I picked up my R yesterday and drove it home from OH (560 miles). The prev owner owner only runs 94 octane but I had to use 93 on the way home. Its JRSC with the BTC and MAP sensor. He said he never had any detonation issues and so he never really adjusted the BTC. Tonight while coming off of an on ramp onto the highway I got into boost and I heard a faint crackling sound almost like gravel coming up into the wheel wells. I hit it again to see if I could hear it again and I did a little. It's very faint but I'm worried that it;s pinging. I've never really heard what pinging sounds like so I'm freaking out a little bit. I thought it would sound like a single ping noise, this was more like a faint crackle sound. I was going to wait on the Hondata 300/injectors but now I'm thinking I should just go ahead and do it. Does this sound like it could be pinging and if so, would it cause any permanent issues??

 

Also, the prev owner was a service mgr for Acura so I'm inclined to believe that he would've known if he'd had any detonation issues. I did turn the BTC up 2 clicks after I put the 93 in.

 

Im no tuner but you can check the plugs.

I'd drive the car somewhere (preferably with little traffic) where you can load it in the manor similar to the onramp you drove on then when you start hearing detonation (or the sound in question rather)then when at the engine speed & thottle posistion/load you begin hearing this immediately kill the ignition (without letting off the throttle) and be sure to take it out of gear as soon as you kill it our you'll jolt the s*it out of your motor mounts.

Pull to the side of the road and pull your plugs. Check the tips near the porcelain for shiny specks of silverish debris using a magnifiying lense.

 

The sound you are describing is exactly what knock sounds like.

I don't think a 1 point change in octane is going to make that much difference.

I would drive with caution until you can throw a wideband in it and make sure you've got enough fuel.

Based on what you're saying, I would imagine you're climbing up to 14.0:1 or even higher in AFs. What do you have for fuel management? You mentioned a BTC which is just a hack in place of a real tune. I would imagine that it is being used in conjunction with an FMU which is typically only good for about 7 psi.

If this is the case I'd look for a tuner and get it tuned so you can ditch the BTC altogether. If it is lean enough that it is pinging then there is certain more power and reliability in that motor to be had by tuning it.

 

Get a wideband,

if you don't have a dyno pull 2 degrees globally from just above base timing all the way to wot to be safe.

Its possible the gas the owner was getting was slightly higher quality then that of what you had gotten "besides the fact that it was 1 octane pt higher"

elevation and IAT have an effect on knock... The previous owner could have tuned it really close to its knock limit not accounting for crap gas... it can all be fixed though.

 

I'm guessing you bought Jim's car with about 18,000 miles on it. What you are hearing is detonation and is very common at about 0 vac before you transition into boost. If you don't linger in that area and just give it ore throttle and go into boost the detonation usually will go away, but this is just a bandaid. The problem is the Jackson Racing electronics (BTC, MAP controller and VPAC). They were pretty good about 10 years ago, but there are much better solutions as you already know.

Get the s300 and injectors and you'll make more power and do it safely.

 

Yes that's the one. Its an immaculate car, even have the original window sticker. I'm not so sure the noise was hearing wasn't my boost gauge vibrating after driving it again today. I'm still getting the tune done asap to be safe.