Hey Guys,

I've recently had some issues with really bad spark knock. I replaced the waterpump and timing belt recently - the timing belt is on correctly, because I just checked it after driving 500 miles. I'm running a cooler plug (BKR6EYA i think) which helped a little bit. I've sprayed seafoam and water through the engine which helped for a little bit, but not for long. I've dropped my base timing from 10degrees to 0 degrees (at top dead center), and the pinging is still noticable but not nearly as bad. Any clue as to what is going on here? Bad Distributor, Coil, Knock Sensor Wire? I've not gotten any check engine codes and this has been going on for about a month now.

 

usually that is caused by a bunch of crud built up around the sparkplugs, or even around valves/stems. are they old? how did you add the Seafoam?

 

I had one that did this also.Turned out to be FULL of some type of stop leak that had stopped up the cooling jackets in the cyl head and was causing several cylinders to run hot.Excess carbon buildup in the chamber can cause this also.
Bigblock

 

I'll guess carbon build up. Run some Seafoam through the brake booster vacuum line. There are a couple informative threads on this. Search "seafoam".

 

Is it just mild pinging or harder knocking?

I can't run my '91 3.0 on anything less than 93 and I still get some slight pinging under a heavy load or acceleration. Timing is stock at 10.

 

Its just mild pinging (If the a/c or defrost is on - its worse, due to extra engine load i guess).
I know the difference between a rod knock and spark knock, our minivan has a rod knock. and this doesn't sound like metal slapping metal - it sounds like a can of coins being shaken around some.
I've never used any sort of radiator stop leak (I despise that stuff!!) And I've run seafoam through the brake booster hose, and thru another vacuum hose that was capped off on top the throttle body that lead straight into the plenum. Mostly the pinging is at acceleration or heavy load like mmcpeck described

 

could be a faulty egr valve or knock sensor. Mine does the same thing.

 

Also, the TPS could be out of whack. I run 93 octane in my truck all the time, because it won't run worth crap without it. I run 10-12 degrees BTDC with no issues.

 

bad injector causing a lean condition or you have a bad head gasket (leak between cylinders).???? If you tromp on it does the ping go away for a second?

 

Run some Prestone complete fuel system cleaner. works like a charm. i swear by the prestone name it is that good. The fuel down here in belize can sometimes be dirty so once a month i run fuel injector cleaner and it makes a huge difference.

When i do my ford 7.3L diesel it is like a whole new engine. i can not believe that it can make such a difference but it does.

 

I'll give the prestone stuff a shot.
It would be curious to know, though - that my spark knock problem might be related to another problem I am having with burning p/s fluid. Someone I work with mentioned something about an engine that consumes oil will spark knock. I'm going to block off the two vacuum lines that run from the p/s idle up valve to the intake plenum, clean the spark plugs and see what becomes of it.

 

I fought this identical problem for about 2 years. What ended up fixing it was a new radiator, tstat and water pump. I changed them all for an unrelated problem (pinhole in rad) and when I got finished the ping was gone. Turns out that the head was just getting too warm I guess. I left the 180 degree tstat and cooler plugs in though and it's run like a champ for about a year.

I had a thread about it. I'll see if I can dig up a link.

 

See if this helps any... You can at least see what I did to troubleshoot.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-octane-91929/

 

Burning powersteering? Never heard of that. Might want to check for leaks, they are two separate systems. You sholdn't be using powersteering fluid anyways, these toyotas use brakefluid DOT 4. Don't get hung up on names its just hydrolic fluid.

How are your valves? When was the last time you adjusted them? Stock cam or aftermarket?

Was it doing this before you changed timing belt?

EFI should be set at 5* shorted, but most of us bump it up alittle. Are you shorting it when setting timing? You could check knock sensor to see if its worked itself loose. If it wasn't doing it prior to you changing the timing chain I'd reason its most likely something you did or didn't do. Have you pulled distrubutor checked that it maybe off a tooth. Have you pulled #1 spark plug and checked that the piston is tdc and that timing mark is at 0*?

oops just noticed this is a 3.0 and not 22re, don't think you have to adj valves. Don't really know as don't and won't own 3.0. Good luck.

 

wow ive only put 93 in my truck once and talk about a kick up in HP i was shocked that my truck could do that other than that i always run 87 and never had a ping

 

time for an update!
Power Steering doesn't seem to be related to this. I disconnected the vacuum hoses that ran from the idle up switch to the intake plenum and nothing - but its only been a day, so everything might not yet be sucked through. And my manual says to used Dexron ATF in the p/s?
I've replaced the radiator, waterpump, thermostat, timingbelt (all at once) because it was spark knocking, and nothing has changed - unless I got a defective radiator/or tstat!!
the valves could probably stand to be adjusted. Its got 115k miles on a rebuild, just not quite sure how to adjust them.

 

Placebo effect. Higher octane does not give you HP. Octane inhibits pre-ignition.

 

Depending on the ECM, it might allow more ignition timing and possibly a slight increase in power. I know the wife's Durango runs better on high octane but it has an ECM/management system that can adjust ignition timing and injector pulse width for such things.

In this case, I'm wondering if the cam timing might be off. If the distributor is installed one tooth off and a timing light is used to set the timing, then the ignition timing should be spot on with the crank but the cam could be off.

 

You talking about the power steering system or the brakes? ATF in the power steering system, brake fluid in the brake system.

 

yeah power steering, not brakes. Power steering system calls for Dexron II ATF and Brake system calls for DOT 2 or 3 brake fluid.
I'm going to check the distributor this weekend and see if it is set right, don't think the cam is off, I rotated the engine several times after I put the tbelt on and the marks lined up every time.