KingNasGS4

iTrader: (22)

A while back I made a thread about this sound that I was hearing. Many people were telling me that it was the heat shield, catalytic converter breaking up, I even had the small resonator cut out and straight pipe put in because the exhaust guy heard some rattling in it also...

After all this, my mechanic said it must be engine pinging. He kind of was in denial because it wasn't something he really encountered with the lexus V8's.

as I have noticed the sound from my car, I really started observing most cars new and old in my area have that sound. I think it's the quality of the gas over here (low combustion levels cause pinging from what I know)

the only way of real elimination of this is to remove the valves and manually remove the carbon build up. Expensive as hell.
So right now I use octane booster with my gas to bring up the combustion rating and it definitely helps.

Do any of you guys experience this?

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Pinging means ur car is running lean. Excessive carbon build up in the intake causes this or a lean running condition. You can try cleaning the MAF and put some gas additive to help reduce the carbon. If it still ping, you would need to seafoam the intake by finding a port to the intake manifold and feed seafoam to it slowly. And make sure you are using good gas or try a different station. GL

Och

iTrader: (3)

Our cars barely build carbon on the intake because of the way injection/egr system works. I removed my throttle body when my car had about 100k on the clock to clean it, and there was barely any dirt on it at all - just a quick, single wipe with a paper towel and it was clean again. The inside of the intake manifold was clean enough to eat from.

If you're having "pinging" its most likely your MAF sensor going bad or just contaminated. Ever install K&N or any other oiled intake filter? What will quickly contaminate your MAF sensor. Grab a can of CRC MAF cleaner from auto parts store and clean it up.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Wait, just realized yours is a 98... I don't think your MAF is cleanable, its sort of enclosed in a tube. Maybe some 98-00 guys can have better input.

KingNasGS4

iTrader: (22)

I have cleaned MAF and have added octane booster to the gas as I said before.
I have also changed many stations. The only gas station that seem to reduce the pinging is the Sunoco and I have to use their 93... which is about 15 cents more than every other station in the areas 93 octane. I used to try their 91 octane but that didn't work

I think the previous owner was using less than premium gas for it to get to the level that it is at now.
My mechanic told me that to get to the valves, the valve covers would have to be taken off. At least for the 1UZ engine. I know anything involving the valve covers are NOT cheap. Then it would have to be shaved off if it was hard to take off, because it's a lot of carbon build up.

I will look into cleaning the MAF again. I did it maybe 6 months ago with the same product you are speaking about. I also have changed the throttle body and it was cleaned before installation. Looks like seafoam might be the next step, but I was always nervous about doing it.

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Just hookup the seafoam to the intake manifold and feed it Slowly. There are videos that shows u how to do it

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Forgot to mention, if the fuel filter is clogged, you will get a lean running condition too

Och

iTrader: (3)

Well, first of all, inspect the inside of your intake manifold. You can easily do that by removing air intake and opening throttle body butterly and look inside. If there isn't much crude inside there, then chances are, your intake valves are clean.

As far as removing the valve covers, its a rather simple job... its removing the valves, that gets complicated. As far as shaving the valve covers, your mechanic is just clueless. Its an aluminum engine, not a rusty piece of junk.

If you want a simple way to clean your valves, then take it to a shop that does "run-rite" service - I believe most Strauss Discount Auto centers offer it. It costs roughly 60-90 bucks, and what they do is hook up a can of cleaner to one of your vacuum lines, and inject it slowly while the car is running - the process takes about 30 minutes. It works much better than seafoam and will make your valves clean as new.

But I very much doubt its your valves that are causing this condition. Its much more likely to be your MAF - they do go bad, or it could be low fuel pressure. A new MAF is relatively inexpensive, and testing fuel pressure isn't very hard either.

Do you have any random misfire codes?

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

My throttle body is clean, but when I pull out my spark plugs and look inside the hole, i can see black carbon pieces. Regardless how new your car is, you are prone to have carbon buildup. When i said intake manifold, i meant the manifold, not the throttle body. You can open the port that the PCV valve that's connected to the intake manifold and feed seafoam there slowly.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Most cars have carbon build up because of EGR, but on our cars its setup in such way that doesn't cause carbon build up. When you remove the spark plug, you're looking into the cylinder and seeing the piston head, and the might have some carbon on it, but if your throttle body stays clean, then chances are your intake manifold/ports and valves are clean also.

starfyrels

iTrader: (2)

98-00 v8's are not hard to remove the valve cover, there are alot of bolts and you have to be careful with the journal caps. Once you take off the valve cover you'll need new valve cov gaskets, screw gaskets, and you might as well do the spark plug tube seals.

You can clean the gunk off yourself. You wont need to get it sanded off. Your mechanic is feeding you garbage. If he has to put so much labor into cleaning your head; I suggest you get a used head and get new valves and move your rockers and springs/retainers over instead of cleaning.

Theres also this doctor RX thing, if i find the link later i will post it but its an additive you place into your oil and it cleans the **** out of your cars engine. It could possibly loosen some crud/buildup that is blocking oil from coming out of your engine (rear main seal, oil pan fipg, etc). Its like $20.00 but works wonders.

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

The cause of carbon build-up is because of Hydrocarbons. How do you get hydrocarbons? When the fuel doesn't not get complete burned. Hence, the carbon build-up. No engine is 100% efficient.

2gs4u8

it could also be ur oil to thin..ive learn it the hard way!!!