pinking valver!

[chrishill 0]

My C's got a nasty habbit of pinking under heavy throttle, not all the time, and not massivly, but its still there and its worrying me! i've got a custom exhaust and the air filter is a K&N, with about six 2cm holes drilled in the side of the airbox (some of which have been taped up in case they were causing the problem)

 

I've read henny saying the engine has a tendancy to pink, but how much is 'normal' and when should i start to worry about something being wrong? I've also not reset the ECU since fitting the filter, would it be worth doing that? (diconnect the battery for 10mins - cup of tea - reconnect and go for a drive, correct?)

 

ta!

[Jim 2]

Are you using super unleaded or better?

[bcstudent 0]

Some KRs pink when running on 95 RON fuel and some don't - fortunately mine seems to be fine. If it's really bothering you then you may want to look in the direction of the K-STAR or similar. As for resetting the ECU I don't believe that's an issue of the 1.8 16v.

[h100vw 0]

There is no ECU reset on a 1800 16V. I think the 16V was designed to run on 98 octane 4 star not 95 unleaded. That's the reason for the pinking. VSAM and Kstar were invented to get around the problem by making the timing adjustable as you cannot 'chip' the ECU.

 

You can retard the ign timing, use better petrol or fit VSAM/Kstar to eliminate this problem. Retarding the timing will lose you some performance. Using super unleaded, while it may cost you more to fill up may be worth the improvement in running and also gain a bit in economy. Fittng another piggyback ecu would allow you to use 95 octane unleaded and probably retain your performance and economy, assuming you can find one for sale. VSAM is not available new any more and I think the Kstar may be out of production too.

 

There are other piggyback systems out there if you do a search you may turn one up.

 

Gavin

[chrishill 0]

I only ever use BP ultimate unless i'm really really desperate!