Pinging.... Please Help

[Ryan Grant]

Hello All



Oklahoma got a dose of hot weather today. 85 degrees. I was driving home with the a/c on. RPM's at 1600, speed around 50. I turned the radio off to answer my phone and heard pinging (valve chatter???) What could this be from?? My trac has 67,000 miles on it, if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance for the help

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Ryan, what grade fuel you running? I have to run 89 or mine sounds like a diesel. especially with the AC on. It's not so bad or hardly noticable when it's not.

 

[EddieS'04]

Could it be the infamous timing chain rattle ?

 

[Ryan Grant]

I have thought of the timing chain rattle. wish I knew what it sounded like. Is it true that the TSB was extended to 70,000 on that rattle. I am running 87 octane.

 

[Andy G]

The timing chain rattle sounds (to me) like a bicycle chain being dragged on sheet metal. Think of an old bike with a loose chain that keeps hitting the chaingaurd.........



Dunno if that is the issue, but my experience with the timing chain rattle has been most prevelant between 2400 and 2800 RPMs. And more active in cold weather...not warm......



I would go for the higher grade fuel first...perhaps even lift the negative off of the battery for 15 minutes to reset the computer....



This will put all of the ECU timing settings back to default. I had a tank of bad gas (ba-dum----tss) and even after clearing the gas out and refilling, my ST didn't run the same until I reset the computer...