Knocking and Pinging
 

My '03 maxima knocks and pings pretty severely at 2K RPM, especially when I am going up hill or giving light throttle. Is this common and is there a common fix? Thanks.

Pinging
 

I fixed it with one heat range colder plugs and Sunoco Ultra '94.

Joe.

:sprint: new NGK plat spark plugs and premium octane should take care of it

take care of your car and use the proper fuel...

:sprint: On cooler plugs/catch can/91+.

Has your car had the 17* timing change? If so this may be the culprit. Should be an easy fix by using prelium gas and colder spark plugs.

you should use premium fuel regardless

I always use premium fuel and the problem was still there.
Did plugs when i installed my headers and its gone now... or maybe i just cant hear it from the loud exhaust?? :)

Did you happen to go to a cooler heat range on the plugs?

Just Bosh Platinum +2
(yes i know everybody hates Bosch)

I seem to have the same knocking problem. Thinking of going to NGK iridium one step cooler. Trying to get Nissan to talk to me about it but all I get is that they run the fuel very lean and the timing advanced for economy. Any way to use a bit more fuel in the 2k-3k rpm range to cool things off?:confused: Nissan tech says we can retard the timing a bit but will loose power that way. What's with the 17* timing update?

Search :smash:

Your too nice. :laugh:

i didnt give him the answer...just the link to the proper place to ask the question.

weird how its a different experience for everyone. i run my car pretty lean under high throttle (im at -10 on the vafc for everything over 4100) and i dont ever get pinging, even with 17* timing. in fact, the only time ive gotten pinging for the whole life of the car is when the dyno guy went 15.0 on the dyno after like 4 runs :nervous:

I gotta ticking initially when starting then, it goes away. Low rpm tapping is there and I use premium fuel. I need new plugs and im i need to definitely do the timing advance!
What is the favorable heat range on the cooler plugs that have been mentioned??

If i turn the radio up the problem never seems to be there! :);)

What is the drawback using colder plugs? Power loss, mileage, etc.?

Same thing happened to me after I put in a couple (maybe more) tanks of 87 octane gas. It went away as soon as I put in the higher octane.

I agree with the getting better octane gas, I'd replace the stock spark plugs while your at it.

:sprint: i thought NGK plats were the best option for us

there are way too many discussions on this subject

I know. I clicked the link for the hell of it.

I was being sarcastic.

I use super unleaded/93 octane gas.

I checked my plugs this evening. I currently am using NGK R PLFR5A 11. I think NGK PLFR5A 11 are stock. I'm not sure what difference the "R" makes. I don't think it's a colder plug. As I understand plugs, a colder one is NGK LFR6AIX 11. Is that what people are using for colder plugs in their maximas?

I would use LFR6A's. Maybe add a catch can :repost:

I'm bored and the ToT's are a little lean this evening, so here you go:

IX = Iridium. Use this chart and plug a 6 in where the 5 is and you will have the equivalent plug in a colder heat range.
http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=120

A little background on heat range:
http://www.ngk.de/Spark_plugs.649.0.html

More background on catch cans:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=312377
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=357109
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=351891

My 01 had the pinging problem (but no knocking) and it was totally unrelated to plugs/coils/fuel. Mine was a MAF (but I don't know 5.5 gen's behavior with their faulty MAF).

I added an oil catch can and changed my front 3 plugs. I'll change the other 3 next week. I also added some oil, a bottle of injector cleaner and reset the ECU. I'm driving it hard thinking that thousands of miles of highway driving in 6th gear may have resulted in weak ECU signals. From what I can tell, the pinging is a little better. We'll see once I replace the rest of the plugs run the car for a while.

Solution to 02/03 Maxima Engine ping at 1800-2000rpm
 

Guys...the problem that causes the ping under load really lies with fuel delivery and carbon buildup in cylinders. To fix these problems you need to replace your in-tank fuel filter every two years/40,000km(cost is $8.90). I know that Nissan says that it's a lifetime filter because of it's location in the gas tank and the filter is built into the fuel pump, but the filter itself is made with regular paper that develops sediment/gunk buildup as the mileage rolls on and therefore there is a slight slow down of fuel delivery to the engine under load with light acceleration(2000rpm). This causes a lean fuel mixture in the cylinders and the pinging starts. Under heavier throttle, the fuel pump kicks up the pressure and sends more fuel, so therefore no pinging. To keep the cylinders carbon-free, use seafoam motor treatment every 5000km. Carbon buildup contributes to engine ping under loads.

i'll second this.... i also had to replace the MAF on my 2k to get rid of pinging that came on suddenly. If was pinging only under load and usually if i backed off the throttle it would stop. New MAF fixed it.

MADMAX2003
how many threads are you going to bump with posts about a "solution"???

My '02 Max has been pinging since I bought it new with 7 miles on it, explain that

My '03 Maxima also had a slight pinging from when it was brand new, but the pinging got louder and more constant when it went over 40,000km. I changed the fuel filter and the pinging reduced, but was still not exactly like when it was new. I then did a series of seafoam decarbonizing treatments and then it came back to normal. Remember, that it is normal for all high compression engines to exhibit slight ping under load because of the high cylinder temperatures.

My car never pings audibly and has the came CR as yours.

MADMAX2003 is the expert and discovered the cause of a problem.....we should all listen to him...


:wall:

Read page 9-4 of owner's manual. It says to expect pinging under loads for greatest fuel benefit..Nissan wouldn't make these things up. Other high compression engines like the viper, corvette, ferrari..just to name a few..also experience pinging under load. If your engine is ping free, it means that it's running rich.

Yo sooner...I got the feeling you jealous that I found the solution and you didn't...lol...hahahaha

:rolleyes:

:confused::confused:

so MADMAX2003 thinks the pinging is the same as a timing chain rattle....nice

Hey sooner...might be a really good idea to go check out a shrink ;)