Vectra 2004 - "pinking"?

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Sat 23 Dec 2006 04:58
Vectra 2004 - "pinking"? - wonderwheels
I have had my 2004 Vectra 2.2 Sri Direct for around 2 years now.Recently it has developed a noise that I can only describe as "pinking".I have had it looked at by the Dealer and changed my fuel from Supermarket stuff now and again to BP Unleaded, but after several tankfuls of B.P. it is still the same.

It seems to be noticeable in 3rd and 4th at lower revs when there is a bit of strain on the engine.It concerns me as it never used to do it.

Any advice would be appreciated.
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Sat 23 Dec 2006 10:23
Vectra 2004 - "pinking"? - Sprice
When you SRi Direct, do you mean direct injection? If so, Di petrol engines 'prefer' the higher octane (RON of 97+) stuff, such as BP Ultimate, although the ECU should adjust for different petrols. Run it low anyway, and put some Ultimate etc in. Otherwise pinking is unusual on modern cars, so its either knock-sensor malfunction (stored in fault code memory?) or a driving style that encourages pinking (i.e., large throttle openings at low RPMs etc).

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Sat 23 Dec 2006 13:15
Vectra 2004 - "pinking"? - Dynamic Dave
Yes, it will be direct injection. Vauxhall just called it the 'direct'. I have the same engine in my Jan 2004 Vectra. Although it's never pinked when I run it on supermarket petrol, which is 99% of the time. However as it's got an auto box there is less chance of labouring the engine.
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