I was wondering if any of you are experiencing slight engine pinging?

I seem to get a little bit of knock every now and then... I'm not flooring the throttle at low revs or anything (I know how bad that is). It seems to be worst when climbing a hill and then giving it stick (even past 4000 RPM).

I mentioned it to the dealer when I had my "click" on pullaway attended to (in my case it was simply the bearing housing that needed lubrication, nothing more). The mechanic said that he reset the car (I presume throttle map), and it would take 20kms to adjust to fuel and driving style, etc. 60kms later, the slight pinging is still there.

I tried adding some octane booster (95 unleaded is standard here) and it seemed to help but not totally cure the problem.

Also, out of interest - how many bars are your temperature gauges showing? I get two big bars taking it to about the middle of the range, then one extra little bar above. Is this normal?

Thats what I get especially when it,s over 32ºC,I,ve not got it any higher even when thrashing it.Have you noticed how much heat it gives off once you stop?

The ST engine does seem to run incredibly hot.

How do you mean incredibly hot?

The opposite of F***ing freezing.No seriously all I,m talking about is the residual heat once you stop.It,s not a problem with the car,I just think that with so little room under the bonnet it takes a while for the heat to dissapate.If it were really hot the thermostat would kick in and set the fan off.

Hi Ryan,
I presume it has something to do with our octane rating. My previous Corsa Sport used to do it too (albeit not as much). I'm planning a trip back to the dealer soon as my clutch seems to burn very easily when reversing (no more reverse 180's for me anymore! ), so I'll raise the issue then.

Went back to the dealer yesterday, had the steering knock and the pinging seen to. They 'secured the suspension' to cure the knock (which they haven't) and they've upgraded the ECU software to cure the pinging (which is also still there). The software upgrade was worth it though, as it feels slightly more responsive to throttle inputs.

I still have the pinging and mean to get back to the dealer again soon (have just had flu this last week). Apparently pinging can wreak havoc to the engine sooner than one might think.

I have the steering knock, but I haven't really asked them to do anything about it - it justs seems to be one of the vehicle's quirks.

THANK GOD - I thought I was going mad hearing things in my head. I've also got the "pinging engine syndrome" I'm taking it to the dealership some time this week (when it turns up) to have the CD Player replaced. I'm going to raise this issue at the same time.

Thanks

Has anyone actually had this resolved? Mine was marginally better last week after the software upgrade, but it's back in a BIG way again....

I took it back on a relatively hot day here in Cape Town, in the belief that the pinging would be obvious. Unfortunately, it hardly happened at all while the mechanic was driving with me (this is usually my worst nightmare).

Maybe it develops more power on colder days and that makes the pinging worse (fuel pressure?? . . .)

Either way, it's going to be pretty hard to demonstrate this to the mechanics. Some days it's much worse than others . . . Unfortunately, it's not a lound knocking sound (e.g. when flooring an older car in too high a gear) - more like a slight fluttering/crackling as the revs build. I notice it more readily than the mechanics because I'm a lot more familiar with the engine's sound.

Samurai - don't hesitate to take the car to your dealer. Even though I couldn't demonstrate the problem (yet - will try again), the mechanics have been exceptionally helpful.

Maybe you will manage to show them what I couldn't. The more information and feedback Ford get, the better.

I wonder if the ECU keeps a count of knock events for the mechanics to examine (the engine does have a knock sensor, as far as I know) . . . maybe someone more clued up (Hugh??) will know.

I also wonder about fuel pressure - does the ECU control this and respond fast enough, and is the pump rated sufficiently? I'm not sure if more South Africans have this problem than overseas owners - which would tend to indicate that the car isn't adjusted properly for our (lousy) fuel.

Is it mainly South African cars with this problem?IN which case it may be the petrol.How many people have or have had this problem?

Hey Ryan, my complaints were about a rattle coming from the engine bay, when I got the jobcard with the car it stated that it was pinging - so they must have heard it fairly easily. As far as I know, the knock sensor is only there to adjust the fuel/air mixture and wouldn't log the pinging. I stand to be corrected of course.
Peter, I have seen a couple complaints similar to this from UK owners too. It could be the fuel, but ours isn't too bad - its the diesel thats terrible.