PING! PING! PING! (And no, it ain't Ricochet Rabbit!!!)

[PICKUP6772]

Hey guys,
I have a strange problem with the 89 GM. The original motor blew a head gasket 6 months ago. It already had the 5 liter knock in it, and 192,XXX miles. (Btw, if you keep up the a/f level, and change the oil every 2 weeks, it will last for 6 mos.) Anyway, I got another motor out of an 89 CV with 83,XXX original for $400. The motor runs good, and even gave me 25 mpg on a trip to Lake George doing 70 on the thruway, a/c full blast, and the car loaded with family, and luggage. When I put the motor in, I had to bypass the A.I.R. pump as it siezed up on me. All the other emmissions equipment is still on the car. I scanned the computer, and am only coming up with codes for the THERMACTOR (A.I.R) pump. I don't know if this might be the issue, but the car pings like a bastard. EVERYTHING is brand new from the tune up parts, the the t-stat, and anti-freeze. I checked the timing this morning with the car hot, as I originally set it with the engine cold. Either way, it is at the factory setting if 10 BTDC. And yes, i removed the SPOUT connector both times. Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mike

[sly]

check for vacuum leaks! check EVERY vacuum line for cracks/breaks/etc. Especially the one up to the MAP sensor.

if that's not it... check fuel pressure... maybe change the fuel filter.

[gadget73]

change the fuel filter, and replace the oxygen sensors. If those sensors were the ones run with the blown head gasket, they are most likely poisoned from the antifreeze and will not give an accurate reading. Could very well be they are making it overly lean. Clogged injectors would also do this.

[jaywish]

Just curious, why would a clogged injector make it ping?

[PICKUP6772]

O.K. A little more info. All vacuum lines are new. The old ones were all cracked, and brittle. I did not use the O2's from the old motor. Although it was tempting, as they were only a year old. I had my brother do a fuel injection cleaning, thinking that was it. I did not, however, change the fuel filter. I have the O2 sensors on it that came with the motor. Although the motor is low mileage, it did sit for 16 yrs. I have pics on my phone of the car it came out of. I'll post asap. And I'll look into the fuel pressue. I did use the fuel rail, and lines off the old motor, as the CV one was pretty rusted.

[PICKUP6772]

O,K, guys. I'm not used to doing this, so I hope these pics upload. This is the car I got the motor out of. The car was wrecked back in 95/96. It has sat there since then. The truck in front of it is a 66 Dodge 600 crane truck formerly used by LILCO ( now LIPA). Amazinly, everything still works on it, and that is what we used to pull the body off the chassis, and then pulled the motor/tranny combo. Even more amazing, is the fact the frame in this car is straight, and SOLID! That is going to be my next purchase from this car.

[87gtVIC]

How is the passengers side fender. I am in need of two fenders. This one would be local so that would be sweet mike. Let me know.

[PICKUP6772]

Iirc, the fender was pretty clean, dave. We did roll the body on the passenger side, but i don't believe any damage was done. I will look into it for you.

[gadget73]

Just curious, why would a clogged injector make it ping?

Partially clogged injector will make it run lean, and lean fuel mixes burn hot, leading to detonation.


So the injectors in use are the originals from your old motor that didn't sit for any length of time? If it didn't ping before, they should be OK. I was mostly thinking if you'd used the injectors out of the JY motor, they may have glued themselves up from sitting with stale gas in them. I would check the fuel pressure though, the regulator could be sticky if its the JY motor fuel rail and regulator. I'd also give that thing a Seafoam treatment to help clear out any carbon. Basically you let it sip the Seafoam through a vacuum line, shut the motor off for 10 mins or so, then re-start it so it can clear the cruft out. It sounds like BS, but I did it to my S10 and the pinging problems it had for years went away. I'm normally very leery of "mechanic in a can" stuff, but at least that once it did work for me.

I would also still consider a pair of brand new O2 sensors. I dont know that sitting for a long time does bad things to them, but I wouldn't trust that it does not either.

[PICKUP6772]

Gadget,
The injectors on the motor are the original to the replacement motor. which is why I had my brother do the cleaning. When I had the replacement motor in the garage, I pulled off the exhaust manifolds, and installed new exhaust studs. I also pulled the o2 sensors. they were surprisingly CLEAN. But if I have to, I will replace them. I know they will come out without a fight, as I chased the threads with an o2 tap, and put a little anti-sieze on the threads (need to think ahead on these things). I was thinking about Seafoam, but like you, I'm not too trusting of "quick fixes". That is one thing I will give the OBDII system credit for. The scanner gives you real time info on sensors, and you can see right away whether or not a sensor is working as it should.


MIKE

[gadget73]

You can hang a voltmeter on the O2 sensor to see if its responding but the self-diagnostics are a little flakey. Oddly enough, when these chuck out oxygen sensor related codes, its almost never whats actually bad. When the sensor goes bad, they seldom code.

[86VickyLX]

You can hang a voltmeter on the O2 sensor to see if its responding but the self-diagnostics are a little flakey. Oddly enough, when these chuck out oxygen sensor related codes, its almost never whats actually bad. When the sensor goes bad, they seldom code.

When they go bad, it's normally the thermactor codes that come up. That is, if the smog shit is present and functioning.

[87gtVIC]

Iirc, the fender was pretty clean, dave. We did roll the body on the passenger side, but i don't believe any damage was done. I will look into it for you.

Thanks. It needs to be rust free. Sick of rust. Minor dents and dings I can reluctantly take care of with ease.

[PICKUP6772]

O.K., guys. Quick update. Did the SeaFoam treatment today. (WHAT A SMOKE SHOW!!! LOL!) It has gotten better. I still have some pinging, but nowhere near as this morning. The car was actually pinging at an idle at traffic lights. Now it's just under acceleration. I don't think 95 degree weather, with high humidity was helping either. I rechecked the timing again, just to be sure. With the spout disconned = 10 BTDC, and with it connected = 14 BTDC. I don't know what the spread is supposed to be between the two, but that is where it stands at the moment. Oh, and to just add to the issues, the front inlet pipe in my muffler rusted inside the casing. I'm not dragging anything, but it is a little loud. I'm wondering if I have an internal clog in the muffler that would cause the pinging? Thoughts on this?

MIKE

[gadget73]

Clog from the converters or mufflers would tend to make the motor run hot, which could make it ping.