Pinging/Knocking on acceleration - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

pitbull30 · 10-04-2005, 01:13 AM

Hello. Just found this forum while diggin on the net.

My car is a 2001 corolla. 55k miles. I currently use 87 octance as they recommend.

I believe what I am hearing on acceleration, or going up hills is pinging or knocking. Sounds similar to a marble inside a can. It is not very loud but its there.

I dont know very much about newer cars. I am more into old hot rods, carburated cars etc. The toyota is my commuter car......

Anyways i took the car to the toyota dealer. He said "My tech couldnt replicate anything you claim" (the car is under warranty) But after reading other posts on pinging on the forum this seems like a common delaer reply with this sort of symptom.

So basically i am looking for recommendations on this. I thought about trying 89 octane gas but I came across another site that said using higher octance gas against toyotas specs isnt recommeded and can cause damage. I know hot rod guys boost octane all the time??????

My other option was to take it and get a tune-up/timing set.

Also the dealer told me that if it was pinging/knocking the "check engine light" would come on. Is this true?

asus · 10-04-2005, 02:26 AM

well, actually, the one think i know abotu cars is this haha.. the higher the octane the more the explosion is delayed..

now.. if your hearing that noise.. its prob because the explosion is happining to early or to late inside were the piston is.. this can be caused by bad timeing, but usually is fixed by a higher octane gas.. but if you tryed that, i would take your car in for a tune up.. it could be the timeing belt.. idk..

when you go up the hill. do you floor it??

and BTW.. no..the check engine light in most cars is stupid.. it comes on when there is no need, and stays off when there is a problem.. unless you have a brand new 2006.. i wouldint trust anything..

pitbull30 · 10-04-2005, 02:41 AM

I have not tried higher octane gas yet. and when I go up hills I never floor it.. But the thing is I hear it even on flat ground under acceleration....But its more noticeable on hills, even small hills or slight inclines.......

Flashmn · 10-04-2005, 06:09 AM

Quote:

well, actually, the one think i know abotu cars is this haha.. the higher the octane the more the explosion is delayed..

Wrong... it doesnt delay the explosion, it raises the tendency for detonation higher, so in otherwords, it wont knock as easy.

Braddale · 10-11-2005, 07:22 AM

The sound you are describing could be the serpintine belt tensioner, I have a 2000 had to have it replaced, it was making the same sound, like a light rattle noise, the tensioner is spring loaded and tends to lose tension causing the rattle, pinging sound.

01loadedLE · 10-11-2005, 07:45 AM

pit its normal for our motors to have that sound every now and then and the manual states that as well. it also states the research octane was 91 so you can up the octane to see if that makes a difference but I wouldnt bother wasting the money. mine usually makes the noise during the first mile of driving until it gets warmed up.

toyotaspeed90 · 10-11-2005, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flashmn

Wrong... it doesnt delay the explosion, it raises the tendency for detonation higher, so in otherwords, it wont knock as easy.

it does this because the higher the octane gas, the harder it is to actually ignite it. Octane is a funny thing, you want the lowest octane possible without pinging/detonation.

200CorollaS2001 · 10-16-2005, 09:34 PM

I know the exact sound you are talking about. It's nothing serious if it's the same. Carbon buildup in the engine can sometimes cause that more often, and most people use higher octane fuel to compensate for it. But now they say that higher octane fuel may MASK the problem, but will lead to more carbon buildup. My 2001 Corolla S had that when I first got it. I found a product by Greased Lightening for your fuel that removes carbine buildup and it cleared the problem. I still run it every 10k or so to keep it smooth. My old Buick did the same thing, and I ended up going from 87 to 93 octane. And even then it started persisting again. I used that greased lightening fuel treatment and filled it with Cheveron 87 octane. It ran bad for a short while, then cleared up and now runs SMOOTH on 87 again still. I really hope this is your problem, because if so it's very common and easy to take care of. Don't use Earl's Gas station and stick to good quality fuel, but use 87 octane. And keep the plugs in good shape, although iridium plugs seem to last well. BTW, for EXTREME cases of carbon buildup, they have the motorvac service. Don't know if I can post an html link, but here is some info on that Motor Vac

tmindeman · 10-29-2007, 02:46 PM

i have same car and problem. higher octane will only postpone the problem. it will come back at even higher oct after enough carbon builds up in the intake. look deeper for the problem as I am such as the maf sensor.

retiredat44 · 10-29-2007, 03:49 PM

One cannot compare carbon buildup of an old american V8 that burns oil over along period of time to a small 4-banger... with ping... No-Comparrison. Period.

If you think you have massive carbon, you can run several tanks of high octane, and run at highway speeds over several days.. also you can run a fine spray mist of water into the intake at fast idle... nfor several minutes...

But this is only for high buidlup of hard carbon,,,,,, only a really worn out engine will have it that bad...

timing that was to far retarded can also cause carbon problems, but don't take it out of spec...
too far advanced makes it run lean which can break pistons and valves and make it run leaner..

Donald · 10-29-2007, 04:00 PM

You guys might want to check this site out. I learned about it from car talk, (click & Clack the tappet brothers). It's a car question and answer program on the national public radio network on Saturday mornings, and they also run in our local news paper.

I was surprised to see which gas stations were and which were not on the list.

http://www.toptiergas.com/
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

daveart · 10-29-2007, 04:33 PM

do you hear this all the time like when ideling or just upon take off?it could be just a vsv clicking,but ,,,,the t chain could be loose .dose it sound like a rattle on the passanger side of the motor?try cleaning the throttle,and yes there would be a code if a valve was off clearence,so if theres no code,well...is your oil level ok?