Discuss What does detonation/ping sound like exactly. on AllFordMustangs.com, the place for Mustang enthusiasts.
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I've had my 65 for almost five years now and never had to mess with the timing. It's always ran great so I left it alone. Over the summer though my dizzy hold down bolt worked loose and the timing slipped. I borrowed a friends timing light and set it at 12* at idle with vacuum advance plugged. I noticed a rattling noise the other day when driving slowly through a parking lot. It occurred only at off idle when driving slowly. Now that my ears are tuned for it and it's windows up season I'm hearing it pretty regularly, again in parking lots and slow low speed traffic. It doesn't seem to do it when your giving it a lot of gas only when the throttle is cracked. I tried retarding my timing back to 6* and went to 91 octane fuel with no change. The car seems to run better at 12* so I went back to that for now.
I searched this forum and Google and most people say detonation sounds like a spray paint can rattling. This noise is more like a catalytic converter heat shield rattling, of coarse my 65 has no cats. It's also very hard to hear. While cruising the other night I asked my wife if she could hear it and she couldn't. How loud is engine ping? Too use the spray can analogy, does it sound like the can is being shaken slowly or very rapidly? Is obvious when you hear it?
The worst part is I'm not 100% sure it has anything to do with timing, it could just be a normal rattle this old girl makes and I just never noticed until I was really listening. The windows are down more than half the year too, many of the rattles are drowned out by wind noise. I'm just nervous about ignoring it and having major problems down the road. Sorry about the long post and thanks for your help.
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Red 1965 coupe, 289 C-4
Edelbrock cam, intake, and carb, ported heads, try y headers, 2.5 inch dual exhaust, flowmaster 40s, electric fan, aluminum rad, disk brakes, full grab a track performance suspension, ect...
white 2003 convertible 3.8 auto
Fender-well CAI, 2.25 mandel bent dual exhaust, dynomax super turbo mufflers
yeah it sounds like the tinkling of metal...it would mostly appear in heavy acceleration esp near the redline, slow moving rattling is more than likely the brakes
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1995 Mustang GT Cnv 427 stroker
1996 Cobra with Kenne Bell 2.1 Supercharger dynoed at 12psi: makes 412whp/424wtq on E85: 250K miles on stock engine
2003 Infiniti M45 V8 340 hp
"What do you do besides drive fast?" "Have fun...."
I'd describe the sound as like someone shaking a spray paint can under the hood. I have normally heard it on hard acceleration from stop or moderate acceleration at highway speeds.
I'm no expert mechanic, but I think good performance timing is best set by trial and error and not with a timing light. Try small adjustments above and below the 12 degrees BTDC.
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I contend, that for a nation to try to tax itself, into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
—Winston Churchill
I think that yes, pinging sounds like a paint can shaken vigourously, but not nearly that loud. More like hearing someone shaking the can in the next room (you know, kind of muffled).
It occurs when lugging the engine momentarily, let's say, driving at low rpm in second gear and stepping on the throttle moderately hard. It's only for a couple of seconds or so until the engine is revving more freely again.
That's not the symptoms you have described, so it's something else.
Marbles in a can so, yes, a spray paint can is a good example. It will happen when the engine is under heavy load and has little to do with high RPM. Floorboarded at 30-40 MPH is when my C-code C4 likes to knock. Ease back the accelerator pedal and the rattle stops; push the pedal harder and it rattles. At higher or lower speeds it hardly ever knocks.
Thanks for all the good replies and the video link. What I'm hearing sounds more like a rattle and less like the noise in the video so I don't think its ping. I climbed under the car and tried to find the source of the noise but I can't find it.
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Red 1965 coupe, 289 C-4
Edelbrock cam, intake, and carb, ported heads, try y headers, 2.5 inch dual exhaust, flowmaster 40s, electric fan, aluminum rad, disk brakes, full grab a track performance suspension, ect...
white 2003 convertible 3.8 auto
Fender-well CAI, 2.25 mandel bent dual exhaust, dynomax super turbo mufflers
Best place to hear it, is when driving on a hwy at night time. In my area we have an one lane overpass that has a 3 foot wall on both sides. Stepping on the gas you can certainly hear it with the windows down. I caught my car doing this when I skimped and put 87 octane in a 91 octane car. Normal driving in the city or highway, cant be heard in my case.
What does detonation/ping sound like exactly. 
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