude.

Last week, back in OC, I went WOT and got a pretty good ping out of it, but for now I'm giving the benefit of the doubt assuming the computer needed to adjust back down to sea level.

I will admit, its running better then before the new knock sensors were installed, but I just KNOW its going to ping again.

Again, I really want to meet with you and I will contact you next week to take you up on your generous offer.

Thanks!
 
I was right :(

Its back to pinging again at or near WOT. It just broke 17,000 miles.

:(
 
End of story

I gave up on it and traded it in on a brand new roadster! Yee hah!! I finally got what I wanted in the first place with no pings!

Should it, God forbid, ping, I'll let you guys know and see if, by then, an easy fix comes around.

Thanks guys for your time and patience with me on this issue.:D
 
Try some Techron. This aftermarket additive cleans fuel injectors and removes deposits from the combustion chamber and piston top. Many moons ago I was a technician performing the engine fuels testing used to develop the product, so I know it works. Use a bottle right before an oil change because some of the heavier molecules drop out (past the rings) into the oil. Don't worry; it only thickens the viscosity of the oil a little. We conducted harm testing at 10 times the recommended dosage without seeing any measurable harm. Depending on the level of deposit buildup, you might have to repeat the process 2-3 times. After this, use a major oil company gasoline and you should experience a "keep clean" condition.

Keep in mind, this approach only addresses deposit buildup in the combustion chamber. Because different engines (of the same make, size, year, production run) have different octane appetites, you may still experience some light pinging regardless of the cleanliness of the engine (we saw this when we were attempting to remove testing variables during our research work). But, typically a combustion chamber cleaning additive (like Techron) addresses nuisance pinging successfully.

Good luck.
 
Vette Virgin said:
I gave up on it and traded it in on a brand new roadster! Yee hah!! I finally got what I wanted in the first place with no pings!

Should it, God forbid, ping, I'll let you guys know and see if, by then, an easy fix comes around.

Thanks guys for your time and patience with me on this issue.:D

Glad to hear about the new roadster. Good luck with it. I was starting to think your elevation had alot with the other cars pinging.
Enjoy the new, nice color BTW.
 
Dragon Daddy said:
Try some Techron. This aftermarket additive cleans fuel injectors and removes deposits from the combustion chamber and piston top. Many moons ago I was a technician performing the engine fuels testing used to develop the product, so I know it works. Use a bottle right before an oil change because some of the heavier molecules drop out (past the rings) into the oil. Don't worry; it only thickens the viscosity of the oil a little. We conducted harm testing at 10 times the recommended dosage without seeing any measurable harm. Depending on the level of deposit buildup, you might have to repeat the process 2-3 times. After this, use a major oil company gasoline and you should experience a "keep clean" condition.

Keep in mind, this approach only addresses deposit buildup in the combustion chamber. Because different engines (of the same make, size, year, production run) have different octane appetites, you may still experience some light pinging regardless of the cleanliness of the engine (we saw this when we were attempting to remove testing variables during our research work). But, typically a combustion chamber cleaning additive (like Techron) addresses nuisance pinging successfully.

Good luck.

44K...44K...and more 44K...that will clean the deposits for sure....:L
 
Vette Virgin said:
I gave up on it and traded it in on a brand new roadster! Yee hah!! I finally got what I wanted in the first place with no pings!

Should it, God forbid, ping, I'll let you guys know and see if, by then, an easy fix comes around.

Thanks guys for your time and patience with me on this issue.:D

Again good luck with the new vehicle that does not ping! I figured I would say that so people will know you have it resolved with a new Vette.
 
44k as normal Maintenance a good idea?

I also have a 2001 car. Mine has 21K on the clock. It doesn't ping at all, and I would like to keep it that way. Is it reccomended to do the 44K treatment periodically just to keep it clean, or is there some risk that outweighs the possible benifit? thanks Jeff
 
TODD L GRIFFITH said:
Again good luck with the new vehicle that does not ping! I figured I would say that so people will know you have it resolved with a new Vette.

It was also in Nov. 2003.
 
VetteVirgin,
You should listen to Hib on this- he knows of what he speaks. Here's a LINK an article he wrote about gas quality. From the article, a comment about pinging engines:

“Detonation” is rapid, uncontrolled combustion. It occurs after ignition, when the unburned charge ahead of the expanding flame front is compressed to the point of auto-ignition. If a significant amount of unburned charge auto-ignites, detonation will be audible and will generate intense pressure waves which cause the chamber walls to vibrate. You hear that as a knocking or pinging sound. This pressure builds quickly, before the piston reaches top dead center. When downward force builds before the piston changes direction, stress on it and other parts is significant as is the performance loss. Detonation also sends combustion temperatures soaring. The stress and temperature make even moderate detonation problems capable of damaging the engine in your Corvette.

“Octane” or “antiknock rating” is a measure of a gasoline’s resistance to detonation. Two ratings are common: “research octane number” (RON) and “motor octane number” (MON). Tests for both use a single-cylinder engine having a variable compression ratio. The engine is run on a gasoline to be rated and the compression ratio is varied to obtain a standard knock intensity measured by an electronic knockmeter. The octane of the sample is determined by comparing its knock tendency with that of reference fuels having known octane numbers.


Discussions about brands of gas and octane ratings come up periodically. HERE'S one such thread that may prove helpful.

:w
-Patrick
 
carbon build-up

I also have a 2001 vette that was pinging lightly at WOT.The carbon build-up was so bad that you could smell it,especially when it was parked in a garage.Went to GM dealer for Bk44.He gave me a GM fuel sys. treatment called #12345104 that cleans carbon deposits from your engine.Says it was better than Bk44 and their corvette mechanic uses it all the time and highly recommends it.Anyway smell is definitely gone and pinging is less.I had no codes with this problem.
 
Pinging!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started this thread almost 3 years ago as my 2001 couple was pinging. Back in 10/03, I gave up on it and bought myself a roadster.

As I write this, my '03 is starting to ping.:cry

Originally on my 01 Vette, I thought that the pinging had something to do with my Halltech air intake as it seemed to stop pinging when I took off the air filter all together (for a test of course). So my 03 still has the stock air filter as I was gunshy to change it out.

So now, it seems, when my vette is WARM, and I floor it, it has been pinging up a storm.

So, does ANYBODY have any concrete answers as to what has been happending to my 2 C5's?? I go to any gas station besides ARCO, always use 91 octane (yes, I'm in California). I just can't believe this is happending to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Since I'm back to this issue after a coupe years have gone by, I have 2 questions.

1. Does anybody out there have any definitely reasons WHY the pinging is ongoing? Why would Chevrolet build such a great engine that continuously does this? Since I live in So. California, is the gas the problem?

2. What is torco and should I use it?

3. I live by a gas station that (I might be off a little) sells both 98 octain and 112 octane fuels. Should I use this station in combination with a regular station?

Thanks
 

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