2012 v6 at DCSB engine knocking @ 1500 rpm

The 1GR-FE engine is built in Huntsville, AL, regardless of where the truck was assembled.

Has anyone run a compression check? Manufacturing tolerances are so accurate now that I am wondering if some engines are just tighter than others, with better compression contributing to the tendency to ping. Just a thought.

 

The engine temp on my taco engine read through the ECU has been consistent no matter if it's been 86° or 10° it does go up a little when driving up into the mountains on I-70.

No knocking though, even when I run 85 octane which is regular at higher elevations.

 

Engine temp is different to intake air temp. That's the one that might create the pinging once it starts getting hotter.

 

How many miles do you have?

And did you swap the original oem plugs?

 

Which oil was used for a change, just out of curiosity
?

 

I am right at 30k now, my pinging started to show up right before i hit 29k and continued on. I installed the oem denso plugs that are spec for the truck. I am thinking that the NGK/DENSO plug mix may be a contributing factor to the pinging.I always thought it sounded like it was pinging more on the driver side which has the NGK plugs from the factory. But that is hard to tell and just my speculation. The true test will be for me to run some 87 in it after this tank and see what happens.

 

Alloutdrs1, I'm over 50,000 miles already on my 2012 that's 2 years and 6 months old. The issue started within the first 6 months for me. I'm curious if this spark plug change worked for you. Please let us know after a tank of 87. Thanks!

 

I just turned 14k miles

We're having a heat wave here in Cali (104degrees today) and I've been leaving my truck at home and getting picked up or taking the wife's car...

Pretty sorry.....wish I had the energy and patience to call corporate every day and get them to do something....

 

I just registered so I could comment on this thread.

My 2013 V6 TRD Double Cab 4x4 Automatic is making this knocking sound too. I have about 9k miles on it and only noticed it a couple of weeks ago. My radio is usually on, so no idea how long its been doing this. Thought I got a bad tank of gas at a station I usually don't use, so went back to my normal fill up spot and filled up with 89. Still knocking when I have the trans in D, but significant reduction when the shift is pushed to the left, not allowing OD to kick in. So, higher RPMs seem to reduce it. Pretty much eliminate it actually.

The truck was built in Texas and being driven in South Florida. Going to fill up next time with non ethanol hi test and see what happens. Only place I've seen is at Valero.

This is my first Taco, traded in my 2010 Frontier for it. Wanted to do some mods on my new truck, but if there's a more serious issue..?

 

Interesting about the left side knocking. That is where mine appears to come from. For the past few weeks I've been using Shell 93 because the knocking was so bad. It is better no doubt, but not gone. The oil someone asked about is the whatever the dealer uses under Toyota Care. I know it is 5-30 and I think it is Mobile 1, but not the full synthetic.

I'd like to know if after the spark plug change if it runs on 87. Was it a pain to change those? Has anyone thought of trying the cold air intake? Does anyone have one installed on their truck?

 

Still pinging on 87, was bad today almost embarrassing really. So I was able to eliminate my pinging on 93 with the plug change but not on 87.

 

The Surveymonkey survey I set up last year indicated that a good number of people can eliminate the knock with 93 octane fuel, regardless of a spark plug change. The problem is, 93 isn't available everywhere (91 is the highest you can usually find in California, for example). I tried some 100 octane Sunoco from a local station (one of 3 stations in Northern CA that sells the stuff). It eliminated the knock. At $6/gallon, it also eliminated a pile of cash for the tank of gas I tried.

When I pulled my plugs, they looked normal, i.e. no signs of detonation or improper heat range (which was confusing as hell - with all that noise, I would have expected bad things).

Anyone with a catch can experience the knock? Oil reduces effective octane levels in gasoline engines.

 

The catch can variable is a good thought, hopefully someone will chime in who has one. When do the summer blend fuels hit the station? Mine would still ping on 93 with the a/c on before the plug change.

 

93 fixed the knock for me. If I go down to 89, and it's warm, I can here some light knocking.

 

The knocking has stopped with use of 93.

 

Mine has been pinging since almost day one. Interesting that most say the pinging is eliminated when using 93 when the truck is designed to accept 87. We shouldn't have to pay 30 cents per gallon more to eliminate an issue that shouldn't be happening with 87 in the first place.

 

Anyone have any better luck at the dealer recently? I wish rotors would issue a reflash for these trucks. My worry is that this prolonged pinging will cause damage or premature wear on the engine.

 

Interesting trend I'm noticing. This, and the other V6 pinging threads, are "coming back to life" as the weather warms up. Another thread had a post, and in that post the owner was told by the dealer that it's an exhaust manifold/head 'flexing' issue. I really don't think an ambient air temp difference of 30F (60 vs 90, let's say) is going to cause that to pop up.

That does make me start to think about intake air temperature, though. I'd really like to see if anyone with a snorkel or CAI of some sort has this problem.

 

^ I asked the question awhile back about the CAI, but got no response. I have recently contacted Toyota Customer Service who has put more pressure on the dealer. They should be contacting me this week.

Someone mentioned if they kept the shifter at 4 to avoid OD, it doesn't knock. Tried it for awhile now and it works. This gives strength to the tuning argument IMHO. RPM is too low at 40mph in OD for the fuel/air mixture programmed.

 

yes.. mine was fine all winter seems like once it started hitting 70 degrees i noticed the ping again