Engine Ping
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Elite HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 3,780
Likes: 69
From: Al Bu Ker Key, New Mexico
Engine Ping
Its Africa hot here in the Land of Entrapment. Hard to ride any time past noon. Temps in the high 90s, sometimes over 100.
My bike is pinging.
How much is pinging determined by octane? Best I can get here is 91 with the corn syrup added.
How much is pinging determined by elevation? I am at 5200 ft and regularly ride to up above 7000 ft.
How much is pinging determined by the ambient air temperature?
I know all about lugging the engine and that this can contribute to pinging.
Stock Harley motors are choked by the EPA and I know this causes them to run lean about of the box.
Will anyone here on the forum report that their stock engine has NEVER pinged? I have a buddy who has a 2015 Streetglide with the 103 engine with the oil cooler and it is stock with about 8k miles. He claims his bike has never pinged. I find that really hard to believe. He does have 93 octane gas and his elevation is less than 500 ft above sea level. He does have to deal with the heat of the Midwest and the humidity. I just don't believe his engine has never pinged.
I did a Stage 1 last year on my 96 motor with new ECM, intake, and exhaust. Didn't experience any pinging while riding last year after the upgrade but now I am having it happen pretty regularly. I am wondering why. I am getting some deceleration popping from the exhaust too.
I am wondering if the performance exhaust (2 into 1) is finally burning in and this is what is causing the decel pop. Cant see why I would need to have it dyno-ed again as nothing has changed in the setup. But things do seem to be running differently this summer.
My bike is pinging.
How much is pinging determined by octane? Best I can get here is 91 with the corn syrup added.
How much is pinging determined by elevation? I am at 5200 ft and regularly ride to up above 7000 ft.
How much is pinging determined by the ambient air temperature?
I know all about lugging the engine and that this can contribute to pinging.
Stock Harley motors are choked by the EPA and I know this causes them to run lean about of the box.
Will anyone here on the forum report that their stock engine has NEVER pinged? I have a buddy who has a 2015 Streetglide with the 103 engine with the oil cooler and it is stock with about 8k miles. He claims his bike has never pinged. I find that really hard to believe. He does have 93 octane gas and his elevation is less than 500 ft above sea level. He does have to deal with the heat of the Midwest and the humidity. I just don't believe his engine has never pinged.
I did a Stage 1 last year on my 96 motor with new ECM, intake, and exhaust. Didn't experience any pinging while riding last year after the upgrade but now I am having it happen pretty regularly. I am wondering why. I am getting some deceleration popping from the exhaust too.
I am wondering if the performance exhaust (2 into 1) is finally burning in and this is what is causing the decel pop. Cant see why I would need to have it dyno-ed again as nothing has changed in the setup. But things do seem to be running differently this summer.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,364
Likes: 110
From: Mesa, Az.
If nothing has changed since previous modifications that did not result in pinging, I would suspect carbon buildup causing the fuel/air mixture to ignite prematurely. This is highly likely if your crankcase breather is venting into the intake.
You could have it checked with a borescope, or just try running some Techron through it and see if it clears up.
You could have it checked with a borescope, or just try running some Techron through it and see if it clears up.
Road Master
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,086
Likes: 5
From: London, UK
Will anyone here on the forum report that their stock engine has NEVER pinged? I have a buddy who has a 2015 Streetglide with the 103 engine with the oil cooler and it is stock with about 8k miles. He claims his bike has never pinged. I find that really hard to believe. He does have 93 octane gas and his elevation is less than 500 ft above sea level. He does have to deal with the heat of the Midwest and the humidity. I just don't believe his engine has never pinged.
If you've left the AFR tables as per the HD EPA tune, then the bike runs lean. If you combine that with poor fuel, higher altitude and higher temperatures, then that will increase the tendancy to ping as you've found. I'm not sure how far the ping detection can retard the timing, and it might not be enough. Or perhaps it wasn't available on your year, which seems more likely. The ping detection is also disabled if you use spark plugs without the same properties as the OEM ones or change the spark leads (eg. a coil relocation) so that can cause problems too.
Also, if you don't have the O2 sensors or have disabled them by running open-loop, then your tune could end up being substantially different from where it was intended. I would have guessed richer, but anything's possible, especially if you have poor fuel.
But a bike running the modern tech, with the O2 sensors running in closed loop and the ping detection still working, has to be pushed pretty far for it to ping consistently.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,763
Likes: 371
From: North of Hell, South of Heaven
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,832
Likes: 67
From: Phoenix
I ride a stock 103 in Phoenix. You sometimes hit 100, we're regularly hitting 115-120. Never had any pinging.
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Road Master
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,044
Likes: 13
From: Broken Bow Oklahoma
The gas in New Mexico sucks. I had a ping the whole time we were on vacation there, my bike ran weak and I had to change the plugs in Carlsbad and still had a ping. When I got all the NM, gas burned out in Lubbock the power came back and the ping stopped.
