Hi there

My car pink's (spelling ?). In any event the car pinks under load - acceleration. The dealer said this is normal as the car advances it's timing to that stage to increase power and protect the motor. Is this true and does it not cause damage.

Pinking can't be good for the motor.

Thanks

Pieter.

Odd.. The engine management on the S/V40's should actively try to stop any pinging, unles you're running real lousy fuel below the minimum octane treshold. It will retard timing, lower boost pressure (on turbo's) and enrich the mixture once the knock sensor picks up any pinging.

What engine is in your S/V40? What octane rating fuel are you using?

Perhaps a silly question, but are you sure it's actually pinging or is there some other knocking noise coming from the engine bay?

Bye, Arno.

We only get 93 Ron in South Africa at the reef. S40 T4. If you need more specifics on the engine tell me how to identify.

Hmm.. 93RON is pushing it on the low side, although it should be able to run at 91RON. I only run mine on the advised 98RON.

There is another south-african on the board here (don't know if he's still reading this at the moment) called Michel Numes who drives a T4 and had the same problem.

I don't want to sound pessimistic, but Volvo replaced his T4 to cure a pinging problem they could not fix on his original car (they replaced knock sensors, ECU and all sorts of other stuff). That did fix the problem though as the new car didn't show the symptoms.

I would advise that you contact the Volvo importer in SA as well and get them into the loop. They may have more background info and possible solutions which can help you which the dealer may not be aware of.

Do you have other brands of fuel in your area? Perhaps some additives in one brand are acting up. Switching to another brand may help (mine runs real crappy on Texaco, better on Shell and best on BP)

If you can find an 'octane booster' in a car-parts store then you could try bumping up the octane a few points and see if that helps somewhat.

Bye, Arno.

Thanks Arno,

You sound as if you have a lot of knowledge about Volvo's. If I go back to the dealer how should I explain the problem to them. They might want to stick to their story about this being normal and that it does not do any harm.

Thanks

Pieter

Arno is spot on with the written statment thing.....I love that!

You could also just try telling them that you know better than that...."it sould not ping under load"!

Do try to work this out at the dealer level, and not go to Volvo cust service. If you can, try another dealer....I know you said you are in SA, so it may not be easy to find one.....another dealer that is.

I just want to say two more things.......

1. Be 100% sure you talk with SERVICE personal only....the service manager would be best. NOT A SERVICE WRITER OR SALES PERSON!

2. Ask to go for a test ride with the service manager in another car with the same engine...and if that one dont start pinging under load then yours should not do it either!

OH yea one more thing.....be sure to let us know how things work out. I am 99% sure it will all work out.

Steve Ferraro

Hoboken, NJ

Ah the old 'they all do that' excuse.. I really hate that..

Has it always made the noise or has it started (and gotten worse) later?

The S/V40 should definitely not do that as the ECU should suppress the knocking/pinging before it becomes audible. All you should notice with fuel under 98RON octane is a lower performance. At least they should check if the knock sensor(s) are working OK and if the ECU is acting correctly on it's input.

Because the dealer starts to spout this ridiculous story you should contact the customer support department from Volvo-SA and explain your problem to them and also tell them that the dealer says it's 'normal', but that you have a hard time believing that.

If they also insist that it's 'normal' then you should get a written and signed statement from them where they (dealer or importer) state that this is normal and will not cause engine damage and will pay for any all all damages to the engine. If it's really normal and harmless then they should have no problems giving you such a statement (call it an 'extended engine warranty')

Hope this helps a bit..

Bye, Arno.

Gas is definitely suspect...check spark plugs too (specifically the gap on them). I find it good practice to replace plugs every 15k miles or so with either Bosch super or NGK copper (both are copper plugs).

Mike

Did you switch grades or brands of gasoline? That would cause the car to change the timing perhaps, and cause some pinging, but not for extended periods of time.