Activa - Pinking & Lumpy. What fuel works best?

[SLYTZD]

Been trying to stop my car from pinking & run smoother.

Obviously the first thing I did was replaced the plugs & air filter.
I used to run it on standard Sainsbury's unleaded because it was convenient & cheap but had pinking problems.

I disconnected the battery for a few hours to reset the ECU, went better for a while & was smother until it 'relearned'.
Next was Sainsbury's Super Unleaded, smoother now but still pinks.
Replaced the CAT to exhaust clamp to stop a slight blow.
Sainsbury's Super Unleaded & Wynn's Octane Booster, pinks less - BUT STILL PINKS!
Ok so next will be a tank of V-power on it's own.

Anyone else had this problem & overcame it?

Lazy Sunday afternoon surfing found this about additives! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jbcCr2ll3c

And this on fuel types http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDHwCWdr ... re=related

Comments welcome

[Sid_the_Squid]

Rover K-series... surprised the head gasket did not blow 1/2 way though the test. Hardly think that was a good test, if the engine is not tuned for using the higher octane fuel it will make no difference.

That second vid was better, it would have been interesting to use the supermarket petrol with an additive in the Subaru.

[MikeT]

There's many reasons your car might be pinking and a lot of them could be down to poor servicing so changing the plugs and air filter is a good start but possibly inadequate. Did you read the old plugs that came out?

But after a proper servicing, my next step would be to have the ECU interrogated for timing, fuelling and temperature problems.

If the car's been thoroughly serviced according to the manufacturers recommendations and you're still getting pinking using high octane fuel then it could be carbon build up or inefficient cooling. Perhaps an air leak on the induction side even.

My guess is if you just keep using V-power it should slowly improve over time due to the detergents.

[XantiaMan]

Activa's are prone to it, i dont know why. Occasionally if you change gear in mine, at high revs close to the rev limiter (not difficult in 1st!) it will pink but then other times it wont, most of the time it doesnt.

I use V-Power and Tesco 99. Sainsburys is only 97 so wont be high enough, in this weather it will be more prone to pinking.

An ECU reset takes seconds, just disconnect, leave 10 seconds and its done, if i ever get a fault code i do this and its sorted, takes 50-60 miles to adapt and then a bit longer to fine tune.

Apart from keeping it clean and giving it a good run, there isnt alot that can be done. Modern cars do pink more but mainly at low throttle openings/low load for maximum fuel economy and emission reasons, its unlikely to cause any damage, worry more if it happens in a higher gear i.e 4th as it comes on boost, which it should never do.

[SLYTZD]

Go V-power! Filled the tank up with it on Thursday, it seems to have stopped the pinking problem. Gave it a few runs where I know it always pinked - steep hill, second or third gear, 2,000 RPM medium throtle. It's not cheap tho @ £1.11 per liter.

[XantiaMan]

Go V-power! Filled the tank up with it on Thursday, it seems to have stopped the pinking problem. Gave it a few runs where I know it always pinked - steep hill, second or third gear, 2,000 RPM medium throtle. It's not cheap tho @ £1.11 per liter.

Ouch! 107.9 here. I treated mine to some injector cleaner, will see if i notice any difference. I must confess i've not put any in since i've had it, but i have always used top quality fuels like V-Power to keep it clean.