It's definately pinking!

You should know that cars are like women.

Sometimes they should be taken out and given a damned good thrashing, For their own good.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Sleeker GT Phwoar decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

My Sierra will pink if it's running on cheapo unleaded, at full boost, on a warm day, in 5th gear, at over 130ish.

I'm so glad it's not a Seicento....

Are these people that have actually heard the noise first hand, or are these people going on your descriptions?

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

If it's corroded then that means the fact that it's only done 7000 miles is almost irrelevant - you'll need to clean up the contacts good and proper.

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

The message from Sleeker GT Phwoar contains these words:

Ah, but mine's a proper car with a proper diesel engine in it!

Ah but mines a proper car with nice revvy 200bhp petrol turbo engine in :)

OK, I'm going to make my one and only contribution to this debate...!

From your description, I don't think it's pinking. In fact, I'm bloody sure it isn't! What's more likely is that it's some sort of resonant rattle.

I had something similar on my Lada Riva. This made a noise which sounded *a bit* like pinking - a sort of metallic 'tinkling' audible above the normal engine noise. The give away, however, was that it only happened at a certain engine speed - faster or slower, and it didn't do it. So I was pretty sure it was something resonating due to engine vibrations at that speed. I reckoned it was probably a loose baffle in the exhaust, so I just ignored it.

Anyway, went on like that for months, then one day, the alternator packed up. I took it out to replace it (Lada alternators cost 25 quid - not worth bothering to repair!). Whilst I was peering into the hole where it had come from (you have to remove the alternator from underneath on these), I happened to glance at the exhaust manifold-to-downpipe flange, and noticed one of the bolts looked very loose. So, I tightened it, and thought no more of it. Anyway, when I next drove the car, the mysterious rattle had gone - it had just been that loose bolt allowing the exhaust to vibrate against the manifold whenever the engine reached the appropriate speed / frequency.

I'll bet that's what your problem is - something somewhere has worked loose and is rattling against something else.

IT'S NOT BLOODY PINKING!!!

Cheers,

Brian.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Sleeker GT Phwoar decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Ah, but mine's a proper car which doesn't look capable of insane speed :-D

Funny you should mention something like that, certain BMW's were know for loosening or breaking of exhaust manifold bolts/studs allowing a slight leak, and certain saabs having a hairline crack in the manifold that would leak, and it would "tick with exhaust pulses, until the engine was hot by which time it would expand and close the slack so the exhaust sealed better, and the "tick" (quite loud from what I've been told) would magically disappear.

Would never effect MOTs, because usually by the time they are round to checking the exhaust, the engine has been running some time to get upto temperature for the emissions test and the "gap" has closed so all is silent and no blow shows.

The message from Sleeker GT Phwoar contains these words:

Not my cup of tea at all. I've driven things like that - and they didn't do anything for me.

The message from "Pete M" contains these words:

Mine's easily capable of insane speed - provided you don't mind confining your insanity to side roads.

My current car has a N/A petrol engine in it, and runs on diesel!

What description? I don't think I've given a description of it.

Actually, it's funny you mention that, the alternator seems to be getting noisey, which is may be part of my problem. It's doesn't explain the misfire or pinking though.

So you use 2nd upto 30mph? On my car that's around 4,000 rpm (allowing for 10% over-read).

In article , Peter writes

Please do, then f*ck off and die for good measure.

Well there is something *seriously* wrong with your car then if it won't accelerate in 1st gear up a hill. Even my old 950cc car would accelerate

Yep, this would be using almost maximum power from my engine.

OK, so accelerating say 25%, that's 25% of the maximum power available *at that rpm*. And as we're talking about near-idling speeds, the power available at that rpm is probably only 10% of what is available higher up the range.

No, the engine will be generating almost 100% of it's maximum power if you floor it in 4th at motorway speeds. Pulling away in 1st with 25% throttle will probably only be producing 10% at the most of the engine's maximum power, probably a lot less.

Power is very roughly proportional to throttle position times rpm.

You are probably forgetting that at higher speeds there is a higher drag force on the car, which makes it *feel* as if the engine is doing less work.

Sorry, *who* told you that your dad's car pinks at the point of stalling? Let me ask again, have you ever been in a car that *someone else* has told you is pinking?

I rest my case. The government are trying to get far too many people to go to uni, most of whom don't appreciate it or benefit from it. It is just a total waste of tax payers money, and the students who *do* deserve to go and want to go are having to pay s*it loads to finance idiots like you who don't even *want* to be there!

You'll need to in a low powered car like yours. Driving instructors teach

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

If I'm accelerating hard (eg overtake), 2nd will take me up to about 55mph @

During normal driving though I change from 2nd to 3rd at anywhere between 25 and 40. Which yeah, is probably around 2700-4400 rpm depending on how "fast" I'm feeling lol. Unless the engine is cold, when I'd probably be in

Don't forget this is for accelerating though, if I was going to drive at a constant 30mph I'd probably use 3rd, although I sometimes use 2nd if there is lots of road furniture that you need to keep slowing for.