I have been having a problem with pinging when I run regular 87 octane in my civic... it all started when I changed the blown head gasket out a year ago... two things happened... we changed over to Bosch plugs from NGK, and we did not have a timing light available, so we used a paint pen to mark the distributor so we could get it back where it was prior to removing it.

I was told that the Bosch platinum two plugs I used were the incorrect heat range, and just got done putting the correct NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs listed on my timing cover in... now the ping is better, but it still does it... I filled up with 89 to make the ping go away until I can find my timing light to check the timing.

I did mess around with the distributor to no avail... and ended up putting it back where it was until I locate my timing light... Which way is which... left/right retard/advance when looking at the distributor from the passenger side, on a D15B7... with cam rotation is advance and against cam rotation is retard right? If i find that the distributor is set right, what else could be causing the car to do this? I have changed the cap and wires as well, the screw on the rotor was stuck, so I couldn't change that... I now have a battery powered impact drill, so maybe that will get it free... don't really think changing it will help though... it looks fine.

Just trying to figure out what else can cause it... would the valves being out of adjustment cause it? How about o2 sensor, haven't changed it since i've had the car... I do get good gas mileage though, between 38 and 42 on the highway... last trip I peaked at 43mpg on the first tank, and on the second I changed from heading north to heading east and the wind changed i guess, but it went down to 38mpg... so yeah it's good on gas, even with it having pinging troubles...

Oh and the bosch plugs i pulled looked like it might be going a little lean... the tips look grey, like it's been a little hot in there...

Any ideas on what to check out besides ignition timing...

 

Turn the top of the distributor forward (rotating the dizzy clockwise as you look at the cap) to retard the timing. The cam turns that direction too. As you turn the dizzy the same way the cam goes, the cam has to go farther to hit the same spot on the dizzy, thus the timing is retarded.

Even properly set up, sometimes you need 89 octane too get rid of every last ping. It is OK to use 87 and let it ping once in a while.

 

ok. in that case the timing was set almost as far advanced as the distributor could be set to... but that is where it was set at before I ever messed with it... Now that I know that, I may play with it a little more, and see if I can get it any better. At least I have a mark on it so I can put it back where it was...

After switching to the NGK's it got a lot better... it seems now that it's only doing it on uphills when the trans doesn't kick down... with the bosch plugs it did it on acceleration too, but only after it had warmed up.