Engine ping under light throttle

Jhill

This is what I meant when I said most cars I have worked with (so that's not the z as I only have my own for comparison) but if they ping it is right at throttle tip in from cruise and is momentary. Typically this is in a part of the map with high ignition timing as they want good throttle response and max torque since you are trying to accelerate. Not every car does it even within the same type of car and climate and fuel quality play a roll (acura MDX were fairly picky since they are also heavy and use high comp ratio as well). As for long term damage, not being able to hear if yours is a light ping that instantly gets corrected or if it's bad knock and not correcting would make a big difference, the first one I personally have not seen one fail catastrophically by light ping that gets corrected quickly.

Again if you really want it gone I would go to Seb and he will actually tune it for 91 octane with two ign maps one for summer and one for winter (hot climate/cold climate).

nis350

great explanation. it is a quick metallic ping. it goes away as soon as she lift the throttle and re-accelerate fine within a second or two and runs well from there at any speed.

Again, the engine is quieter and smoother than my newer/lower mileage Z. And the exhaust also sounds much better, but that's a different discussion

Our main concern is the long term effect of this issue. The ping normally last just 1 to 2 seconds at 1500 rpm or less.

Jhill

Also may want to go to dealer and see if you pcm has the latest flash. It's not super common for the Japanese lines I have worked on to do a lot of re flashing like the German and GM to fix issues but there have been some and it doesn't hurt to ensure your running latest software.

nis350

were there any pcm flashes available in the last few years for our motor?

we took the car in for transmission fluid change in 2015 and they didn't mention anything outstanding for the car. do the dealers only offer them for cars under warranty?

Optimiser

I also experience this condition when everything has warmed up, exactly as described, taking off from a stop where I have been just sitting in traffic idling for a bit. I always wondered what it was and it was never tuned out, or couldn't be tuned out.

PaulNYz

Have you ever had any issues from it?

Optimiser

No I have not.

nis350

at what mileage did this condition start?

our car started around 60k miles.... it was fine before that.

PaulNYz

After putting in a tank of 93 (about 4.5 gallons of 91 left in the tank), I no longer here any pinging after about 50 miles. I assume the ECU had to adjust or something.

Optimiser

As long as I can remember. Both when NA and now boosted.

Jhill

Well it should be able to be tuned out if it truly is ping from ign. I see your on uprev and from what I have heard is that it doesn't have as much control over timing as ecutek. Maybe do a log and look for knock detect/ ign correction and see what's going, just a thought.

As to post above asking about if the dealer will check if your car has latest software. The answer there is most likely a big fat NO. Sadly techs are paid by a system called flat rate which is a time focused pay system not a quality focused pay system so they are there to get your car in and out as fast as possible with zero ***** given. Very few will go the extra mile and they usually end up leaving the industry after a while cause of all the BS, glad I'm out but miss the diag.