I think I'm pinging

[sykotek-xx]

I think the bike is pinging.

I hardly ever ride without a radio, so I never really hear much except the drilled exhaust. I've ridden a coule times lately without the earbuds and I notice that the bike sounds like it's really pinging under load. If I rev it in neutral, hold 3000 or 4000, it sounds fine, but in gear under normal load, any amount of gas starts what sounds like serious pinging.

I switch between 87 and 89 octane depending on the cycle of the zodiac, so my gas 'should' be OK. I ran seafoam through it about 1000 miles ago. Should be out of the tank.

Any thoughts?

[blackhawkxx]

What year is it?

[sykotek-xx]

Sorry it's a 2003. It's in my sig line. No other problems whatsoever. Runs perfect. I read another thread (yes, I did search first...) about the fact that the sticker on the left side of the frame, near your knee while riding, states to use 91 octane minimum, while the manual says 87. This is a big difference around here, since the only three major choices are 87, 89 and 92-93. Guess I should try a couple complete tankfuls of super and just see what happens. I am mainly wondering if maybe the knock sensor is not sensing. No FI light, ever.

[TechnoGecko]

Sorry it's a 2003. It's in my sig line. No other problems whatsoever. Runs perfect. I read another thread (yes, I did search first...) about the fact that the sticker on the left side of the frame, near your knee while riding, states to use 91 octane minimum, while the manual says 87. This is a big difference around here, since the only three major choices are 87, 89 and 92-93. Guess I should try a couple complete tankfuls of super and just see what happens. I am mainly wondering if maybe the knock sensor is not sensing. No FI light, ever.

Could be a knock sensor, I believe there was a tread about someoen else thinking theirs had gone bad as well a few months ago. But as for the FI light, I can't imagine a bad knock sensor would illuminate the FI light.

[Guest rockmeupto125]

You can check the alarm codes in the manual, there might be one for the knock sensor..

Your pinging or tinkling sound under load just might be your chain. Consider that source.

A faint ping is not impossible with the XX under load. The knock sensor has to have some fault tolerance or it would activate with the vibration of each combustion. Best performance is when there's just faint ping, indicating that the ignition is advanced as much as possible. If you couldn't get any preignition, you wouldn't know how much further you could advance, would you?

If this is the case, using high test isn't going to fix the ping...it will just advance the ignition further. If your knock sensor is bad, then using high test might eliminate the ping, and let you know there's a condition that needs correcting.

Consider also the situation in which the ping occurs. If its all the time, anytime you want to induce it by loading the engine, that's one thing. Are you driving around in too low a gear? If you're sitting in traffic, and then wick it up, the engine is warmer and will tend to ping a bit more.

Knowledge is power. Pay attention to what its doing under different circumstances. Something might be wrong....but its also possible something isn't.

[sykotek-xx]

Thanks.

I don't lug it, even puttering around I keep it above 3000 whenever I can and usually at 4000. More so than ever now that I drilled the pipes.

The pinging is light. I read other threads that say the owners manual states some pinging is normal. I'm going to try 93 octane next fillup, but other than that I'm not going to sweat it. Just runs so good I hate to hear the sound.

Chain is good, clean and oil it all the time, well in the green still (12,000 mi). It's definitely a light ping, I've been wrenching on whatever I owned all my life and know the sound.

I read the other thread about the failing knock sensor, but that one was failing toward the other end of the spectrum than what this would be. His was over sensitive, causing too much signal and too much ignition pull.

Mine, if it's causing pinging, would be sending insufficient signal to trigger the ignition to adjust.

Also I just remembered, my dad had a Dakota that he worked up pretty good, and it always pinged lightly when you got on it. Must be a high performance thing. Yeah that's it.