and maybe it's not pinging at all, but injector 'ticking'.

 

If it is spark knock (predetonation) much can be cured by a set of wires, rotor cap and button and new NGK plugs.

Plus I absolutely love SeaFoam. Follow the directions - bring your engine up to running temp then slowly pour 1/3 through the break booster line (which feeds into the intake). Kill the engine, wait 5 min's and it will smoke like a freight train - but it will help remove some serious carbon deposits. Repeat 2x more times.

One can will cost less than 5 bucks and will produce noticeable results.

 

im pretty sure you may hear a pinging from time to time because of toyotas timing and or computer settings for better fuel economy

 

my toyota factory service manual says the 3VZE drinks 91....

 

My '90 4Runner pings unless I run 91 octane gas. It sucks with the gas prices now. I might run some of that BG44k and see if it helps.

 

Turn your sterio up louder

 

WOW!! I haven't checked in over the weekend, been working for 2 days straight, I get busy working on boats this time of year.

Anyway, I really appreciate all of the responses, most other sites you get one answer in 2 weeks.

As for the question of it is really ping....it is. I have been working on engines, all kinds, my whole life, went to school for it eventually and did it for a living for a long time, but it's too tough to get ahead and it beats you down, and there are easier ways to make more money.....but it's great sidework for me both marine and cars...mostly marine....anyway I find most of the experts are online in good forums like these, so that's why I ask and read around them.

I know ping and this is ping, and the '02 Taco is ping. I know valve noise, and injector noise and they are consistent and even, ping is all over the place in sound, no set rythm to it, and ping makes me cringe, like nails on a blackboard, and that's what I hear....oh man I hate it.

I've checked timing, I've changed plugs, wires, cap rotor...all the norms that anybody who knows and understands engines would do....didn't help.

As for the carbon build up theory, I completely agree, but as I mentioned this 3VZE was "rebuilt" by a dealer 8K ago, and I can only assume or hope, they cleaned the carbon up, and he Taco was new. I only bought this '91 Runner 1k miles ago and I called up Toyota with the VIN and they put me in touch with the dealer, I went over and talked with the service advisor, he showed me everything that had been done. I knew it had to have been rebuilt because of the head gasket recall, and it was, it had a knock due to headgasket failure and was "rebuilt", didn't get a block, just bored and new pistons, rings, bearings and injectors....never got an answer about the crank or heads.

I blew the block in my '88 due to the gaskets, and Toyota replaced the entire short block, but this wasn't the case here.

Anyway, sorry I'm rambling......but this forum is great, and I have had a couple of cold ones tonight after working for 2 days straight, can you blame me??.

I have had some Jeeps and a couple of Pathfinders, and even when I beat the hell out of them, I never heard a slight ping....this Runner pings just driving down the road normally. I doubt it's the rev limiter too, ha ha, we all know the 3slow aint hitting a rev limiter...this one pings anywhere from 1800RPM to about 3K.

As for the Seafoam and/or 44K, both great products by the way, I can't see carbon being my problem here with only 8K on it. Also watch out with pouring that Seafoam into your brake booster vacuum line, that carbon shooting off the top of the pistons and the rest of the combustion chamber will destroy your Cat when it runs out your exhaust. 44K is good, but the best I have found is Auto RX, that stuff is magic, but I am reluctant to run it through an newly rebuilt block.

So guys, thanks again for all of the responses, it's cool to have people who know what they are talking about write back to you.

I really would like to get the ping taken care of, but have also seen some stuff about this being common in Yota's....as has been mentioned here, it just kills me though to hear it.

I may have to run a tank of 93 and see what happens, I've never seen 91 around me here in NY.

Any other thoughts would be great, either a fix or a reason why Yota's seem to ping more than the rest.

Thanks,

Mike

P.S. Fastkevman.....That is a LOT of Yota's WOW....are they all yours??

Later!

 

fyi for others reading about this and have trouble differentiating "pinging" sounds: ping is easiest to hear under heavy load acceleration, like going uphill from a standstill. you'll hear that gurgling sound when you put your foot in the gas. valve and injector "tick" is consistent at idle. the ping gurgling is a deeper pitch than tick, but not as deep as engine "knock".

my past ping issues (with lexus ls400) would vary based on my brand of fuel. the lexus HAD to have premium fuel or it would ping. but even then i'd hear it a little, under heavy load acceleration, UNLESS i used chevron with techron. i believe it did improve significantly after i replaced the 02 sensors.

so maybe a different brand of gas for a while may help? plus we have this 10% ethanol crap now, think that adding to your ping problem?

how 'bout your timing? is it advanced too much? maybe you can back it off a degree or so and test drive?

all i can think of right now, good luck man

 

Well just filled up with a tank of 93 Octane and didn't hear any ping on the way home from work, so it looks like it was pre-igniton.

tj884Rdlx.....I was thinking the same thing, I am gonna check the timing this weekend, and see where it's at, even if it's correct I may back it off a degree or so and see what happens. You may be right, the factory timing may not ne right anymore with the 10% Ethanol fuel now, which by the way is actually closer to 25%, they just don't tell you that.

I just bought it, but the engine was re-built by Toyota 8K miles ago, so I just assumed timing couldn't be my problem, seeing as how everything was just re-done and set. They did the T-belt and put in new injectors at the same time as the rebuild also so.

Plus it seems to me like I always here Toyota's ping, like I said all of mine have, and the Taco has done since it was new.

??? Still confused about this, I refuse to run 93 in this thing, at least not with these prices!!!

 

Checked timing and it's right on. Went back to 87 and it pings all over the place. This is frustrating the hell out of me. When I fill with 93 it only costs $2 or $3 more per fill up, no big deal, but this thing should run fine on 87. What is the deal??

 

Retard the timing a little more. My guess is that either they milled the cylinder head and/or block when the engine was rebuilt and the timing needs to be backed of a little more to compensate. That would also raise the compression when the head is milled as well.