I put a new ecu tune on my 2003 SVT Focus a few months ago and I feel like I hear detonation on hard third and fourth gear acceleration. I have a Borla exhaust so the car is sort of loud and I am not sure whether or not the car is pinging. I connected my SCT ODBII tuner and I have no DTC codes. Does this mean my car is not pinging or does this mean nothing? The SCT tuner does have logging capabilities but I don't know what to do with it before going back to the guy who sold me the tune.
Not until it melts the electrodes off the spark plugs.
It might not set a DTC, you will have to watch the timing to see of the computer is pulling the timing back. How is the power? Is it smooth or dose it feel like the car is being "held back" at times?
Paul B
Depends, I guess. It should have a knock sensor. If the sensor is picking up detonation and retarding the timing accordingly, then no it's merely doing what it thinks is right therefore no DTC. If there is no output from the knock sensor at any time or constant output, I would think it would set a knock sensor or knock sensor circuit DTC, maybe a 'implausible' code.
Try some octane booster to make it go away. Then you migh have your answer.
The car pulls fine, its just that I think I hear the detonation which worries me. The tune is sweet from a performance and drivability standpoint, I just don't want to ignore a possible problem. I will look into the data logging on my scanner.
In theory, if the car has a knock sensor, the pinging should never be at a level to be heard. The piezo sensor should hear it and retard the timing well before it's audible to the human ear.
But a bad knock sensor or a tune that doesn't use the knock sensor could be a problem.
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