Hey guys, 99 w/ a 5.2. 170K on her. Engine has always run smooth and continues to do so now. I recently did a tune up before the weather got cold. I replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. I went all OEM for the most most with Duralast cap/ rotor and wires. I followed the wire routing TSB to the letter and everything is still in place today. I noticed a few days after doing this that I had a very light clicking noise coming from the engine bay. Now it has become a rather loud clicking noise as is more loud at loud, gone at idle/ coast, and REALLY loud when I'm going up hill and the RPMs are around 2 before she downshifts. I think I am pinging but why?

Due to the cold and lack of heated space I don't have a lot of opportunites to fix this. Can you guys kinda confirm that I am pinging here, and tell me what you would do to fix it?

Thanks,

Todd

 

the injectors make some noise if they aren't masked by the radio or really loud exhaust. pinging sounds like marbles in a coffee can.

get a mechanics stethoscope (or a metal bar like a prybar or a long socket extension. it has to be metal all the way down, a screwdriver won't work) and put it on the top of a fuel injector while its running (with the other end pressed against your ear) and rev the engine slightly. see if it sounds the same through the metal as it does when you're in the truck.

 

Sheriff, if his truck is doing the same as mine... you won't be able to really hear what he is talking about with the truck parked. Mine does the same thing and as he describes at idle or coast you don't hear it... and with mine free reving in park does not make the sound. It only makes the sound under load which is probably why the op thinks it is ping. In my case I always blamed it on the headers being an exhaust leak (which it very well could be). Let me know what you turn up OP because I have been wondering for over a year now. The sound seems to come from the drivers side on mine because the passengers have a hard time hearing it.

 

couldnt be a timing chain could it?

 

I had a clicking sound in mine this summer, and using the long extension to your ear trick, found it to be the pcv valve. Changed it and the clicking is gone..... I thought it was a noisy lifter for the longest time too haha

 

Hey guys,

Seems to be drivers side as well on mine. I cannot hear anything at idle/ free reving. Mine only started after that tune up that mentioned in my 1st post. I was thinking perhaps headers as well, as I have had that happen in some jeeps. It's not that it's a "problem" it's just noisy and I don't want to hear it.

Not sure how it could be a timing chain.

 

im going of from when i had my Nissan 4x4 truck, sound like a pining type noise, and it was my timing chain....just throwing out suggestions, but its seems likes its in the top end anyways for your problem

 

I have that same problem. It sounds like pinging to me, especially when my truck kicks into overdrive. But at idle/neutral, I hear nothing. Mine only started to do it when I put my Superchip on. But even with it off, I still feel like I hear it when going uphill and such...

 

I noticed pinging when I swapped out my lower heat range Autolite 3923s out for stock heat range Champion RC12LC4 spark plugs. Did you switch brands of spark plugs when you changed them? Sometimes different brands use a different heat range in their plugs than the factory plugs. I know that the plugs that Bosch specifies for our trucks has a higher heat range than the factory Champions.

 

assuming you run 87 octane gas, fill it up with higher octane 91-92-93, the higher the better. if it stops making the noise, it was pinging, which is caused by higher heat, lean, advance timing, hotter plugs, vac leak, carbon buildup (which is all caused by leaking plenum).