Reddtarga
track_mr2
How do you know its actually pinging? Is it just making a pinging noise because I'd be very suprised if it is actually 'pinging' (detonating).
AFAIK pinging and detonation seem to be defined differently.
Anyway a stock gen2 3sge should not even give light pinging, even on 91 RON, so something is out of whack.
Although I know the gen3 motors can have a problem with pinging and run best on 98 RON.
Yeah----you are right there, my '97 Gen 3 used to ping on light throttle when cruising but not under load. This was pre '98 ron days, but once I got the higher octane into it the pinging all but vanished. I also replaced spark plugs with ones which were one stage colder and this fixed the problem totally.
If his plugs were changed during repairs this may bear looking into in case they were the wrong heat range as someone mentioned earlier.
The obvious one of course is the timing belt may be one cog out & probably is worth checking as well.
These earlier models were not renown for pinging however as they had lower compression than the gen 3.