Caldina 3sge Pinking

[solitaire]

Hi Guys,

I have a mate who has taken this car into toyota and they have drawn a blank so im hoping you can help... I searched for "pinking' & "detonation" on here but have not really found any clues that jump out at me.

This guys caldina gt auto is pinking a lot at low revs, its an auto so he cant change gear to suit.

Toyota say they have checked everything and have come up blank.

they sent some photos of the chambers and they are caked in black crap, their guess is preignition/pinking.

Everything on this car is standard and the toyota techs say they have checked the diagnostic codes.

Is there a couple of basic checks that can be made? It only occurs when the engine is warm. I would suggest a colder plug but thats more of a workaround more than a resolution.

Cheers

Chalkie

[sergei]

Retard ignition, use better fuel, give a good thrash once in a while.
Could try some heavy duty injector cleaner.

[Mr Revhead]

yep first thing to look at is what fuel is it running on?

[strx7]

faulty knock sensor?

[Mr Revhead]

that should throw a code

[solitaire]

Wow thanks for the fast response!

Revhead: (just found this out) it was on 98 and he got 100ks from 30l or something stupid like that so he is now on 95... the pinking has not gotten any better or worse since he went to 95. (toyota suggested 91? ) EDIT: he is getting better mileage from 95

Sergei: Wynns injector cleaner ok?

strx7: Any way to check the knock sensor mate?

[Mr Revhead]

ok..... 98 should be the best for it.

i assume this is a beams one? or is it an earlier 3sge version?

95 will be ok, 98 better. 91 WRONG.

it could be an exsess of cumbustion chamber deposits

your toyota dealer can help there, you have ot be very careful what fuel cleaner products you use. a lot have methanol in then which is BAD

[sergei]

What plugs look like?
Did toyota mechanics set the ignition timing?
Is the airflow meter clean? (you can unscrew 2 bolts and clean it with carb cleaner, even if it is not the cause of the problem, it is good practice to do so).
Is there any cracks in inlet pipe or disconnected hoses?
What about cam timing?

[solitaire]

the plugs have got a lot of carbon crap on them aparently.

Its a 98 Beams engine if that helps.

The toyota mechanics say they "checked everything" but there where no tool marks around the spark plugs or anything so we are a bit dubious.

[Mr Revhead]

tool marks? i hope not!!

if the fuel is 98, then the next thing id check is plugs and do as sergei suggests.

[fivebob]

IIRC You can't change the ignition timing, so other than checking it there's not much you can do with it.

Poor economy, carbon build up suggests there may be a problem with the O2 sensor (or possibly the injectors), and the carbon build up has raised the compression enough to cause detonation.

First thing I would do is remove the carbon build up with some good old fashioned water injection

This can be done quit simple by using a squeeze bottle and injecting it manually into the intake tract, but be careful that you only put a small amount in at the bottle at a time and inject it into a fully warmed up engine . Also inject it before the T/B or the vacuum might suck it all out of the bottle.

[Mr Revhead]

may be an idea to give an indication of the amount there fivebob....

to some ppl a cup is a small amount

[fivebob]

Small amount = no more than the engine capacity/100 at a time. So in this case no more than 20cc, and this shouldn't be emptied all at once. It pays to have a squeeze bottle with a very small pin hole so the engine won't suck it out all at once. You'd need to repeat this 10-20 times to clean up the combustion chambers.

The reason for using such a small amount in the bottle is that if you get it wrong and it dumps it all into one cylinder (extremely unlikely), then it won't cause hydraulic lock.

[Jdawg]

If you are getting the engine de-coked, get your head looked at for leaking oil seals and worn valve guides. They could be leaking oil into the chambers also causing carbon build up.

[solitaire]

Thanks guys thats a lot to be getting on with... He will give your suggestions a try and i will update the thread with the results

[RomanV]

Also, is this engine running the standard airbox?

Is the airflow meter dirty?

Both of these things can cause the symptoms you describe.

[solitaire]

Hmm, Standard airbox, airflow meter is as clean as ive ever seen

[solitaire]

Hey guys,

The pinking is getting worse, used to only be between 2-3 grand now its more 2-4 grand. - Mainly when on 20% throttle or thereabouts.

In answer to previous posts:

What plugs look like? Where coked in carbon, replaced with new ones and there was no pinking for 100k’s and then it started pinking again

Toyota mechanics did not check the timing, they said buy a new ecu, he will try and score a timing light this weekend.

The airflow meter is the cleanest he has ever seen, likewise for the whole intake assembly etc.

There are no cracked or disconnected hoses anywhere that he can see after a good look.

Toyota said the cam timing was fine

the O2 sensor was unplugged and the detonation did not stop (fair test if the plugs are caked in carbon?)

Injectors have not been checked


This weekend he will replace the air & fuel filter, use some wynns injector cleaner and try to check the timing. - He has also reset the ecu for what its worth.


Any more suggestions guys?

[sergei]

What I have noticed most of the times mechanics try to blame ECU for problems like that....

[solitaire]

What I have noticed most of the times mechanics try to blame ECU for problems like that....

Yeah i figured as much...

Id also like to note that this thing has been pinking its head off for 10,000k's and is still a reliable dialy driver... albeit a noisy one... i find that quite impressive.