annoying engine pinking sound

[keiran]

when im accelerating through gears engine gets to about 4000rpm and i get an annoying pinking noise but if i push it harder through it it go's
is this down to mixture/timing being out, would a service prob cure it ie;plugs cap and arm ?just so annoying

[gcorky]

which car/engine?

[keiran]

sorry, 88 325 m20

[tomstickland]

Can depend on a number of things. Pinking is never good though.
Fuel grade. Cam/ignition timing. Spark plug condition.

[keiran]

yer its annoying, havnt lost any power thou
if i gently accelerate it dos'nt do it
i'll give plugs and stuff a clean and see what happens
i notice if i use tesco petrol it runs worse than esso or bp

[tomstickland]

Years ago I drove a 1.1 Escort (good fun car for a heap of crap actually).
That was very sensitive to petrol grade. Big name stuff ran noticeably better than Tescos and Happy Shopper etc.

[keiran]

prob might be getting worn aswell thou
done196000 had rockers adjusted several times now as well but i havnt
lost no power at all and no smoke either so prob could be something quite trivial, as bm engines are renowned to be bulletproof