Pinging

I am experiencing light pinging. The sound is very light and is only heard with the window down and is reflected back from a wall. You can not hear the noise driving just driving in open. In the owners manual it says this is normal, saw that when i was checking to make sure i was using the right grade of gas. The car is a 2003 3.4L 70K . so what do you think ? The plugs have never been changed , the air filter has and i removed the pvc and it rattles.

I am experiencing light pinging. The sound is very light and is only heard with the window down and is reflected back from a wall. You can not hear the noise driving just driving in open. In the owners manual it says this is normal, saw that when i was checking to make sure i was using the right grade of gas. The car is a 2003 3.4L 70K . so what do you think ? The plugs have never been changed , the air filter has and i removed the pvc and it rattles.
You may not be hearing "pinging" but something else. Pinging generally occurs under load (accelleration) but not at steady speeds and is caused by improper timing, low octane fuel, carbon build up in cyclinder (ie piston top) causing an overheating of cylinder. Also can be caused by engine cooling system not working properly ie: stuck closed or partialy closed thermostat. If you are not experiencing any performance degridation it may be other things causing this feedback echo sound you are hearing. It could be as simple as a worn serpentine belt, to a stone in tire tread. Feedback from passing walls or guard-rails with windows down can be very deceiving as the sound does not reflect off these surfaces in equal waves to that which produced the initial sound. At 70K, Plugs should not be an issue, that does not mean they aren't worn some but if you detect no missing I would leave them alone, 100K is the recommended replacement. These plugs are iridium and the center electrodes are very brittle at this point and break easily if you try to adjust them and must be replaced at $4.95 each. The plug wires fit tight and the rears are difficult to remove with-out damage which could be a costly expense $55-60 for factory replacement (OEM).

No It is deffinately pinging. I left out some of the info. If i excellerate then let off the gas and coast. When i get on the gas again it will ping. Also doing the same going up hill will ping. Seems like if i just keep excellerating there is no pinging, just when the engine is lugged. You know I also started to notice something that if someone else drove this car would not even notice. Since I drive this car every day , you notice the little things. Situations like excellerating to the end of the on ramp, then off the gas, on again, the slightest dead zone just for a milli second, and very very slight , almost nothing. So what do you think.

You might want to check the condition of the front side plugs to see if the are worn over .070 but be very careful of the center electrode extremely brittle at your mileage. look for carbon build up...normal would be a brownish color...not much to go on but that is a start...thermostat is pain in the neck to get to on these engines. really dumb design in my opinion....if not throwing code it would be hard to guess what could be causing this pinging. Pre-detination is caused by heat before the plug fires or the plug firing too far advanced. There may be something going on with the CPS crank position sensor but I don't know how a backyard mechanic can determine that. there really shouldn't be much carbon build up on the valves but GM has a top engine cleaner available through their parts counter that may be the way to go in your case.

Actualy, just to clarify, the gap on the plugs is supposed to be .60, and the stock plugs are platinum, not iridium like many people say.

Even when looking up new plugs, everywhere says "Stock plugs are platinum" so you know what to look for wen buying replacements. I know this cuz I just bought some new ones, but I bought iridium.

I think I solved the pinging. I think it was the gas I was using. I started to buy gas from this station called " ECCONO" , switched back to Shell when the Shell dealer dropped his price to $2.95 a gallon.

That top engine cleaner was mentioned for cleaning the throttle body, heard never to use carb cleaner type stuff.

I was wondering how practical it would be to use one of the empty parking lights cut out in the front bumper to funnel cool air to my air box / filter ? I know that North am Impala has a kit that removes the airbox and headlight, i would rather keep my car as close to stock as possible.

I was wondering how practical it would be to use one of the empty parking lights cut out in the front bumper to funnel cool air to my air box / filter ? I know that North am Impala has a kit that removes the airbox and headlight, i would rather keep my car as close to stock as possible.

check out Impalahq.com, it has a howto on gutting the airbox, that will help get some more air in there.

cool

also, not so much more air, but cooler air.

That's good you think you found your Pinging solution hope you're right on that...The top cleaner as I understand is for cleaning the valves of carbon and injectors to some degree. JB has a product for this as well which I have seen good reviews on. I have not used either of these however. Tractorboy is correct on the gap being .060 on the Iridium plugs, didn't mean to confuse anyone by the worn measure I gave of over .070...