With the stock ecm, they are not suppose to ping , knock, spark knock, detonate, bang, fart, pre ignite or whatever terminology you were brought up on because ion sensing is suppose to stop it from happening. Back to the dealer you go. to find out why it's not working. If anyone cares, pinging is caused from detonation of the fuel. This can be from too high a compression for the fuel used, too much timing for the fuel used and too much engine heat for the fuel used. Any one of these conditions causes the fuel to develop peak pressure too soon before tdc. Ion sensing sees detonation and retards timing to stop it. Things that will stop it's function are wrong plugs, wrong plug gaps, wires, or defective map sensor.
Ron

 

That's a really good point rbabos....

Cooners, have you installed different plug wires or different spark plugs lately? Longshot I know, but maybe there's something amiss with the plugs, wires or coil.... just a thought.

 

Do you have a tach? Maybe you should get one so you know exactly where you are with your riding style. My bike runs like crap under 2200 rpm and lugs at 2000. A couple of things could be the issue.

First, your Delphi ECM will automatically retard the timing when the engine is under load and then add back the timing as the revs increase. You could have a bad ECM.

Second, if you are using a SERT to tune the bike some tuners disable the anti-knock feature while tuning then forget to enable it when they load the finished map. (I doubt this is it but it is possible)

Third, On some bikes running HD Syn3 oil will cause valve lifter clatter that sounds like detonation but isnt. If you are running Syn3 try Mobil1Vtwin 20w50 or Amsoil MCV 20w50 or HD360 20w50

Fourth, Did you check for codes? Is your bike throwing any codes?

Lastly, DId you have your dealer put the bike on their digital technician? If not you should. You want to have them check all of your engine sensors.

 

Wow, thank you all so much for the replies and suggestions! The dealer keeps telling me that this ping or whatever it's called is normal and they won't do anything about it. 2 dealers have told me that already. I am bringing it to a guy that worked at the dealer for 15 years and now has his own repair business.

As soon as I know what is going on with it, I will post back what we find.

Thanks again to you all!