hi i just bought a 91 subaru legacy 2.2 no turbo seems to run good but pings pretty bad under a little load put premium gas injector cleaner new spark plugs doesnt seem to help cant chang timing not sure where to start any ideas please let me know

 

thanks jeff

I would be surprised to hear of 87 octane gas causing pinging in a EJ22, but if that's what your using, I suggest trying 89 octane. I've tried all kinds of gasoline in my car, and allow me to say that it runs better on 89 octane by a wide margin....

Mabe an oil change, can't hurt. When was it last done?

last month

i have put 91 octane in it ,what sensor would control timing that might be going bad

The knock sensor. Screwn into the engine block.

check to see if there are any codes, (you can get the procedure from my site)

 

If there are any, make note of them. Reset the ECU. Pull fuse 16 for 10 minutes. Drive around and see if that changes anything.

 

You may want to check codes again in a few days to see if anything is there. If you still are having problems. I'd suggest pulling the plugs and looking at them.

 

other possibility is there is an excessive amount of carbon built up in the combustion chambers which is causing pre-ignition and the pinging. in which case you should have the engine cleaned using one of those motor-vac things.

Josh, what in the world is a "motor vac" device? I never heard of such and need some education. What fuse on the legacy/baja do you pull to reset the ecu? Sound easier than disconnecting the battery.

 

Karl

I have never had a motor vac, but it's just the name of an engine cleaning system. I think marc or someone else on the board had it done on their legacy and it helped get the carbon out and get rid of the hesitation.

 

On the new subarus I'm not sure if you can pull just a specific fuse to get rid of power to the ECU.

there's this stuf called Sea-Foam. You can put it in your fuel and it help rid your motor of carbon build-up. My friend's 87 Ford truck was pinging really badly at high rpms so we put a can of it in his gas tank. The pinging stopped and it had a lot more power. I know NAPA sells it. Its in a little can I think about the size of a pop can.