My '94 22re is making quite a lot of racket under load. It doesn't have to be a heavy load either. Just slowly accelerating from a stop will cause it to ping, but it is very loud when cruising down the road. At an idle, and when revving up at idle, I don't hear it.

HG was recently replaced, and things were fine for a couple weeks after. Then, one day it suddely started to ping.

Valves are adjusted properly. Timing is set to 5 degrees with jumper installed. I usually run 87 gas with no problems, but I put in premium for one tank to see if it made a difference. Nope! It's not a rod knock. It's not the injectors.

I noticed that the engine recently lost compression. It's now at 140-150 instead of the 175 before. And the cylinders lose air when left to stand for a few minutes. I'm not sure, but it might be burning oil. I haven't driven it enough lately to know.

Any ideas? My wife's cousin is a Toyota tech, and he said that oil in the combustion chamber can lower the octane of the fuel. Well, like I said before, the premium didn't make a difference.

Just wondering if anyone here has had a similar experience?

Sounds like you're going to be pulling that head again. What brand of gasket did you use?

Yes, I figure it will need a full rebuild soon (or right away). The HG is a Rock. The head is one of EB's Topline. I don't think the HG is the problem. If it is it's not exhibiting any of the signs that I experienced previously when it went.

Try retarding the timing a little.

Check to make sure the TPS is set up properly; root of all evil.

The TPS is fine. I checked that. I did think to retard the timing as a test to see what happens. I'll eventually do that when the temps warm up a bit.

So, I retarded the timing by 5 degrees. It's at 0 now. I couldn't tell any audible difference in the intensity of the pinging under load. If there was a difference, I didn't detect it.

Thoughts?

>>>*Computerized? Did you check the knock sensor? That should be located above and behind the oil filter.

It should retard the timing if it senses a pinging...*Hope that's not it, they are kind of expensive....*EB

The EGR not working can make it ping when its hot and under load too, but that doesn't explain the lack of compression.

Check for antifreeze in oil?
Has it overheated at all?
You can get a tester at any autoparts store to test coolant for any oil in it. Usually if you have oil in the coolant (and not the other way around) it will build up extra coolant pressure. Either of these issues means replacing the HG and machine the head. Hopefully its something simple like a sparkplug worked its way loose or something.