Does anyone else have engine ping? I have taken my 05 TL to the dealer twice. Tech acknowledged the ping and said he has had others come in for same issue. He told me there is no fix as of now and told me to check back when they come out with the 06 models and said they may have a software upgrade. He also told me to throw in a bottle of techron (like a new care would need it) and see if it helped. I referred the tech to the previous post by Jteiamn and the tech assured me it was not the timing. I have been running 93 octane since day one. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

I had the ping. The dealer said it was normal. Going uphill and under WOT it detonated.

It went away when I traded the TL in on a new RL.

 

djavenger,

What brand of gas are you using?

Under what conditions do you experience the engine ping?

Hot/cold engine, only WOT, only on steep hills in certain gears?

Thanks

 

I have been going around and trying every brand of gas. Right now I am running on BP.

I live in Florida so there are not many hills. Most of the time I notice it on on-ramps, but I can still get it to ping without going uphill. I am usually in 2nd or 3rd gear (5AT), however I’m sure It happens in higher gears, I just can't hear over wind and road noise at that point.

Engine can be hot or cold. I can pull it out of the garage in the morning and get it to ping right away. Most noticeable around 2-3k RPM. Most of the time half throttle or right before WOT.

 

djavenger,

My 05 TL w/Navi and AT does not have this ping. Of course my car has about 2,000 miles.

Did your engine ping from day one off the dealer lot or did it develop at a certain mileage?

I am starting to wonder if it the gas blend for FL. The only reason I write that statement is I took at trip to Tampa FL and the no matter what gas brand or octane I used in my car, the engine would ping. Once I got back to TN, no problems.

This was in a 1977 Cutlass Supreme back in early 1990.

 

Florida gas could be an issue. Saw another member from Florida in a different post with same issue. The problem is I don't think I'll be moving out of state anytime soon. Although bad gas or not you would think that the knock sensor would take care of it. Acura's almost immediate automated response of "ping is normal" leads me to believe there may be an engineering or assembly issue that Acura is not ready to admit. Any mechanic other than Acura's say ping is absolutely NOT normal.

refering to Jteiamn's post - https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118774

I still think this may be my problem. The question is how to get the dealer to spend the time to check it out. I can't even get them to take it for the day.

 

djavenger,

I agree with you that pinging is not normal. I am glad someone has found the root cause of the pinging in the thread you posted. Now how to deal with your dealership.

Is there another Acura dealership near you that may be more customer friendly? I read the link you posted and Jteiamn had to use another dealership to get proper service for his car.

If this is not an option, then the first step I would take is to print out the thread you posted and meet with the Service Manager. If you still get the answer of "all the TL's ping", then call Acura Customer Care and lodge a complaint about your car and the dealership.

Ask Acura Customer Care to provide you with a survey for that dealership. Dealerships do not like to receive low surveys being reported back to Acura.

Get them to keep the car and provide you a loaner (they are going to need the car for a couple of days).

Post back your results.

 

I dropped by another dealership today and spoke with the service manager. He told me he had not heard of any complaints regarding ping. I gave him a copy of Jteiamn's post asked him if he could help. He told me to run all the gas out of my car and come back close to empty. He would then take my car to where they normally fill the new cars up and then run it and see if it would ping. He agreed that if it is pinging now it will probably ping when he fills it up. The reason he was doing this was to eliminate one of his techs saying its bad gas. They obviously can't use that excuse if it is the same gas they put in every other TL. The service manager told me should it ping after that, he would give me a loaner and check the car out in more detail.

It's a step in the right direction. At least I'll get the car in the shop. Hopefully they will find the issue. I'll keep you posted.

 

I also live in Florida (Tampa area) and have the pinging. (You might have seen my earlier post) I have taken my '04 to the dealer 2 times and I'm getting ready for #3. I have been told it's bad gas and quite frankly think that’s B.S. I have run nothing but 93 octane and I’m currently on my second tank of Chevron with Techron, but have not heard an improvement.

If I’m correct, your car (like mine) ran “ping-free” for some time after you bought it. If you frequently fill your tank at the same place, you would have had the problem after the 2nd or 3rd tank. It is possible a station could have got a “contaminated” batch of gas, however, I have switched brands attempting to solve the problem (I assume you have too). With the amount of possible stations and possible suppliers, the chances of picking a station with “bad gas” more than once cannot be very good. I have yet to see someone posting a "I switched to XYZ gas and it cured my pinging" message.

So we are left with a few possibilities:
a. Something in the fuel/ignition management system has drifted to the high or low end of the tolerance (still in spec but causes pinging). It will not matter how many brands of gas you try, or if you use octane booster, your engine will ping @ 2000 RPM between 40 and 50 MPH
b. The “bad gas” we bought permanently damaged or fouled something in the engine which causes pinging

I have seen enough posts about this pinging issue that it is reasonable to believe the Acura tech line is aware there are “some” cars experiencing pining or predetonation. My guess is until some service tech stumbles across a fix, we are stuck with a vehicle that sounds like a ‘74 Pinto with a bad lifter.

 

what does the pinging sound like?.. or is it something you can feel ??

 

The 1st time I heard the pinging was under moderate acceleration while I was entering the freeway. The pinging or knocking sounds like a few pebbles in a can being rattled around. If you have heard a motor that is low on oil, you get the idea. When it started, I heard the ping around 2000 RPM, between 40-50 MPH but I have got to the point where I can make the car ping almost at any speed now

From what I have been able to find during my research, there are five possible causes


• Overadvanced ignition timing. This is usually noticed after someone has either tuned the engine and made a mistake, or a repair has been performed that required resetting of the ignition timing and the shop failed to make the adjustment. This can also happen as a result of a mechanical failure inside the distributor.
• EGR system failure. The EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system on the car is part of the emission control system. It functions by recirculating some exhaust gas back into the engine for reburning. This lowers the combustion chamber temperature and reduces the pinging. There are several ways an EGR system can stop functioning, but most of them will have the same result – an engine that pings due to increased internal temperatures.
• An overheated engine. If your engine overheats, you will often get pinging because the heat build-up in the engine will ignite the air-fuel charge before the spark plug fires.
• Low octane fuel. If your car was designed to run on a higher octane fuel than you are using, your engine will suffer from pinging. Most vehicles can use regular fuel, and premium fuel is not required; however, if your owner's manual specifies premium fuel, then you should use premium only.
• Other mechanical problems. There are other possible causes of pinging, but these first four items should cover about 95 per cent of the situations.

 

I think I have the same problem with my 05 TL. There is a strange pinging noise that seems to resonate through the engine compartment only when I am accelerating and am up right around 2500 rpms. My TL is at the dealership right now for this problem and for a rattling rear-view mirror. I spoke with my service manager today, and they have determined that the engine ping must be "normal" since they were able to pull other TLs off the lot and get them to make the same noise. I will complain because I don't think that any vehicle that I pay 34k for should have an engine noise that would embarrass me if others were riding in my vehicle!

Besides this problem, they have already fixed a squeaky driver's door window and a wheel that was squeaking when going over bumps (turns out there was some rust in the wheel...kind of frightening since it was the first time the wheel had ever been removed). They are keeping my car until Monday to replace the rear-view mirror. Lucky for them that this car is so beautiful that I still love it.

 

I wonder if this is related to milage - I started having this pinging around 10-12K miles. I now have 16K and it seems to be happening at any speed. I have also noticed it gets worse under increased load (more passengers).

My knee-jerk reaction to the "all TLs have this problem" comment is, many fuel tanks on Ford's Escort model were cracking and causing fires - I guess the service manager could say the same "hey, all Escorts have this problem". Ford was forced to conduct a major recall.

An auto manufacturer does not get a "free pass" on consumer liability issues, just because they are able to produce several cars that have the same problem. Heck, I would be mad if I paid $10K - Being over 30K just adds insult to injury.

 

Call American Honda's Consumer affairs at 1-800-382-2238 and select option 3. Make sure you have your vehicle identification number to report the problem. They will then assign you to a case worker in which they will have your vehicle inspected at the dealer. I have the same problem with my car. My next step is calling their Legal Department to form this some kind of class action lawsuit. Good luck.

Leo

 

Call American Honda's Consumer affairs at 1-800-382-2238 and select option 3. Make sure you have your vehicle identification number to report the problem. They will then assign you to a case worker in which they will have your vehicle inspected at the dealer. I have the same problem with my car. My next step is calling their Legal Department to form this some kind of class action lawsuit. Good luck.

Leo

 

I'm starting to think this guy's message is spam..

 

Well, the dealer still has my car. My service rep had given me the impression that they were no longer looking at the engine, but it turns out that they still were. I had to call the service manager to get the correct information. Now, I just deal with him directly. The latest thing that they did was take the whole exhaust system off of a new TL and put it onto my car. As far as they can tell so far, this has stopped the noise. They were going to let the car sit overnight and drive it again this morning, but I never heard from them today. If I don't hear from them by tomorrow afternoon, I'll call. Maybe I'll get my car back tomorrow!

And, btw, I called Acura customer care, and the guy I talked to was worse and more rude than anybody I've had to deal with at the dealership.

 

Are they saying you have a cracked exhaust manifold or something? I would be interested in hearing the results of the dealers exhaust swap.

 

Service manager called this morning, and like some other threads have reported, it is a bad heat shield. The part is being overnighted, and I should have my car back this weekend!

I'm a little confused because he said the noise returned even with the new exhaust system. But then he said that the heat shield is part of the exhaust system. So, that part did not get replaced when they switched the exhaust system out? I'm not sure, but I'll find out more when I go pick it up.

 

I have my car back now and everything sounds great. I'm enjoying a nice, quiet ride.

 

Good for you. I also have the same problem on my car and will have it checked out.

 

Pinging on my new TL (2k) fixed today. Was loose heat shield to protect transmission. Service bulletin received by dealer today.
-Paul

 

Great, guess I'll be listening to see if I hear a ping when driving this afternoon. Good to know it appears to be narrowed down to a bad heat shield.

 

Yep, right about 2000RPM I hear a light rattle/pinging noise. I'll check with my dealer to see about the TSB and the heat shield being loose.

 

Has an official TSB been released for this issue to the service centers?

 

Success. It was the heat shield. Parts will be replaced tomorrow morning. Thanks for the info gang. Pinging should be no more after tomorrow mornings install.

 

This just in from Acura tech line....the reason for engine ping is due to the hurricanes!

According to the service manager at my dealership, the pinging that I have been having is a result of the refineries shipping “bad gas” due to the damage/shortage caused by Katrina and Rita. So, eight months before two major hurricanes hit the gulf coast, the evil oil companies start shipping “bad gas” to every gas station in central Florida.

The knock sensor is within specs according to the tests they ran. They ran top engine cleaner through the motor (something you do to cars with over 70,000 miles and carbon build up), they filled it with “good gas” and still the engine pings!

Next stop of the "pinging engine tour"…..the office of the attorney general.

 

Follow Up - well after installation of a new heat shield all rattling/pinging has stopped at 2000 RPM. Service Rep told me there was a service bulletin and that they had done a few more of them recently. Things sound great.

 

is there an heat shield above the transmission ?

I thought there was just aboove the catalytic pipe

 

Best of luck to you

I have the same problem and my car has only 3000 miles. I will have acura check out the heat shield and the timing belt when I do my first oil change. Those two seem to be the cause of the problem.