Pinging On V6 Astina ??? Help ???

[nupes]

As for the rear rocker cover oil leak, check that there is a bent rubber hose on the back of the rear rocker cover (towards the left) that connects to the intake manifold. I think this is the rear PCV valve ? Its just under the 1st VRIS actuator.

I've noticed that oil seeps out from this hose sometimes as well

[jgibson]

yea thats the exact same prob with my BA. im using 91OC fuel atm and have had usual pinging. i tried reseting the ECU by disconnecting the battery, this seemed to help quite a lot. test it out and get back to me, maybe it was just a one off for me.

[skippy]

Might help might not,

But a while ago I noticed the disappearance of that sweet spot just after 3K, the one at about 4.5K was still there but the lower had basically gone,

Was a little upset and have booked in for service which is due anyway,

Was having a look around check leads are secure, oil etc,
I noticed for the first time ever my car has had a reduction in the amount of oil, not just alittle but almost down to the Low mark, FYI I have never put oil in my car cause it has never nedded it.

Still looking around I pushed that one of a kind lead type thing going into the cover, it says KL-03 I think or something like that, and it deffinently moved in further and seemed to slot into a grove or something, I thought huh well that is werid

Anyway next time I drove my 3K sweet spot is back, much to my joy.

So give that little bastrd a push and see it what happens,
Can’t hurt atleast.

[nupes]

Yeah, that one of a kind KL-03 thing is the PCV valve for the front rocker cover. The purpose of it is to suck exhaust gases that rise to the top of the rocker cover and recirculate it thru the intake manifold to make the car more enviro friendly. Personally I think its a bit of a wank because sometimes it sucks a bit of oil as well so make sure its clean.

I've tried disconnecting my battery to reset the ECU so that it can start 'learning' again. Luckily I remembered my radio code ! The resetting didnt seem to make much of a difference even after a week of driving because it was still pinging

[jgibson]

yea ive realised that the battery trick doesnt work (sorry)... prob coz i was testing at night.. it doesnt ping much with cold air. i was thinking about what you said about the different gears and accelerater. perhaps it is something to do with the throttle body sensor and/or O2 senor which is more likely. i was told by mazda that is most likely a sensor since they spent ages testing every other possibility (fuel presure, compression etc which all are in good order, considering the age of the car). does anyone know much about the affects of electrical probs on pinging? i almost certain it is something electrical like a sensor... and so do mazda. if it was the O2 sensor much much would it be to fix, how difficult to do by myself?

[Rupewrecht]

Originally Posted by jgibson

if it was the O2 sensor much much would it be to fix, how difficult to do by myself?

depend how many wires it is, but a one-wire for BPT was about $80 when i bought one a while ago.

easy to install, just unscrew the old one and replace. depends where it's located tho!

[nupes]

Hey Rupe do you need a special wrench socket to remove the O2 sensor ?

[Rupewrecht]

i just used a spanner. can't remember what size, but knowing mazda it was a 17 or 14

[jgibson]

nupes ... u planning on changing ur O2 sensor? if u are, give me heads up on how it goes. oh yea, i checked the 'recycling' heads-to-airintake system and found some serious probs. there was sooo much carbon and oil built up in there and it had got into the main airbox and trottle body... not happy. the plastic join that connects the hose to the airbox had completely disintegrated and some seems to have gone into the engine. this would explain the fuel smell ive been getting in the cabin. ive capped the hole on the airbox and im letting the hose lie free in the engine bay (just temp. and for testing). as skippy said the car performs much better now. did fix the pinging but seems to have helped reduce it slightly, prob coz of the cleaner air mix. im heading down to super cheap on sunday. i think they have a sale on at the moment. is there anything that i should look into there that might help solve the pinging. also what will i need for a good service, im a total noob servicer (sorry a lil off topic). thanks for your help.

[jgibson]

i just removed the sparks plugs and found a huge amount of oil in the back plug wells.. not just a coating .. it seemed to have a 1cm or so in the bottom. i remember someone saying earlier that oil in the wells can cause probs. also ive noticed that the plugs have quite a lot of carbon and burn marks on the tips and the leads seems very worn.

[CRA23]

your your rocker cover gasket is broken, cheap to fix but takes while to change the back rocker cover gasket, fornt is very easy

[nupes]

Yeah sounds like your rear rocker cover gasket needs replacing, esp if there is a fair amt of oil in the sparkplug wells. Happened to me as well. If you take it to a mechanic, the rear rocker cover gasket would be more costly to repair than the front because they gotta pull off the intake manifold to get to it.

It dosent cost that much to get the mechanic to replace the O2 sensors, seems like an easy enough job, but I dont know how to cut and crimp the wires back in

As far as servicing your car with the stuff you mentioned. I'd do the usual

1. Change oil and filter every 5000 km - if you use full synth it better cleans the HLAs,
if you are real pedanting you can run a oil flush
2. Replace air filter or get K&N panel or pod
3. Check and replace plugs every 10,000 or 20,000 km or get NGK Iridiums. Check the gaps on plugs as well (Irridiums not required)
4. Check for worn leads. Start the engine in the dark with no light and look for arcing
5. Get error codes checked occasionally
6. Fuel injector cleaner occassionally, but I guess it depends on what fuel you use

Thats prolly the basic preventative maintenance you can do

As far as the carbon build up is concerned, I'd start with a good dose of decarboniser like redex, that you can squirt directly in thru the spark plug holes (expect a lot of smoke from your exhaust when you start up ! ), Id consider replacing the plugs as well

As far as the intake is concerned, I'd get some throttle body cleaner like the Subaru one and squirt it into the throttle body. Id also clean the PCV valve as well

With the pinging, try some octane boost with different grades of fuel. I know my car pings like mad on 91 in the summer so thats why I use Vortex


It also might be useful to know the difference between carbon build up sound and HLA noise when you first start up in the morning.

This website http://homepage.ntlworld.com/dorothy.bradbury/probemx/
shows how you can test it and has a lot of other useful information regarding maintenance and common problems. Although its for the 2.5 KL probes and MX6s, it still suffices as our engines are almost identical.

Hope this helps

Nupes

[jgibson]

thanks nupes, that site is awesome. i managed to fix the pinging ! so happy. it must have been the oil in the rear wells, coz it hasnt sounded bad since the home service, runs so much better as well. i still cant believe mazda didnt check that. ill look into fixing the gaskets, what sort of torque wrench will i need? also will the service manual guide me through the process? thanks heaps to everyone who helped out.

[barcode]

So sorry to bring this Very Very old thread back to life, but personally i fell this pinging problem in any car is important and annoying and i know people out there want to know how ppl have fixed this pinging problem.

My problem was i purchased a second hand Mazda 323 V6 97 with 130k on the clock it was my second car to use as a run around car to drive the station etc.

Anyway it suffered the same problem as the original poster to this thread it would happen on hot days once on the open road and air travelling though the vehicle it will not happen, so before i start changing plugs air filter petrol filters etc.I thought to myself it has to be something to do with cooling the car (doh). as it never suffered lost of power even when pinging.

Vehcile is completly stock no modifications

So i decided to check the cooling fans on front of the vehcle before i did anything, Mined you my car temps never pasted half or overheated.

When the air con was on both fans operated, but i noticed when the air was not on and the car on hot days did the go and stop in traffic the fans never turned on but the car was running a little hotter than usual (never pass half).

Rang Mazda and asked what causes the fans to turn on with out the air con on, was told the coolant temp sensor sends messages to the ecu.
Run out purchased a new Coolant temp sensor from an auto shop for $30 as mazda wanted $100. (BTW the coolant sensor is located right near the radiator cap)

To my amazement no more pinging when hot. The fans actually work in stop and go traffic. had a faulty coolant temp sensor.
no codes ever showed this to be the problem, so go figure!!

thanks

I hope this helps others out there.