anthunny

VQ35 05 5spd auto. Car performs fine, just annoying PING since brand NEW(07/04/04)... low oil or oil full....

Mild ping at 1500rpm ONLY. Tried different types of gas and everything.
Want to research here before taking into dealer, I read very mild ping is fine and perhapy even normal?, but still annoying, and shouldn't exist at all.

What do you think the problem is?

cylinder misfire, ignition oil?
spark plugs? (car starts up fine though)
crank sensor, dimple adjustment?
throttle body?
valves contaminated? (only used 89 for like 6weeks, I doubt it)
leaking intake manifold, results gaskets leaking (hmmmm, nah)

some domestic guy suggested these:

broken vaccum advance?
replacement for theromstat, radiator cap?

PLEASE help!!!

s0ber

iTrader: (7)

Take it back to the dealer, for a 05 you shouldnt get nothing but perfection.

No it shouldn't be pinging thats why we have knock sensors.

You sure your hearing pinging?

spirilis

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, don't mess with the .org for such a new car, go to the dealer.

E55AMG2

iTrader: (4)

every VQ35 pings...c'est la vie

thisisausername

dont bother with the expensive gas. Been running 87 since i got the maxi and it still runs fine. Only thing it might give you is a few more hp cuz engine might advance timings a tiny bit.

wmhashem

it might be that your fuel injectors are just noisy..my moms brand new camry had a ping in the engine sound when revved in neutral. this ping was normal....its just the fuel rail or the injectors. somtimes the aluminum heads do this. aluminum is light weight and will cause the noise to travel.......if you want to get rid of the ping, buy a jet engine....

Zero Deuce SE

I don't see where that domestic guy got vacuum advance from.He must be thinking of some old technology cars. I doubt the radiator cap or thermostat is related to your concern. One word for you, WARRANTY .

Zero Deuce SE

That's news to me.

LvR

I don't know what sort of compression ratio the 3.5 runs at, but I am willing to bet its 10+ ....................... and timing becomes pretty critical around there.

Does it ping both when the motor is hot and cold or just when its hot? If it pings when hot then it may be a too lean mixture (for whatever reason) - if it pings when cold, find a stout piece of 2" x 4" of around 4 foot long and have a conversation with the dyslexic mechanic that last "worked" on your motor - either way - the solution is to be found at the dealer.

E55AMG2

iTrader: (4)

They like to ping when the TCM lugs in a taller gear. EX: not kicking down to 2nd to pass, but to 3rd, from 4th gear. Also, when climbing a hill in a taller gear. Big throttle openings at low speeds in the upper gears is where it happens.

Repeated use of low octane fuel = void warranty. This is what Nissan NA themselves told me when I brought the pinging issue up to them 2 years ago.

E55AMG2

iTrader: (4)

Oh, and the compression ratio is 10.5:1 according to the ESM

anthunny

Yeah, it still might not PING with low grade, but definately lower performance... what bothers me is, i use 91, and STILL pings in nice COLD weather... wtf.


well if it's that normal, how come only my VQ does this? I talked to them over the phone vaguely, they BSed something to... therefore I want to get it straight on here, before I seek their mechanics.


It pings in all sorts of weather. Hawaii style, or Noah's Ark weather. Since summer. Now in nice cold non humid winter as well, same 1500rpm PING.
This seems like a rare case, and Nissan techs seem horrible, so I want research here so they can't give me excuses, incase.


^^ I never use the 89 low grade no more. Just for 6 weeks. 91 all the way the past 3mths now. EVEN if I did, I heard it wont ping usually, unless in really inclement weather. It would retard the timing, giving you poor MPG and performance that's all. 3yrs ago, it said premium required I believe. AFTER the accord came out that ONLY REQUIRED REGULAR, they **** their pants, and said regular is fine, but premium is recommended. So in theory, even if some cheap **** use 87 in Death Valley weather, Nissan can't say jack, cause it's only reccommended.

My ping happens in any gear, TCM or no TCM. 5th gear cruise on the freeway PING at 1500rpm. Leave it in first on a downhill from a dead stop, passing 1500rpm, PING again. The car has ENOUGH power, I doubt cause of the struggling, it pings........

SIGH... soo many possibilites..... but thanks for the suggestions people!!!

LvR

Not being familiar with the specifics of the motor:

I would suggest screw the dealer and mechanics and do a little faultfinding yourself - ie - get a timing light hooked onto the motor and see what the actual timing is set at - if its not set standard then set it to the recommended - if it is, then retard it a degree or two and take it for a spin see if the ping is gone. Also do a compression check - WOT and 10.5 CR makes for interesting figures - what do you see?

If you can get rid of it by retarding the timing (I don't like pinging either) then you have ammo to take to the dealer and start shooting. Wont be the first time that a stock block had the surfaces machined wrong or the heads over-machined to get rid of surface casting marks.............

Possibly a wrong ECU or mapping curves fitted to your car?

Ping/Knock is neither normal nor desirable - don't care who says even a slight ping is normal - there is ignition happening before its supposed to and that is not good for any combustion process.

s0ber

iTrader: (7)

I dont think you can retard the timing.. The KS does that.. :\

anthunny

well if you try to set the degrees 1 to 2degrees differently, to eliminate pinging, that is kinda like the same for a normal VQ to use 87. It might eliminate the noise, but the performance definately wouldn't be optimal, unless the compression and the temp/degrees were not standard in the first place to begin with!

hmmmm

so the standard compression ratio was listed above, 10.5:1

what about the temperature/degree the engine is suppose to run on?

LvR

Well now, I am not so sure about that. I have asked many a time here whether anybody knows anything more than what the FSM tells us about the ignition system, and have yet to get somebody to post a justified reply.

Let me ask it again here then - if anybody has detail knowledge about the exact working of the ECU controlling the ignition on the Maxima's (VG for me in particular) please can you set me straight by supplying verify-able facts.

KS in my experience is primarily a sensor that will tell an pre-define ignition mapped ECU that something out of the ordinary is going on and that the ECU must take some sort of preventative measure (retarding the timing) in order to prevent damage to the motor - ie - the Nissan boffins have well researched and established advance and retard curves for the ignition system based on various parameters like inlet air temp, volume of air flowing into the engine via the MAF, TPS, vacuum or engine load, O2 sensor inputs etc etc etc, and only once knock is detected will the KS actually play any useful role. At any given stage if the engine and parameters are all working according to spec, the KS will have exactly zero say about whats going on ito ignition

Well, I disagree. The KS may be able to cause the ECU to retard timing if knock is detected, but any and all motors have at least one pickup sensor feeding rotation and positional information from either the crank or the camshaft to the ECU so that a definitive reference point for ignition can be established - and this particular sensor can be used to alter the initial timing. As I said before, I don't know design details of the 3.5, but on my VG I can loosen a nut on the distributor for example and affect timing changes that way - other motors have crank sensors that can be moved etc etc but initial timing can and must be set somewhere on all motors.

Anthunny - my suggestion is not a solution to the problem, but merely a means of identifying how the pinging/knock can be eliminated - if any of my suggestions can actually temp get rid of the problem, then you have facts on which to base conclusions and sticks to throw at the techies at the dealership that seems to know squat about your motor.Thats the whole reason for my posting here - if you hear ping/knock your performance is anyway not optimal .......................