Hey guys. been a while. Ping question.....

[BennyM]

Well I haven't visited the board since mid summer, I think. Hope everyone is well.

I got a bit of a conundrom. In spring, I wrote about pinging issues with my M50. I ran many types of additives and italian tune ups, tried different brands of gas (now running Shell), replaced a few hoses.....the usual. No diff, decided to live with it untill I was less busy or slightly richer. I will also be installing a new oil pan gasket this week to stop a worsening oil leak. It was my theory that perhaps this oil leak was also a vaccume leak and therefore causing the pinging. However, yesterday the pinging stopped. Completely. What was very noticeable the day before is now gone. Way smoother idle, and I can start off in 1st or 2nd gear with no ping/ rattle anoyance, no matter how much load it has. I don't know if it will stay gone, and I'm pretty sure it's done this before for a day or two (thought it was my imagination last time) and then returned to uneaven idle (once warm) and low RPM pinging.

The only difference between yesterday and the day before is that yesterday was nonstop rain and slightly warmer temperatures. I drove the same routs that I always do, but I'm sure I went through some pretty big puddles a few times. Could this be the cause?

I'm open to any theories. Thanks in advance.

BennyM

[ryan roopnarine]

Well I haven't visited the board since mid summer, I think. Hope everyone is well.

I got a bit of a conundrom. In spring, I wrote about pinging issues with my M50. I ran many types of additives and italian tune ups, tried different brands of gas (now running Shell), replaced a few hoses.....the usual. No diff, decided to live with it untill I was less busy or slightly richer. I will also be installing a new oil pan gasket this week to stop a worsening oil leak. It was my theory that perhaps this oil leak was also a vaccume leak and therefore causing the pinging. However, yesterday the pinging stopped. Completely. What was very noticeable the day before is now gone. Way smoother idle, and I can start off in 1st or 2nd gear with no ping/ rattle anoyance, no matter how much load it has. I don't know if it will stay gone, and I'm pretty sure it's done this before for a day or two (thought it was my imagination last time) and then returned to uneaven idle (once warm) and low RPM pinging.

The only difference between yesterday and the day before is that yesterday was nonstop rain and slightly warmer temperatures. I drove the same routs that I always do, but I'm sure I went through some pretty big puddles a few times. Could this be the cause?

I'm open to any theories. Thanks in advance.

BennyM

if you only had a slight buildup, and you sucked enough water through your air intake, maybe that cleared it out......i usually find that i run crappy after i feed my motor water through a vacuum line, until about 100 mi or so later, when i can see improvements.

[632 Regal]

rain and real high humidity kinda increases the octane rating and helps with pinging. I doubt you actually ingested enough water to reduce any amount of carbon buildup tho.

[ryan roopnarine]

i didn't get from your post whether or not you thought the ping termination would be permanent......but in WWII das germans would run both nitrous oxide and water injection in their airplane engines, the water would reduce the engine's tendency to knock when the nitrous was applied. if there's a big enough presence of standing water somewhere in your induction system, this might be what's happening.

[jj7]

Well I haven't visited the board since mid summer, I think. Hope everyone is well.

I got a bit of a conundrom. In spring, I wrote about pinging issues with my M50. I ran many types of additives and italian tune ups, tried different brands of gas (now running Shell), replaced a few hoses.....the usual. No diff, decided to live with it untill I was less busy or slightly richer. I will also be installing a new oil pan gasket this week to stop a worsening oil leak. It was my theory that perhaps this oil leak was also a vaccume leak and therefore causing the pinging. However, yesterday the pinging stopped. Completely. What was very noticeable the day before is now gone. Way smoother idle, and I can start off in 1st or 2nd gear with no ping/ rattle anoyance, no matter how much load it has. I don't know if it will stay gone, and I'm pretty sure it's done this before for a day or two (thought it was my imagination last time) and then returned to uneaven idle (once warm) and low RPM pinging.

The only difference between yesterday and the day before is that yesterday was nonstop rain and slightly warmer temperatures. I drove the same routs that I always do, but I'm sure I went through some pretty big puddles a few times. Could this be the cause?

I'm open to any theories. Thanks in advance.

BennyM

BennyM, mine is a 525i,94...it had a horrible history of pinging,if you will take a look into the combustion chambers through the spark plug holes, the most carbon build up in my chambers were taken out using a water based chemical and the car is better now...try to use a slim flash light that may fit inside the spark hole...

[BennyM]

i didn't get from your post whether or not you thought the ping termination would be permanent......but in WWII das germans would run both nitrous oxide and water injection in their airplane engines, the water would reduce the engine's tendency to knock when the nitrous was applied. if there's a big enough presence of standing water somewhere in your induction system, this might be what's happening.

And no, I didn't expect it to be permanent. It got sunny and in the 70s today and after some hard driving, with many starts and stops, the pinging has returned....not as bad yet, but enough to annoy me again. However, a big thunderstorm just came through, dumping way more rain. Think I'm gonna go find some small puddles and see if it gets better again. lol. I'm also going to check the combustion chamber like I should have done a while ago. Interesting stuff, this water. Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

BennyM

[BennyM]

...most carbon build up in my chambers were taken out using a water based chemical and the car is better now....
BennyM

Spark plugs looked good. The tops of the pistons certainly have carbon build up, but I haven't seen enough examples of this to determine how severe the build up is.

I guess my questions now are:
1. how do I determine the severity?
2. how do these water based chemical or water injection methods work?
3. And have you guys ever heard of fuel conditioner? Does it fit under the too-good-to-be-true category?
http://www.lvpetroinc.com/dft2000G.htm

Thanks,
BennyM

[jj7]

Spark plugs looked good. The tops of the pistons certainly have carbon build up, but I haven't seen enough examples of this to determine how severe the build up is.

I guess my questions now are:
1. how do I determine the severity?
2. how do these water based chemical or water injection methods work?
3. And have you guys ever heard of fuel conditioner? Does it fit under the too-good-to-be-true category?
http://www.lvpetroinc.com/dft2000G.htm

Thanks,
BennyM

BennyM, just a reminder i am curretly in Malaysia, i wished though you were around to take you to the carage where this service was done to my car.bottom line is what ever carbon volume is present there it can affect the combustion proces, i don`t claim to be a mechanic, but from what i read about this carbon,it really makes hell of difference inside the engine.In my case this chemical was pressurised inside the chambers using a pressurised cylinder and let it soak with the carbon,man,after they finished cleaning i could see the piston head alloy asa new,the most of the ping disappeared but a slight still exists.
but what i want to say BennyM,maybe in your neighbourhood you can find someone who could do this using any different chemical...