Honda Civic engine pinging

2016 Honda Civic

I put a can of nos octane booster fuel treatment in my 2016 Honda Civic yesterday. On my way home while merging on to the highway, the car started making a “ting, ting, ting” noise. Almost like rattling. I pulled over, and remerged back onto the highway and it made that same sound. It only does it while accelerating.

Could this be maybe the fuel injector cleaner removing the crud?


Engine pinging

I wouldn’t think your octane booster would cause it, if anything octane booster should have helped it. If it is just the name of the fuel treatment and not an actual booster it still shouldn’t cause an issue unless you you added it to less than 1/8 of gas.

Generally the “ting, ting, ting” noise is  commonly referred to as engine pinging. This is caused by too low of octane for the ignition timing to handle. On older engines the ignition timing is adjustable and can be adjusted to not ping in lower octane situations. On newer vehicles the engine is equipped with a knock sensor that will adjust the ignition timing automatically when this happens. If you continue to drive it this way permanent internal engine damage may occur. (hole in the piston)

If the fuel tank is less than half full, I would recommend filling it with the highest octane fuel available. And buy it from a different fueling station just in case the last fill up was contaminated.