Sigh..Pinging.........help plz

[JaxCamaroGuy]

Guys im gettin so discouraged......i cant run anything but premium in the car w/o it pinging and im a 96 3.8.....ive tried everything i know to do ....Fuel Filter,plugs,wires,seafoamed it,pcv valve,new air filter. I`m just getting all around discouraged with the car....its really going downhill and i dont know what to do. Please try and help me get my baby running good again. also i have 136k on the clock

[FunkZ]

What temps are you running when you get predetonation? Tried a lower temp thermostat and a coolant flush and fill?

Is it an occasional ping or does it do it all the time?

[JaxCamaroGuy]

i have the 180* T-stat, umm it only does it under heavy acceleration on plus, one regular it tend to doit a lil more often, and yes i flushed it, also on premium gas it doesnt doit @ all, also the temperature does not seem to have an effect on the pinging at all

[BobbyZ72]

how long have you owned this car? is it possable some one could have programed it for higher premium gas? Is this a stock engine, no high compresson? There sould be no knocking at all, im guessing its a computer problem.

[JaxCamaroGuy]

its been in the family since it was new, my old uncle sold it to me, everything was stock until i bought it and all ive done is exhaust.

[FunkZ]

Were the old plugs white when you changed them? Is it running lean?

[JaxCamaroGuy]

Actually the last plugs time i changed the them, they were a black color, not oily though, but this was also a heavy seafoaming through the brake vacuum line which is probably why they were carboned up, it actually kinda smells rich to me, ive been thinking about doing the coils

[JaxCamaroGuy]

also i just took one of the plugs out, looks clean and white, the new ones have about id say roughly 8k on them

[BobbyZ72]

with 8k it should look fairly clean and gray, but not white. White means your running kinda lean. You might wanna try replacing you o2 sensors. My car runs great but im starting to get bad gas milage, about 22 hwy, im going to replace mine and see what happens.

[JaxCamaroGuy]

could say a dying fuel pump make me go lean? also i know the o2`s are originals

[FunkZ]

A dirty MAF wire will make you run lean. You need to be very careful when cleaning it so you don't damage the thin sensor.

[Razzer]

I wasn't pinging, I was getting a backfire with new iridium gm plugs. My dad is a gm tech, did a scan and it showed very little misfire, but come saturday with the scanner plugged in I got it to missfire in 1rst and 2nd near 4500rpm and the tech2 show missfire on a specific cyclendar. We ended up replacing the 1 spark plug and a new set of ac delco wires. that fixed my problem, I had already done all of the other matainace items like you have just done recently.

And everyone clean the coil pack tips with a wire brush, it could save you some money.

[JaxCamaroGuy]

i honestly dont like the way my car runs with the ac delco rapidfires, i think it ran better w/ my old ngk tr-55`s. definately idled smoother

[JaxCamaroGuy]

Guys, im starting to suspect maybe a clogged cat, cuz when the cars first started up its ready to run balls deep, but once everything gets warmed it just feels like the car cant breathe properly is the feel im gettin from it and it pings under heavy load....you guys think its worth a shot?

[FunkZ]

Could be. Clogged cat makes the exhaust overheat, could cause the pinging. Didn't realize you had a performance problem before since you said it didn't have a problem when using premium.