What is it? What does is sound like? What causes it? I don't think my bike does it, but just trying to educate myself.


WARG

 

Ping is predetonation,ever put cheap,bad or low octane gas in your car and start up a hill and hear that rattly noise? Thats = to ping in harley.

 

You can sometimes prevent pinging by keeping the RPM's up. Keeping in high gear and going up hill with steady throttle will probably make your bike ping. I have consistantly put 87 octane in my 1998 FLHTCUI and 1999 FXDS-Conv without any problems. You can put 87 in there as long as you do not allow the engine to ping.

A little pinging is not going to hurt anything really. But pinging on a continual basis will lead to problems.

 

I had the ping on my stock 07. I retarded the timing with the PCIII, put pipe and a/c on...I think the ping is gone now but I sure was pi$$ed about my brand new bike pinging like it did. This is my sixth HD and none of them pinged like that.

 

The most noticable time to hear ping is on a warm day, you're stoppedfor a longtraffic signal your bike is idling and getting hot. The light turns green, you milk the throttle, feather the clutch and lug the bike on roll-off. During this you hear a metalic sound, as if a piece of metal fell into one of your cylinders during the upstroke of your piston. That's predetonation or Pinging.

Bikes are set to run lean from the factory due to EPA requirements. That means it's going to run hotter and ping more.

 

 

warg..... ping,, is a tinny ,metalic ,klinkin, noise,, mostly heard underload rollin into the throttle,,
like a tink,tink,tink,,,,,,,,
some cars do it ,after flooring the gas pedal
its caused by to lean of a fuel mixture

 

It sounds like a very light rattle or "ping" that happens only when one loads the engine as in climbing a grade or taking off in second gear. Too low of an octane fuel, excessive compression ratio, build-up of carbon in the combustion area, ignition timing too far advanced all can cause it. Low octane gascan ignite shortly before the spark occurs due to heat. It ignites more quickly and in an erratic way than high octane gas does. Really heavy ping can damage the engine. It is also hard on bearings because force from the ping explosion is applied to the piston at a time in the cycle where the parts are not designed to take that force. I'm not a diesel mechanic but I've been told that the rattle noise a diesel engine makes is "ping on a diesel level". Diesels have high compression (typically 20:1 or higher) and low octane fuel. The noise resonates through the connecting rods to the pan and then out. Diesel engines are built to stand it though.

wlbowers diagram is a good one.

If you hear a rattle while you are simply ideling or cruising along straight and steady it is probably valve train noise, not ping.

 

the only light "tapping" sound I hear is what I have always thought was valve noise. I hear it at cruise and idle like you mentioned. I moved from a Honda 750 to my fatboy and noticed it immediately. I still am not used to it, even after a year. BUt from what I've read and been told, the TC88 engines are a little noisey anyway.

 

Mine rattles around 40 or so and again around 60 while just riding down the road. I believe most twin cams do it to some extent unless they are new or have had cam swaps or other work. Some say it's because it's an air cooled engine but the trouble I have with that is that it is also a hydraulic lifter equipped engine and that should take care ofthe effect heat expansion would have on the valve train. Besides, it does it when cold!

It sounds like you are not hearing ignition ping. There were some very good explanations of what ping is above. I'd take a little light ping in trade for the valve clatter if I could swap.