2012 v6 at DCSB engine knocking @ 1500 rpm

Mine goes away of I shift out of o/d as well. Other then that it pings all the time on 93 shell gasoline. It seems like the 2014's don't have this issue as much I wonder if the tuning was changed on those.

 

A little Update. I was contacted by the dealer who wants to set an appointment with the Toyota rep next week. However, 3-days ago, I filled the tank with 87 and as usual the knocking came back. I have been running 93 for about 2 tanks. I decided to disconnect the battery so the ECU would relearn my driving style. Drove to work the next day and back very aggressively. For 3-days now, no knock at all on 87. Guess I'll have to wait on that appoint to see if it returns.

 

Keep us updated, I might disconnect my battery like you did if that works for you. I'm willing to bet it will come back. Good to hear you are meeting with a Toyota rep maybe we can get somewhere on this issue, seems like a software relearn is all that is in order to remedy the situation.

 

You are a lot lower on the mileage than I was but I had the same problem until last Monday. I had the Top Engine or Fuel / Air Induction Service done and now my Truck (2014, TRD Sport V6 4x4 DCSB with 36,000 miles) is like brand new. You could have gotten some bad gas that carboned it up. BTW I paid the dealer to do the cleaning but after looking it up on YouTube I'm sure I could have done it myself with Seafoam

 

I met with the Toyota rep today. After explaining the issue to him, he contacted a guy in engineering. They stated that this is well documented and they are awaiting approval from the EPA on a tuning change. He stated it was a timing issue. The fix is expected by the end of the year. The rep also gave me number to a Toyota Customer Satisfaction team and said if I called them regarding our meeting and expressed my concern about potential long term affects to the engine while waiting for the fix that they would likely give me an extended warranty at the very least. Sorry, don't have the card on me now with that number, but I'll post it later tonight. They didn't even make me duplicate the issue after the engineer phone call.

 

Thanks so much for the update! Good to hear a fix is in the works and the possibility of an extended warranty. The long term effects from all this pinging is what has me worried. Did they rep seem like the issue was going to give us any long term issues? Hopefully they get this fix out soon, I'm tired of listening to my rattle trap of an engine.

 

Toyota has been telling its dealer service managers "6 months", "2 months", "6 weeks" for going on 2 years now.

I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I call B.S. on Toyota.

 

I have a 2014 v6 and run 87 from the beginning, no pinging of any kind at all and I get 22 mpg mixed driving. I do have the taco tick which is normal though.
I also fixed the front end noise when rocking the truck side to side, the upper control arms needed some silicon and it stopped right away.

I don't trust any dealership for reg. maintenance because they try to cut corners to save a few dollars here and there, same when they "investigate" any issues.

 

Subscribed. I just bought a 2012 4wd v6. Haven't even gone through a tankful yet so I can't comment on the pinging issue, but I am very interested in watching how, and how quickly, Toyota (and, apparently, the EPA) respond.

 

I just registered so I can post on this thread. I own a 2013 V6 Tacoma that also tends to knock/ping under moderate load/acceleration. It is noticeably worse on hot days and/or going up grades. I used to build/tune high horsepower cars as a hobby so I have some knowledge and experience on the subject but I'm definitely not an expert. I have a very keen ear for hearing knock and have helped tune other cars by listening for knock. It's somewhat subtle on the Tacoma and many might miss it. My wife never noticed it until I pointed it out. I would be curious to know if the guys who said they don't have it really don't have it or if they simply aren't hearing it/noticing it.

Modern cars are tuned very tightly for performance/economy/emissions. Creating factory tunes are quite an arduous task for manufacturers as this means extracting as much energy from the fuel as is practically possible for the best performance/economy while still keeping emissions in check. Multiply this by the fact that cars operate over a huge range of conditions and with a wide range of fuel quality. For modern cars this means pretty aggressive factory tuning. From what I understand when these tuning maps are developed by manufacturers they place very expensive test equipment on the engine to precisely measure cylinder pressure and knock to figure out where the danger zone of operation is. I've noticed many modern cars do audibly knock under common load conditions. Many owners manuals warn you that you may hear knocking as a part of normal operation. The Tacoma manual does state that you may hear knocking as part of normal operation while accelerating or going up hill (however it also says to contact a dealer if you notice pinging). Now my Tacoma does seem to knock more often and for longer than I am comfortable with. However, I do think there is a pretty good chance that this pinging is completely innocuous and does not actually represent a dangerously high increase in cylinder pressure or anything that might cause increased engine wear and tear. I guess time will tell and none of us wants to be left holding the bill if noticeable engine wear doesn't occur until well out of warranty.

What can Toyota do to fix this? As far as I know/can tell I think a fix would likely involve a less aggressive set of timing and/or fuel tables unless they can do something at the mechanical level (increased EGR output or something to dilute the mixture). Most of these changes can negatively effect things like emissions, fuel economy, power output, throttle response, etc. which might be why we haven't see a fix issued and might not ever see a fix issued. Toyota sold us a car with a certain rating for power/fuel economy and if a programming change negatively effects those numbers you would have some upset owners. If they take any substantial timing out the change would likely be noticeable for people who know their truck well as it would negatively effect the torque band. Most of us watch our gas mileage pretty closely too. If the pinging/knock truly is more of a cosmetic/driving experience issue and not a mechanically relevant one I don't see much incentive for Toyota to potentially negatively impact the performance of the vehicle with a fix in order to correct a fairly cosmetic issue.

My 2 cents anyway.

 

I'm really glad people are standing up and taking action on this. However for those of you waiting on a warranty fix from the factory, I wouldn't hold your breathe. Its hard enough to get manufacturers to correct problems that involve people dying because of safety issues yet alone fix something they can easily pass off as low quality fuels in the U.S. Its Pre-Ignition, maybe not catastrophic pre-ignition, but pre-ignition non the less. It happens in the summer. Put on a cold air intake (lower charge air temp), switch out your stock spark plugs (which are extremely HOT plugs for cold start up emissions bull shit) to the Denso Iridium Power

$9 IKH22 Iridium Power Spark Plug, (Pack of 1)

IKH22. This is a colder plug that wont glow red hot and cause Pre-Ignition issues. Last but definitely not least, use the highest octane fuel you can and stay away from ethanol if at all possible. Higher octane means higher resistance to Pre-Ignition. It took me a while but my 2014 4.0 no longer pings or ticks. I live in south florida by the way (avg. temp is 85F) and my pinging was a constant issue before I took the above stated actions. As stated before in previous posts, a fuel system recalibration is going to retard timing and loose overall power and throtle response and I doubt anyone wants that.

 

Tacos I'm quite confident that we are not experiencing any type of pre-ignition event in our Tacomas.

Pre-ignition means the mixture is lighting off before the the spark plug has fired. Pre-ignition is more likely to happen very early on in the compression stroke when the density of the mixture is low. As the density increases with compression it takes more and more energy to light the mixture off. That is why on modified forced induction cars when you up the mixture density (raise the boost) you can get engine miss because there is not enough spark energy to light the denser mixture (which is why they make upgraded ignition systems). Because pre-ignition usually happens early in the compression stroke you have the force of combustion pushing against the compressing piston. This usually blows a piston up pretty quick and takes the spark plug with it. An engine that is pre-igniting is not likely to last too many combustion cycles under such conditions. Also, you are not likely to hear any type of pinging when this happens. You'll know it happened when the engine has obviously failed. The usual culprit for pre-ignition is the ground strap or electrode tip of the spark plug. If they are overheated they can act like a glow plugs and become a source of ignition. Colder plugs draw more heat away from these bits reducing the chance of pre-ignition. Pre-ignition can also be caused by any other hot spot in the cylinder such as carbon buildup on an exhaust valve.

Now detonation/knock is a different event. Detonation/Knock happens after the spark plug has fired. As the pressure and heat increases in the chamber with an expanding flame front small pockets of end gasses on the outside perimeter of the flame front can spontaneously combust and create fast moving pressure waves that create a momentary spike in cylinder pressure which resonates the whole engine like a drum. This is what creates the pinging noise we hear. This event happens on a very short time horizon (short dwell) and it happens when the piston is already in a safe position for combustion (unlike pre-ignition). Detonation can come in mild to wild variations. Engines with mild detonation can last hundreds of thousands of miles while heavy detonation can blow a piston up in a few short cycles. Moderate detonation may preserve pistons but prematurely wear rod bearings or blow open leaks in head gaskets all of which have to take the force of the shock wave impact.

Manufacturers tune close to the edge or into mild detonation because they are trying to extract as much energy as possible. They know engines can tolerate mild knocking and there are often knock sensors in place that will modify ignition timing when the knock becomes too severe (like if you had a bad tank of gas or the weather conditions exceeded the limits of the fuel). Now it is possible for excess heat caused by detonation/knock to overheat a spark plug which will then lead to pre-ignition (total loss of timing control) which is why tuners and racers will opt for colder plugs as a safety precaution. The knock->Pre-ignition cycle is a nasty one and can quickly destroy an engine.

The main reason to use a colder plug is to ensure the engine won't pre-ignite (which is usually devastating). If your engine is running far from pre-ignition territory (like most factory tuned cars are) you probably aren't gaining much. Colder plugs increase the chance of fouling by failing to get the plug hot enough to self clean. A friend of mine who does aftermarket EMS tuning felt if the timing on the tune was pinging badly it's already way too many degrees advanced to be made up for by colder plugs.

 

Absolutely do not get a re-tune! They will pull timing out. You will lose mileage and power. Mine does a little pinging on 87 and not at all on 89. Heavy overload or tow go to 91. Dodge used to have a pinging problem on the old 360. You either ran a couple of more points higher gas or they retuned it. Made the gas mileage WORSE and lost power.

 

Bendecco,

Got your pm. The number to the Toyota customer experience center is 800-331-4331. Not sure it is anything special. I got rid of the 13 prerunner DCSB and got a 14 taco baja package. I can tell you this truck runs so much better. Good luck to you all but I got sick and tired of this issue and traded it. Funny thing is I sold it to Carmax for $2000 more than I paid for it new! I had 17k miles on it. Maybe something for others to look at. Audio now has GPS XM and a full screen backup cam. Nicely upgraded truck. Wish you all luck and thanks for all the info.

 

I've been watching this post for year now because I have a 2012 Taco that's been pinging.
Well, Toyota called last week and said they finally have a fix. It's a download to computer and seems to have made difference, still slightly pings. Also last year Toyota gave me a 100,00 mile extended warranty free.

Demand that Toyota fixes this!!!

 

That's great, do you have the TSB number or anything we can use as reference?

 

I think I fixed mine.

Disconnected the battery cable for about 10 minutes and then reconnected.

Can't make it ping now for about a week. Well actually I can right at 1500 rpms with a load on the engine (going uphill), but the knock sensors instantly retard the timing and stop the pinging just like it's supposed to.

I'm still cautious - but I think resetting the computer may have solved the problem.

 

There's a thread around here somewhere with the info. Here's the tsb:

T-SB-0044-14

Here's the thread http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...14-feedback-engine-ecm-reprogram-pinging.html

 

Thanks for the info, I haven't been checking this thread out of irritation...

I just turned 15k miles, Carmax made me a great offer and I decided to keep my truck and purchase a motorcycle to keep te miles
Down (total BS)

I will try calling, seeing the tsb irritates me even more...what happened to "I don't hear anything" and "that's
Perfectly normal"??

 

Hopefully toyota will just do the change for most affected taco owners while waiting for their oil change or whatever...it's total bs to wait for the perfect situation to prove pinging, wait for enough carbon buildup, etc. I know mine didn't ping when new, but I'll bet all the new '14's rolling off now have this update to their sw.!!