If you hear a knocking sound from your cars engine, mostly under acceleration, this is a symptom of pre-ignition or auto-ignition. What happens is that the fuel-air in the combustion chamber ignites spontaneously resulting in a very rapid reaction of a portion or all of the fuel-air mixture. This fast release of heat results in pressure oscillations that cause mechanical vibrations to produce a knocking or pinging sound. One cause of engine knock is poor quality fuel. If the fuel is of insufficient octane, it can auto-ignite due to the high temperature and pressure in the combustion chamber, rather than from the spark, like it should.
Another reason an engine can have pre-ignition or engine knock is that the timing is not set correctly. Meaning it is too far advanced. This is an easy fix for a repair shop with equipment to set the timing on your engine. Using a higher octane fuel solves the problem in certain cases. Modern cars have to be hooked up to expensive tools to reset the timing. Needless to say, have a professional do it.
One of the bad side effects of allowing an engine to ‘knock’ too long without attending to it is that the added heat generated from pre-ignition can actually burn the tip off your spark plug/s. Obviously causing the engine to run poorly. The worse thing that happens is that the heat can rise to a level that actually burns a hole in the top of a piston. If this happens you will need to examine your options in rebuilt engines.
A lot of folks put off taking care of what seems to be small issues at the time, allowing them to become situations where you need to look at rebuilt engines and decide who you should deal with. The time and cost of immediate care is much, much less expensive and time consuming than having a rebuilt engine installed in your car.
Looking at the big picture means taking every change in performance: a leak, or the engine light coming on, very seriously. If you had a brain tumor that gave you headaches and developed into a big lump on the side of your head, would you wait a while to see if it got better? Would you choose your doctor by pricing only?
The best medicine is to be diligent about taking care your cars needs. Take heed of them ASAP for your safety and to save a bunch of time and aggravation. For the best replacement engines call GotEngines.com @ 1-877-268-0664
We come across incorrectly tuned aftermarket electronic fuel injection systems, where too much ignition timing has been set during dyno tuning or engine mapping.
It is vital that the correct fuel is used when tuning an aftermarket system, and that the same quality of fuel is used in the vehicle from that point on. If not, knocking will occur.