Safe pinging and detonation..?

[someonestolecc]

Gday,

Was driving in a car that was detonating the other day and wanted to know -

When an engine pings, is it cumulative damage or will it one day go bang?

I'm just wondering specifically is if a cars been pinging - is the engine dead or can I ya still drive it and have trouble free motoring?

Are there any tests that can be done by professionals to tell if an engine or turbo has been damaged by leaning out?

Thanks.

[someonestolecc]

C'mon someone lemme know

I wanna know specifically if the pistons melt gradually or isit one big main event that makes them melt?

[lwells]

It depends on the engine and how hard and far its driven when pinging. It may let go with one big bang, or you may just slowly kill it. Either way its not good.

LW.

[someonestolecc]

Ahh thanks that makes sense with what I was thinking.. thanks!

Is it diagnosable as to how far damage was done by a good tuner?

[lwells]

Not really. I mean they can probably say "that's pinging" or "its down on power" or "your engine has blown up", but your going to have to crack er' open to know the true extent of the damage.

LW.

[Revhead]

From memory, you can get what they call a boroscope (as in bore-o-scope) - it's like an endoscope or gastroscope in principle, they put it down the spark plug hole and can look around the cylinder without taking the head off. Good luck finding a shop that has one though! They are around, but I bet they're rare as...

[someonestolecc]

SO basically if someone's engine was pinging and you can assume it has and will do it again on the same setup theres no use buying that engine cos there's a good likely hood it's been damaged right?

Thanks for the help I'm learnin

[lwells]

No. It depends how much pinging, for how long, and under what conditions.

LW.

[The Mafia]

pinging doesn't mean that your car is gonig to do it all the time.

Its can be

* Bad Fuel

* Ignition timing too advanced

* Bad tune

Get someone to tune the car and you'll be right.

Just because the car is pinging, doesn't mean it has a "disease" and with ping all the time. Just recitfy the problem, and get it compression tested to see if any damage was done during the time it pinged (if it was hard and bad detonation)

[Sydneykid]

Is it diagnosable as to how far damage was done by a good tuner?

A leak down test will give a pretty good test. If it has any ring land damage this will show up. That and a bore-o-scope visual check and you will be safe.

[Bl4cK32]

Pinging is pre detonation of the fuel before the piston reaches tdc. (I hope im right ) It basically sends a shockwave through the motor. Hence why pistons go....It can be caused by a few different things, like crapola carbon deposits in the combustion chamber too....cant tune it out if that happens....

[maccattack]

Check out this older thread - some good info http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=48466

[someonestolecc]

In this particular example its a combination of too much boost and low-oc petrol.

Thanks for the info guys this helps a great deal !!!

Each one of those posts was excellent in helping me understand.

Great link too.

I realise it's not a disease, I was just wondering if it's worth buyin an engine I know for a fact has been subject to detonating due to overboost and low oc.

Thanks! I think I'll skip the tests and just stay clear.

[Sydneykid]

In this particular example its a combination of too much boost and low-oc petrol.

Thanks for the info guys this helps a great deal !!!

Each one of those posts was excellent in helping me understand.

Great link too.

I realise it's not a disease, I was just wondering if it's worth buyin an engine I know for a fact has been subject to detonating due to overboost and low oc.

Thanks! I think I'll skip the tests and just stay clear.

The testing is neither complex nor expensive. If it means a cheaper total cost for an engine I would do it every time.