Why does my car make this funny 'pinking' noise and when will it stop?

Question

I have been advised by 2 people that the 'pinking' noise is because the car needs better quality petrol, and so I have stopped buying it from the supermarket petrol stations and for 3 weeks have been going to a Shell garage. It's still making the same noise though - only seems to happen when I'm accelerating up hill.

Should it have stopped after 3 weeks? I did have half a tank of supermarket petrol in it when I first filled it up with Shell petrol.

If this isn't the cause, what else could it be?

It's a 2002 Citreon Saxo.

Answer 1

Your ignition timing is out .
Your petrol is being ignited either before or after the piston is at top dead centre on the compression stroke
The symptoms of this are pinking (a slight knocking/tinking sound)
Which is more noticeable when driving under load for example up a hill or in the wrong gear .This is a cheap adjustment dont be ripped off

Answer 2

Wafflebox - better quality petrol means a higher octane petrol (Octanes are displayed on the pertol pumps). This is what you should try first (although the higher Octane stuff is a bit more expensive).
There is nothing wrong with Supermarket petrol - if the higher Octane doesn't cure the pinking - get someone to tune your engine up!
Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Right, before we go any further - what car is it, and what engine is fitted?

most modern small cars will run on any of the pump distributed petrol these days but older models need to be tuned slightly differently in order to cope.

These cars would probably have been using the old 4 star petrol and are now trying to run on unleaded.

Give me some more details

Answer 4

Your engine may require adjustment as insufficient petrol is being supplied to the engine when accelerating

Answer 5

You should stop driving it. It is about to explode.