Has anyone noticed that their engine pings under load after installing the AEM Brute Force intake?

I just installed this kit last night and immediately noticed the whistle around 2K RPM. That was annoying enough, but now I have a pinging problem when the engine is under load such as climbing a steep hill. Off the line it doesn't ping.

Granted, I'm running 87-octane fuel, but one of the reasons that I bought the kit was for a little better fuel mileage. Running high-octane fuel would just negate my cost savings. Seat-o-the-pants power gains were minimal as expected, but the throaty sound is kind of cool.

Maybe I could adjust my timing to compensate or is the ignition tamper proof?

 

what does PING means??? whistle is normal... i actually like it that way, but for ping, could you explain what it is?

 

If the ping you are talking about is spark knock the only way to fix that (that i know of) would be running a higher octane. Thats what i love about Korea, regular is 92 octane and premium is 98. Man i wish we ran this stuff in the states.

 

As far as I know on the JK, you will need to modify the computers tune to adjust the tables. So nothing you can turn/adjust on the engine directly like the old school power plants. Look into a chip/tuner for this. If you are truly having a detonation issue, I would consider trying another brand of gas, not sure what you run. Or you can try running a higher grade to see if it is still pinging and if not. It would be scary to see these CAI's lean out the engine to much. When my Airaid arrives, I will keep a close eye or should I say ear on it.

 

My first engine mod was an Airaid and I've never experienced the whistling and/or ping sound and I only run regular octane fuel. But I have read that others with the same intake are having whistling sound issues...not sure why it affects some and not others...

 

i have the AEM, no ping and I run 89 octane..
the crowl is awesome.. and it does have the whistle at lower RPMS...

 

The "pinging" that I experienced would be a timing/detonation issue causing the intake and/or exhaust valves to clatter (not a good thing for engines). I'm thinking that the air flow is so great now that it is leaning out my engine and the computer is not compensating for this. I will try running 92-octain gas tomorrow and see how that goes. I climb some pretty steep hills on my commute to and from work on backroads, so this will be a good test. If this doesn't cure the problem I'll probably just remove the kit and try to return it for a refund. The guys at 4WheelParts have been good to me in the past.

The engine ran flawlessly before any modification. Another learning experience. That's what Jeeps are all about, constant trial and error with learning opportunities 0'plenty........

 

I would suspect a "bad" tank of gas before I'd suspect anything else (though it's awful darn suspicious that it started after your CAI mod). Pinging (also called knocking and erroneously preignition, is detonation of the air-fuel mixture due to heat and compression before the engine spark can properly travel through the combustion chamber, to answer someone else's question) is most notable when the engine is under load--up steep grades, hard acceleration in high gears at low rev's/torque, etc. Higher octane fuel can solve the problem. So can several other things, which may or may not be practical on the JK: Lower the air-to fuel mixture ratio (remove the CAI?), retard the timing, reduce engine compression, reduce engine operating temperature (to reduce cylinder temperature and pressure), add substances to the fuel to increase octane, inject water into the intake.

Officially, we're supposed to be able to burn regular (87 octane at sea level) gas. But, sometimes gas stations sell watered-down gas. I'm not accusing the gas stations of watering the gas on purpose--I have a station that I've bought fuel from regularly for over 16 years, and several times I've experienced pinging--I could count the number of times on one hand, I'm sure. If it continues for you, I suggest that you change gas stations before removing the CAI.

BTW: The Jeep manual says: "Light spark knock at low engine speeds is not harmful to your engine. However, continued heavy spark knock at high speeds can cause damage and immediate service is required." I don't know for certain about the JK, but most modern engines have a knock sensor (basically a microphone on the block). If they sense pinging, they immediately retard the timing to reduce/eliminate the pinging. Of course, your horses and fuel mileage are compromised by this. I'm with you: I don't like the loss of horses and fuel efficiency that occurs with any pinging.

A note about octane: There are a number of ways to measure octane. Years (decades) ago one could buy 100 octane fuel in the U.S. But, the mfg's were playing foot-loose with the octane numbers. A standard was set: R+M/2 (Which is the average of two of the methods: IIRC, Research + Mfg's). Bottom line is if you're outside the U.S. and seeing higher octane numbers, I wouldn't trust that these are really higher numbers unless they're using the exact testing procedures and method for calculating as the U.S.

Finally, as engines age they tend to develop internal deposits. This can create both a little more compression (due to reduced volume) and a little higher operating temp (due to insulation by the deposits). An engine with 15,000 miles could need as much 6 to 7 more points of octane than an engine that's new.