__Yesterday, driving from Lompoc to Sacramento, I got stuck in a very bad knot of traffic on a long, steep uphill stretch._ The temperature guauge, which normally stays around R, was slowly vaccillating between A and L._ When the knot finally broke up, and traffic started moving, I stomp on the gas, and was greeted with a clattering noise, which I identify as “knocking” or “pinging”._ Now here's the odd part:__This only occurred in lower gears, at high RPMs._ I normally only associate knocking/pinging with high-load conditions,in high gears._ In the several months I've had this car, it's the very first sign of knocking/pinging I have ever experienced with it._ I think I had one more very brief instance of this same knocking/pinging a short time later in the day, again under hard accelleration, but in lower gears and higher RPMs.
__Is there anything abnormal about this for a Zetec?_ Like I said, this is the very first instance of knocking/pinging I've ever experienced with this car, and it seems somewhat different from the conditions under which I would expect knocking/pinging to occurr if it was going to._ I use 87 Octane gas.
{I do hate spam, but that isn't really part of my email address. Remove the string ?HatesSpam? from the email address ?BobHatesSpam@blaylock.to? to email me. No advertisements. Spammers will be dealt with very harshly!}
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Moonlight Blue 1996 Mercury Mystique GS , Zetec engine, ATX. No mods. (Well, OK, one mod. Before I got rid of my previous car, a 1994 Tempo, I swapped radios. I liked the Tempo's radio better. That counts as a mod, doesn't it? I also kept one of my Tempo's wheels to use as a spare. I hate those stupid ?compact? spares that come with modern cars. Does this count as a mod? If so, I guess I have two mods. Replaced burned/melted blower switch and connector on 19 February 2002 with a 1P3T toggle switch from Marvac and a Molex connector from Rat Shack; I guess this now makes three mods.)
