hey everyone, I'm really sorry about posting yet another thread on the pinging/rattle issue that's been discussed at great length, but I really need the help of the SA guys on the forum.
After complaining endlessly to the guys at Lazarus Ford in Centurion they asked me if I could put them in touch with other ST owners about this issue because they have not had anyone else with an ST at their dealership with this problem, and I keep saying that its experienced fairly widely (to be honest I think they're talking BS, but anyway).
So if you'd be willing to call them or have them call you, could you please PM me and let me know and I'll get you in touch with the service lane that I use there. It would help a lot... Its gets so bad sometimes that I refrain from flooring it past people because instead of a raunchy exhaust note all they get is what sounds like loose change being dumped into a bucket...
Thanks a lot for bearing with me.

That is one of the many faults that my car has gone into the dealership for again for the 8th time.

Its been in since tuesday and i've told them to keep it untill everything is fixed.... might get it back sometime next year!!!

Will let you know what they say.

Just get the dealership to go on here and they can see its another common fault with the fiesta S...H..I...T

Hmmm. When did this rattle start occuring? Im still on my first tank of fuel with mine. Engine sounds fine.

Got the car back yesterday, they said they had fixed the pinking noise.....


.... but they have not.

Geez, that sux, I've had mine 7 months now, and not a single thing wrong (touch wood). UncleRico, I know the rattle I had in my engine bay was just the thingy that holds up the bonnet that was lying too lose and sounded really hectic on the road (money in the bucket sound) a blob of well placed silicone sorted it. If u dont come right give me a shout and we can check it out, maybe 2 guys is better than one, cheers

hey thanks Jos, actually I've also had that problem with the catch that holds the bonnet stand - i fixed it by padding the base of it with some silicone tape... not the most elegant solution but it worked. The pinging is caused under reasonably light engine loads and definately an internal thing. I'll be taking her down to the coast on saturday (garden route - full of nice passes and seaside roads) and will check if the higher octane and lower altitude make a difference. Also hope I come across a Polo TDI Sport down there to see what the ST is capable of when it can breath properly...

Hi, the pinging can definitely be due to the shitty petrol we get up here, if it is that then bring on 2006, different octane levels available at petrol stations, cool. My buddy has a TDI Sport, and its actually very close, I battle to pull away smoothly (any advice here?) clutch/accelarator are very sensitive?? butwe have diced quite a bit, the only dif's I can see is when the ST enters the top of its rev range (6000-7000rpm) it pulls away slightly, and where the major dif comes in is in the handling (in the sweeps and twisties I eat him up, the ST is just sublime here), so ya, you'll have fun (and like u say the car will breathe better too...enjoy, cheers

on the rattle issue, is it at low/lower revs (when u accelarte quite hard?) if so, I know what u r talking about and I have had it with my previous Audi (A3 Turbo) and my Golf 3 Gti. Its nothing to worry about at, just the mechanics of the engine. When it happened with the Golf I asked the guys and VW and they explained it nicely but I cant remember what it was (about 7 yrs ago) so when the audi did it too I wasn't fussed at all, cheers

Someone on the CARtoday bulletin board (can't remember details, so you'll have to take this with a pinch of salt) said that the ST's engine management has no limit on the amount of timing advance that is allowed.

The consequence is that the ECU will constantly try and advance timing until pinging occurs (which is what we all seem to hear fairly regularly, me included). Apparently, this is in constrast to manufacturers such as Toyota, who put a limit on the allowable advance. One would hope that this small amount of pinging is not hugely detrimental to engine life . . .


Frank, or someone who seems to know what he's talking about, will have to confirm (btw, what exactly is your day job, Frank??)

Ryan,

The person on the BB is in some ways correct, if you didn't make the car det then the knock control wouldn't have anything to do. So the system is always working to advance the spark towards det, hearing the det, backing off, advancing back towards det, etc. etc. This way you get the most efficient use of the engine with the drawback that sometimes the det is audible.

If you use lower octane fuel than the system was designed for (95 RON) then you are going to find det a lot more often. I suspect running in SA with 93RON at sea-level there is a bit of brief det. So long as it isn't more than a few cracks there's usually no harm done.

does the "rattle" happen when you are "pulling away"?

uhm...NO! It happens in almost any gear with engine revs at between 2 - 4k... its not a case of me not knowing how to drive - trust me.
It seems to have gotten better now that they are selling 95 up on the reef, which is good news.

Mine has been in for this fault many times and i belive ford technical have just come up with a fix for it.

So every1 pop to your local ford dealership and they 'should' be able to sort it.

Mine hasnt had this trouble but ford have just recieved a new download for the ST so this might help cure it as since mine has been done it is running alot smoother.

my ST sufers from this problem also. I've spoken to my dealer this afternoon and they claim they haven't received any update from Ford. They also clain to have checked through the TSB's from ford and can't find any reported pinking issues on the ST.

Can anybody give me more info on this update that I can pass onto my dealer to try and get this dam rattle fixed.

As usual I have to do half the dealers job for them

They probably just checked the broadcast messages, get them to call ford technical and they will advise them how to repair a car.

(they won't know how to do it with out instruction from ford technical as NO ford dealership can tell there arse from their elbow)

MichaelST1

Thanks for the advice, I took my car into the dealer this morning for them to check the ECU software revision level, I was told that my ST had the latest level that was available to them.

I then spoke to Ford customer technical(at £1/minute) and was told that the only reported bulletin was for the erratic idle problem.

I decided to phone another dealer 40miles away to ask them if they were aware of any problems or fixes and was told that they had seen half dozen ST's with similar problems and that they had reported it to Ford.

The upshot is I've booked the car into this dealer next friday for investigation and hopefully fixing!

Lets hope this will resolve it once and for all.

Good luck i hope they can sort it