My car has been pinging under medium load, especially in the hot afternoon while pulling a hill on the way home. It seems to go away at WOT but it is hard to hear at that point. Idle is fairly smmooth and the car drives decent (upshift is a little slow, kind of hangs on to the gear a little too long and takes a slight trottle lift to get it to shift sometimes) and the car accelerates at WOT pretty well. Spark plugs are a little white on the ground electrode and the insulator is ultra clean which is characteristic of a lean condition. The fault code is 2-3-2 (which also indicates lean condition). The TPS and the A/C start up sensors are working (ECU diagnostic). No other fault codes exist. Both fuel pumps are working but I haven't been able to measure the idle and dynamic pressure yet because I haven't the right hook up, yet. At idle, when unhooking the FPR, the RPMs stay the same. I have yet to test the O2 sensor but since there was no ECU fault code for it, I am assuming it is working (right-wrong). Isn't the failure mode of the O2 sensor for the FI system to go Rich to save the engine? An engine is rarely ruined from rich conditions unless you are dumping gas into the cylinders, but a lean condition will definitly destroy an engine, especially a turbocharged engine. Same with the FPR, shouldn't the system run rich because it isn't reducing the pressure any longer? Any ideas on what approach to take at solving this?

I went and bought a 17mm and 14mm flare wrenches and loosened the connection at the fuel rail. The car had been sitting for about 3 hours. No fuel came out!? It was dry!? Problem? Is the "one-way" valve bad?

I am still waiting for my "wrecking yard" fuel rail and feed line stub to hook up my fuel pressure gauge, so I decided to change the fuel filter instead, though receipts from previous owner show it was changed about 9000 miles ago. Fuel tank was nearly empty. Used the "drop one side of bracket" method. Worked great BTW. Thanks to the brickboard for that! Gas had a bad smell. Like it gets in the lawn mower after sitting all winter. No apperent debris in the old filter. Got everything hooked back up. Turned ignition on, took a few extra seconds than normal to get fuel up to the rail and up to pressure. Wouldn't start on the first few cranks. Let it sit for a second. Turned key back on and it fired up. Drove down to the gas station. Still pinging at nearly every movement of the throttle. Gased up with 92 at a different station than I usually do. Car still pinging a bit as I pull out onto the road. I drive about 1/2 mile before, drive up the long hill back to the house. I realize that the car is not pinging. I tromp on the throttle... slight ping now and then but not bad.... As I drive it pings less. Bad Gas? Hmmmmmmmm? This morning, the car fires right up and not one hint of ping on the whole drive to work (mostly downhill, 18 miles and about 64 degrees) and there definitly feels like it has more power. Could the knock sensor be bad but the ECU is not be putting out an error code for it? I didn't have time to check for any new error codes last night. I will reset the computer before I head home this afternoon and see if I have any error codes when I reach home. Also, will have to climb the grade in 90 degree heat too so it will be a good test. I will keep you posted.

2-3-2 does not specifically specify a lean condition.... it's kinda vague in that it can be lean or rich..

Cliff Scott
89 DOHC740 <-has had 2-3-2 for around 2 years

True, the 2-3-2 code can be rich or lean. It is an indication of a "lamda" detected mixture problem. So you are right, except that pinging doesn't occur during a rich condition and plugs are never white from rich comdition. I am coming to the LEAN conclusion by combining all of the data gathered. Pinging is the result of either timing that is too far advanced or a lean mixture (or is one of these actually "knock"?) and the color of the plugs is definitly lean, with no trace of being rich at all. NO black whatsoever. The plugs are ULTRA clean except the white on the ground electrode. Plugs usually are not white from ignition ping from being too far advanced for the load condition (or is it ignition knock?) Usually, the insulator gets blown apart from that and the electrode shows erosion. Neither of these condition exsist on my plugs. And as we all know, a perfect plug should be tan-ish brown especially after 5000 miles of daily driving...

I checked the O2 sensor last night after my 20 minute drive home. 105 degrees ambient tempersature. The voltage reading (digital multimeter) swung from >.1 to <.8 in a nice constant sweep at idle. I got interupted befroe I could rig up a "long lead" test rig and go for a drive to see what was up. It it still pinging. The car is NOT overheating. I rechecked the diagnostic codes after I reset it and went for a short drive and the reading is the same 2-3-2. Once I get the O2 sensor tested in real world driving, I will have it narrowed down to fuel delivery... and I will verify that with the FP gage setup. I wish I had a fuel flow meter. Anyone have these same symptoms that can help me take a short cut to fixing this? I am going on a 700mile trip tomorrow and I am going to have to take the VAn for Heaven's sake...