I hope I’m not being redundant, but I thought I created this post a few minutes ago and now can’t find it. My bf’s tacoma pings now and then, with seemingly no pattern. Does it have a traditional thermostat? If so, where is it located and is it easy for him to change? More importantly will it solve the pinging?
Pinging is NOT caused by a bad thermostat…unless the vehicle is over heating. Is it overheating??? If it’s not then there are a number of things that can cause this…Bad gas…Wrong gas (does this truck required high-test??)…needs a tuneup…bad timing…
It has only overheated one time and it pinged a lot that day. He said he has tried different gas, it is supposed to run okay on 87 octane. I don’t know how recent last tuneup was.
Most of the time pinging is caused by an EGR system fault. It’s also possible the engine could be carboned up a bit (age, mileage, etc.???)
You could try running a can of SeaFoam through the intake system and see if that cures it. The SF should remove any deposits in the intake tract, but will not cure a hard fault in the EGR system.