My 2003 Vette pings

[Vette Virgin]

My last 2001 coupe pinged and this car pings. Chevrolet just says its Cali gas and too low an octane. I cannot believe this is just my bad luck.

My current Roadster just broke 4,000 miles and has pinged off and on for the last 3000 miles.

Does this mean that lightning will strike me twice now? Is this more common then I think it is? Thoughts? Should I be worried?

vv

 

[atmmac]

are you sure its pinging? Try adding some octane booster to your gas and see if it still pings. It could very well just be bad gas. Try going to sunoco and getting some 94 octane..


Good Luck,
-Andy

 

[Vette Virgin]

And yes. Its pinging and the Chevy dealership confirms it as such. Says its just the gas.

 

[atmmac]

Well it could be bad gas try using the octane booster. If all else fails bring it back and get your money back and buy a 97 no pings here!

Sorry to hear that happen,
-Andy

 

[cavettefan]

Go to a Union 76 station that sells the 76 Competition 100 unleaded gas. There is a blending chart at http://www.76.com/products/76racing.asp#OCTANE Start at a blended 93 octane. If you still get pinging, then work your way up in octane blend until the pinging goes away. Personally, I would live with it - I have an "enhanced" powertrain (heads, cam, cold air intake, etc.); with a blend of 93 octane, I have an entirely different car than with 91 octane. (And no pinging.)

 

[SurfnSun]

Octane Booster is crap, don't waste your money. Try the pump 100.

 

[Vette Virgin]

I just tried the website that Cavettefan gave me for 76 stations that offer it and the 6 local stations I called do not offer it

The curse continues. Thanks anyway!

 

[Vette Virgin]

air filter causing car to run lean?

My dealership just called and said my car is running lean/pinging because of my Halltech T1 air filter. I haven't had time to go pick up the car, what what are your thoughts about this?


vv

 

[cavettefan]

Vette Virgin, it would appear that you will need to cast your net wider (so to speak). The list of stations on the 76.com url is the entire universe of stations that sell 76 products. They (76) did not see fit to narrow the list to those stations that carry the high octane products - infinite wisdom....

 

[atmmac]

My dealership just called and said my car is running lean/pinging because of my Halltech T1 air filter. I haven't had time to go pick up the car, what what are your thoughts about this?


vv

Could be defective try the stock filter and see if it still pings.

-Andy

 

[Vette Virgin]

I'm having Chevy put the stock equipment back on and I'll see if that takes care of my pinging. I'll let you know.

 

[Paul T]

And yes. Its pinging and the Chevy dealership confirms it as such. Says its just the gas.

Try another brand of gas. We have found that ARCO gasoline will cause Corvettes to ping as well as some off brands. In the good old days, Texaco was the best but now it has morphed into Shell. I find that Exxon/Mobile gives acceptable performance as well as Chevron and Shell. I would not use BP/Arco or the standard pump gas of Union 76. Unfortunately, the Republik of Kalifornia limits octane to 91. As others have suggested, if you can find one of the 76 outlets for the racing gas, try mixing it until you are rid of the pinging.

 

[SurfnSun]

Call a local drag strip, dirt track, performance parts store, etc. Ask them where to get race gas.

Those internet searches are only so-so. I have a station 3 miles from my house...the web said 50.

 

[Vette Virgin]

I just had the stock air-filter put back in and, knock on wood, that seems to have stopped the pinging. I'll wait for a hot day to confirm my findiings.

Please tell me why an air filter would cause pinging? Thanks!

 

[AZMike]

Please tell me why an air filter would cause pinging? Thanks!

Simple - more air = more gas = more power = more HEAT. This can cause more pre-detonation in the combustion chamber. My 01 pings a little on warm days (over 100 here in Phoenix) when I get on it, but you just have to live with it. I think it is a little more pronounced with the blackwing than it was with the stock filter.

A little pinging is harmless - now if your car starts sounding like a diesel, you've got problems. During the fake gas shortage here last summer, I actually had to run a tank of 87 - no 91 was available anywhere for a week. Talk about bad performance - the computer must have backed off like 100 h.p. It pinged really bad when I got on it too - which was only once when I heard what it ran like on 87 octane!

You'd think a state where temps regularly get above 110 in the summer would have something higher than 91 available!

 

[SurfnSun]

Id call Halltech and see what they say. IMHO any pinging is too much.

 

[cavettefan]

Now that we have an additional piece of information (the Halltech cold air intake system), I would imagine that what is occurring is that you have exceeded the performance envelope for 91 octane gas. The C5 has been highly tuned at the factory to squeeze the maximum performance with no compromises on drivability. If any of the parameters of the performance envelope get changed, there can be consequences. For example, if you are running a cold air intake system (that incorporates a ram effect, if memory serves) at high speed, you have a partial supercharger in operation.

I experienced something along the same lines with my Coupe: When I first took delivery, there was great driveability on 91 octane pump gas. Part throttle acceleration was great, and, and. During the winter and early spring of 2003 (while I was waiting for the car to be built), I was all over the C5 Modification forum. In the summer, I decided to do some serious enhancement of the drivetrain (cold air system, heads and cam, headers, etc.). I now have a significantly enhanced power output; but it didn't come free (I have to run a blend of 93 octane). When I first started driving my enhanced car, I was experiencing pinging and was generally hating the drivability of the car. My next effort was to explore what would happen if I increased the octane of the gas in an attempt to stop the pinging. After blending the 100 octane 76 gas, I have a completely transformed car. Performance is exceptional and the drivability (no pinging and no retardation of the timing with consequential loss of power output) is excellent. Yes, the blended gas does cost more and I have to plan my trips around the availability of 100 octane gas (or else drive very lightly on the go pedal until I can get back to where 100 octane gas is available).

To net out my experience, the inconvenience of having to co-ordinate the octane requirements is offset by the performance increase. This compromise may not be acceptable for other owners - it is a personal decision. The fact that Chevy only got approximately a 50 hp increase (and probably this was due to increasing the displacement to 6 liters) for the C6 would tend to indicate the compromises that had to be made to get more power and still keep drivability high on pump gas.

 

[Vette Virgin]

Quote from Jim Hall at Halltech, 8/03

.
> QUOTE FROM JIM HALL:
> What is amazing to me, is that you can hear pinging at all. I have
> never driven a vette under any circumstances where audible pinging was
> present. Never. Here's why. The knock sensors are frequency tuned to
> pick up a specific frequency from pinging, even before it becomes
> audible to the human ear. At times, the knock sensors can even pick up
> other knocking engine sounds and erroneously pull timing.
>
> The easiest way to see what's happening, is to put the Tech II onboard,
> click on record, and run the car for awhile, with WOT pulls. If you can
> hear pinging, the car should be pulling timing bigtime. If not, your
> knock sensors are not working and need replacing.
>
> I run our intakes very lean. Program to around 13.1:1 a/f ratio and
> never get knock retard.
>
> Here is another thing. Take off the T-1 and see if that helps. There
> may be a small leak somewhere that only shows up under WOT and is
> running the a/f to above 15:1.
>
> Also try racing unleaded fuel. If it stops, the motor is carbon city
> and should be decarbed. Better yet, take off the heads and have the
> pistons cleaned.

**********************************************************

Wanted to put this quote into this discussion. I'll check back in later

vv

 

[atmmac]

i really wouldnt worry about it. Its not pinging now so its fine. The halltech was probably defective.

-Andy

 

[cavettefan]

But I suspect that Vette Virgin wants the extra punch that the Halltech provided. It is probably decision time right about now: What does VV want more - no pinging, or more power?