Slightest bit of detonation

[gboromsp]

Tonight I installed my mbc, and couldn't get it to boost over stock. So I decided to turn that mofo a few times. Well I got out on the road and easied into it in 2nd and it seemed fine so I stomped it. Well it went to like 19 psi immediately. I could hear the detonation and it happed for less than 1 second. Do you think I caused any damage? My CEL came on, but I have already reset the computer. Is there anything I should check now? Oh and I got it so i'm running 8 psi now. Damn it felt fast with a lot of boost!!

[low_psi]

compression test the motor? if the motor is still going, there's not too much you can do to check on it.

[msp35]

Tonight I installed my mbc, and couldn't get it to boost over stock. So I decided to turn that mofo a few times. Well I got out on the road and easied into it in 2nd and it seemed fine so I stomped it. Well it went to like 19 psi immediately. I could hear the detonation and it happed for less than 1 second. Do you think I caused any damage? My CEL came on, but I have already reset the computer. Is there anything I should check now? Oh and I got it so i'm running 8 psi now. Damn it felt fast with a lot of boost!!

Wouldn't it cut before that?

[gboromsp]

It runs fine. Nothing seems any different than it ever did. It scared the shiat out of me though.



compression test the motor? if the motor is still going, there's not too much you can do to check on it.

[StreetUnit]

(first)

[BlkZoomZoom]

If the check engine light came on its bad....and wrong....its basically badong. Considering the pcm doesn't sense boost really. I wouldn't have cleared the codes.....I hope you have some spare money saved up.

[gboromsp]

Well the CEL has been coming on for the last week. I think my MIL eliminator went bad. I had the codes checked the other day and it was for the 2nd o2 sensor, so it may have just been that again. If I clear it, it will come on once a day now.




If the check engine light came on its bad....and wrong....its basically badong. Considering the pcm doesn't sense boost really. I wouldn't have cleared the codes.....I hope you have some spare money saved up.

[BlkZoomZoom]

Remove your spark plugs, If there is shiny spots on them.....it is badong..lol

[TurfBurn]

Tonight I installed my mbc, and couldn't get it to boost over stock. So I decided to turn that mofo a few times. Well I got out on the road and easied into it in 2nd and it seemed fine so I stomped it. Well it went to like 19 psi immediately. I could hear the detonation and it happed for less than 1 second. Do you think I caused any damage? My CEL came on, but I have already reset the computer. Is there anything I should check now? Oh and I got it so i'm running 8 psi now. Damn it felt fast with a lot of boost!!Yikes man!!! The instructions say to be really careful about intalling the MBC and not turning it too much at once so that you don't overboost and get into a situation like that. Hopefully you did not cause any damage with that detonation. I'm glad you have it settled down to 8 psi now though. Best of luck though, and please be careful! :)

Thanks,

Steve

[gboromsp]

Here ya go. If you can see detonation on these you have a much better eye than myself.




Remove your spark plugs, If there is shiny spots on them.....it is badong..lol

[TurfBurn]

I'd have to say a compression test is likely your best check at this point. Also, the failure could become latent like it was on my vehicle that had seen far too much boost and abuse.... and fail months and months later when everything was just fine and happy. But the plugs do look pretty clean and don't show any deposits or vaporization (of the piston head) that I can see in the picture.

[ARunto]

well as long as it was only a spike you probably didn't damage anything. if you held 19psi for a long period of time it probably could been *boom*.

-Alan

[gboromsp]

It was for less than 1 second. As soon as I heard it the car was in neutral.

Turfburn: The car will be back to stock before long. I'm selling everything off of my car to a ******** member. I'm thinking about going with an evo, or an rsx and put a jrsc on it.


well as long as it was only a spike you probably didn't damage anything. if you held 19psi for a long period of time it probably could been *boom*.

-Alan

[jeffmsp]

you wanna trade your speed for an RSX Type-Slow? (uhm) ....I would drive the car first, aside from being quiet on the inside there was nothing that impressed me about it.........aside from the 6-speed.

[LinuxRacr]

This is probably what happened to you:

Hit 19 PSI...Leaned out a little.....Missfired a little (causing CEL)...

You are most likely are just fine if it was for less than a second. Get a J&S Safeguard if you wanna know how much you really detonate or pre-ignite when you can't hear it.

[LinuxRacr]

Here ya go. If you can see detonation on these you have a much better eye than myself.
What you will usually see with spark plugs is signs of prolonged detonation. They look fine. I have some plugs that show some prolonged detonation. I'm SOOO glad I have that J&S!

[DSMConvert]

yep you're more than likely ok...as long as it was just a spike and you immeditely let off your cylinders wouldnt of seen that much stress...the cut didnt kick in b/c it isnt immediate, meaning it takes a split second for the flow count to register in the ecu and for it to do something about it...I actually hit 18psi spike myself when one of the stock vac linkes split....but yet from now on be very very careful...a full turn on the avg mbc will raise boost 4-7psi....at any rate i wouldnt sweat it your sparkplugs would of told the story if you did any serious damage...just consider it a very luck and cheap lesson...

[LinuxRacr]

you wanna trade your speed for an RSX Type-Slow? (uhm) ....I would drive the car first, aside from being quiet on the inside there was nothing that impressed me about it.........aside from the 6-speed.
Never underestimate those Type-S's...especially with Hondata!

[DSMConvert]

we have a couple of built turboed ones running around tampa....mean little SOBs....

[LinuxRacr]

we have a couple of built turboed ones running around tampa....mean little SOBs....
Oh yeah, ESPECIALLY THOSE! (eek2)

[Stormtrooper77]

What does detonation sound like? Wasn't there someone here who had a vid of himself pulling in 5th and hearing some detonation? I think he was coming out of a tunnel or a bridge or something going uphill?

[TurfBurn]

There is a vid of a guy on the freeway and you can hear detonation and then the engine blows up... I'll have to poke around to find that thread...

[TurfBurn]

Here it is:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80591

First post in the thread... but keep in mind this is an extreme case where it is very audible and very noticeable... MUCH of the detonation that can and will occur in our cars can go undetected because it is quite enough that you won't hear it or notice it... but the videos in that thread are what severe detonation sounds like...

[Stormtrooper77]

Thanks, that's the vid.

[ARunto]

audible detonation sounds like a bag of marbles jumping around in the engine bay.

[Stormtrooper77]

The sound I hear is kind of like static electric shocks, a whole bunch of them, and only under boost.

Check this:
http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82166

[Bhamsan]

What does "pinging" sound like? Well, obviously pinging, but I once opened my hood after I installed my MBC and ran around 10psi (no FCD) and hear this sound that sounded like clicking near my steering wheel under the hood. Is this "pinging"? I've actually been wondering this for quite a while.

[TurfBurn]

pinging sounds like a metallic crackle or dragging sound. Like a rock or chunk of metal is in your cylinder... people often think it is a rattle or a loose molding. The video up top you'll hear a crackle and the sound sort of like popcorn or something... and then boom.. the engine goes... It shouldn't really be a click or anything... clicks are likely solenoids activating... I'm assuming you weren't moving/idling? You won't get detonation at all then... if you noticed it driving... then that may be possible, but still it wouldn't sound that much like a click... but that depends on the person..

As far as stormtrooper.... do you hear it more when in higher gears or lower? If higher gears the likelihood of detonation is somewhat higher there... but it can happen in lower gears... does it start immediately or just start out of the middle of nowhere? it could be something else in your system, and if you hear it regularily it isn't likely detonation as you would lack an engine at this point if you were getting it regularily, and your CEL might come on as it can detect too much detonation I believe (but by then it is often far too late!)

[Bhamsan]

SO what exactly is happening under the hood when the engine is detonating? I know running high boost causes detonation, but what is really going on in there while the engine is "detonating"?

[Bhamsan]

I just watched the video again and I was getting that feeling you would feel if you were driving and your engine just went "poot".

[TurfBurn]

Well it can be pre-ignition (caused by a hot spot igniting the mixture too soon) or it can be detonation (the mixture itself becomes so hot it can ignite on it's own)... but essentially the short version is that instead of getting a nice controlled burn and flame front you get far to rapid of a burn or an outright explosion. This leads to extremely high forces. Also, you can get flame fronts that run into one another. Any of these items can end up causing a shock wave to be emitted and that is your audible ping. The bigger the shock, the louder the "ping"

Here is an explanation I found from the web as well:
Detonation (also called "spark knock") is an erratic form of combustion that can cause head gasket failure as well as other engine damage. Detonation occurs when excessive heat and pressure in the combustion chamber cause the air/fuel mixture to autoignite. This produces multiple flame fronts within the combustion chamber instead of a single flame kernel. When these multiple flames collide, they do so with explosive force that produces a sudden rise in cylinder pressure accompanied by a sharp metallic pinging or knocking noise. The hammer-like shock waves created by detonation subject the head gasket, piston, rings, spark plug and rod bearings to severe overloading.

The true purpose/reason behind octane is to eliminate this from happening... octane is NOT power... it is resistance to auto-ignition... which lets you do things like boost and run higher compression without getting knocking...

[orangezoom]

You can als hear some clicking from the injectors.

[Bhamsan]

Good info, now I won't sit there scratching my head while I'm trying to figure out what detonation is, other than damage to the engine. Makes sense to me now.

[Stormtrooper77]

As far as stormtrooper.... do you hear it more when in higher gears or lower? If higher gears the likelihood of detonation is somewhat higher there... but it can happen in lower gears... does it start immediately or just start out of the middle of nowhere? it could be something else in your system, and if you hear it regularily it isn't likely detonation as you would lack an engine at this point if you were getting it regularily, and your CEL might come on as it can detect too much detonation I believe (but by then it is often far too late!)
It starts usually in 3rd and 4th and only when I'm on the gas and in boost. So basically it directly has to do with amount of throttle. I really don't know if it happens regularly because as soon as I hear it, I get all paranoid and not want to play with the car until I find more about it, hence, these posts. All I know is that I can control it with my foot and the amount of boost.

I did get rid of it for my low boost setting (7.5) by adjusting the Greddy unit so that it doesn't touch metal. But when I tried to up the boost for hi boost (8.5) I got the ticking. Again, I was able to fully control it with my foot.

By the sounds of things and research on the net, it sounds like it's just the unit. But I really want to make sure.

I'll go and try to adjust the unit again tonight and see if it still happens. Maybe it came loose or is touching metal again.

Btw, no CEL.

[03MSP]

OK, I've only read the first page...whoever said that if the CEL goes on it's automatically bad; wrong. My MBC came unhooked at the track once,, boost shot up to about 18-19 psi I was detonating for about 1-2 seconds before I let off, CEL of course came on (code was: too lean), I reset it, rehooked up my MBC and all was good.

Gboro, you're fine, don't worry...just don't do it again lol.

[TurfBurn]

OK, I've only read the first page...whoever said that if the CEL goes on it's automatically bad; wrong. My MBC came unhooked at the track once,, boost shot up to about 18-19 psi I was detonating for about 1-2 seconds before I let off, CEL of course came on (code was: too lean), I reset it, rehooked up my MBC and all was good.

Gboro, you're fine, don't worry...just don't do it again lol.
doesn't mean he is safe though either... keep that in mind. The CEL means it detected enough detonation to be of some concern. In some cases things will be fine... in others you may be screwed.

[wicked]

quik question,I thought this would be the most logical place to ask.

where can I get a J&S Safeguerd for a resonable price?

[LinuxRacr]

http://www.jandssafeguard.com. I have enough posts about it on the forum to bring some good info!

[TurfBurn]

Yep directly from John is the way to go. He is a good guy, sometimes really slow, but it's a great product and it's worth the wait. Just don't expect to see it in a week or two. Some people get lucky and it comes right away, others have waited long periods of time. So just keep that in mind.