I know there have been MANY threads on the 3.5 engine pinging/rattling issue, but I thought it may be helpful to post my results for those who may have missed something in the extensive threads dedicated to this topic.

I have had my '03 for slightly over one year and have 52,xxx miles on it. I have never run anything but Shell 93 octane, but I have a feeling that the previous owner (my grandmother) ran 87 for the ten years prior to my ownership. That, coupled with her puttering short distances around town and never really letting it breath has led to a massive build-up of carbon over the years (my theory, anyways). I have had bad pinging in warm weather pretty much since I took ownership of the vehicle.

After reading through the many helpful threads on this forum, I had put together a personal list of things to do to tackle the issue:

1. Seafoam treatment
2. Clean MAF
3. Replace fuel filter/strainer
4. Replace PCV
5. Add oil catch can

Last weekend I did the Seafoam treatment and cleaned the MAF, following the tutorials found on this forum, and while I think I noticed a slight reduction in pinging, it was still very noticeable. I just got the fuel filter and PCV in from the dealership yesterday and will tackle those items this coming weekend, but in the meantime, I thought I might as well add a bottle of Techron for shyts and giggles...so I did. This was yesterday around 6:00pm. I did two WOT runs before going home to try and burn off as much of the carbon build-up as possible, and on my 20-minute drive to work this morning....no pinging!!! I also drove around for a while on my lunch break, and still no pinging!

The reason I say this is a temporary solution, aside from the fact that my results are only based off of one morning/afternoon's worth of driving, is that other members have testified to the effectiveness of Techron treatments and the temporary nature of the results. I am hoping that the new fuel filter and pcv will make this a more permanent fix, and if not, my next project will be a catch can, as I am burning about 1 quart every 3,000 miles. Regardless, right now I am reveling in the smooth, ping-free roar of my 3.5!

I hope this can be of some help. BTW, I added the small bottle (treats up to a 15 gallon tank, I believe) with a half-tank of gas.

 

 

LOL, ^^that didn't take long.

I know, I know, and I apologize for the redundancy. The constant pinging has been toying with my sanity. I feel like today is the first day of the rest of my car's life!

Just felt the need to "shout it from the rooftops".

 

I used lucus deep clean blue and white bottle each full tank pinging drastically decreased

 

How many tanks did you run the Lucas? Or do you mean you put it in with every fill-up, as routine maintenance?

 

147k here, build date 10/02 and have yet to here a ping out of this VQ35DE.

 

Nice! I would like to think that if I were the original owner of this car, I could say the same. But, I've treated her right since I took ownership, so I hope to get many more miles out of this chariot!

 

Thats because you run Alibaba 103 octane and imported peruvian hand drawn oils extracted from the finest fields by native Naked women!

 

I got her at 37k in 10/2004. Maybe not the original owner, but one of the first. In any case, yes, I feel lucky to not have the pinging problems I've notoriously heard about on this forum.

 

My pinging stops for about 1000 miles every time I change oil and add lucas oil stabilizer and Techron. But from there the pinging drives me crazy. I will try what was mentioned

 

Sorry I meant every oil change great results , pings randomly not all the time like it usually does at the 1800-2000 rpm