what causes knocking, pinging, detonation, and pre-ignition?
detonation and pre-ignition are about the same thing, they just happen at different times in the compression cycle.pre-ignition is either caused by hot spots that pre-ignite the fuel before the spark plug goes off or the actual compression of the air/fuel igniting the mix.remember, when you compress a gas, you heat it up.that’s why too much boost can cause extra high cylinder temperatures and subsequent pre-ignition.a lot of people call this detonation, but it isn’t.you can feel pre-ignition, it will feel like rough power.detonation occurs after the spark.if the air/fuel ratio is too lean, you don’t get a nice progression of the flame front from the spark plug towards the bottom of the cylinder.the burn will be uneven, and you will develop many different flame fronts going in many different directions.as these flame fronts collide, they make noise and you hear the knocking and pinging.more importantly, the oxygen is going to react with something.better it react with gas than metal.both
