Right. So unless you are using ten year-old gas, you cannot buy an octane low enough to induce pinging, and regular is already higher octane than it really needs. 'Using higher octane does nothing' Well, it does what its supposed to do, which is burn cooler and prevent detonation, thereby releasing more power than a fuel that allows detonation. Its the cooler burn which may cause carbon formation, but again, in today's lean-running engines, you might get slightly cooler temps without extra carbon. I started using mid-grade for my OPE the last time I got gas, and I've been watching the muffler outlets for increased soot, which I have not seen. I can't honestly say that I can point to any real reason for using higher than Regular in OPE, but sometimes I think the stuff runs better :)

Hey, you can't have all of this fun without me!! VBG Seriously some of what is being said about piston slap is true. Piston slap alone is NOT a reason to tear an engine down and do a repair. Piston slap is in fact normal on a cold engine because aluminum expands faster than the cast iron engine block. if the piston is tight enough cold, it will be too tight when warmed up. Piston slap should a repair actually be indicated actually does not even mean that a piston needs to be replaced! If the problem is a collapsed skirt, it can in many cases be "knurled" and reshaped to take up the slightly excessive clearance. A knurled piston is one that has many tiny marks made into it's surface, that cause the outer edges of the mark to rise up. Sort of like the way a center punch makes a "crater" in a piece of metal. These two links give both a description of knurling, and an actual application. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knurling http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/international_v8_engines.htm Now the one big problem I have with this thread is the idea that $100 in parts, a saturday, and a twelve pack of beer is all that is required to make the noise go away. I do understand the perception that to the right person pulling and reinstalling a piston isn't difficult to do but the reality is to do it right is in fact much different. This is a job where a very simple mistake can cause a major engine failure after the attempt. Plus if it's 4WD just getting the oil pan off and back on will take up most of your staurday, and that's if you have a hoist. People have been successful simply replacing a piston(s) in chassis but not always successful at eliminating piston noise or slap. That's because the piston is only half of the equation, cylinder wear or taper could easily be coming into play, and I would leave those checks/measurements up to a qualified machinist. Plus we still have the little issue of pressing the piston pin through the rod. Very few shops have the equipment to do that, let alone DIY's. There are many traps lurking in this repair that can make the whole attempt go south in a hurry. One common trap is as simple as not torquing the intake manifold in the correct order! An incorrect torque sequence distorts the engine block, and that changes the line bore of the engine resulting in main bearing/camshaft bearing wear. The $64,000 question from there is, does the resulting wear end up causing the engine to actually fail? Sometimes it does, and sometimes it does not. Lastly, stroke length plays a role in piston slap issues. The longer the stroke, the more often a piston skirt has to be shortened for clearance issues. Cylinder block deck height and other design issues can also impact piston design. The longer that the skirts can be, the less likely it is that piston slap is likely to occur. Although think about it, the longer the skirts, the greater the piston mass and you start impacting engine efficiency due to inertial, and frictional losses. Plus you can impact RPM and horsepower. It's all an intricate dance that even the manufactures are not going to be perfect at every time. That's why we have tolerances, and some things (noises) are allowable even if they are not completely desireable.

quirky, my folks bought American cars for years. After horrible experience with an AMC product in the mid-70s, however, they went Japanese -- and never went back. When I met my now-ex-wife, she had a mid-80's Chrysler that pretty obviously was a "Friday car"; that piece of junk barely outlasted the payment book. Unless you count the Rabbit GTI that was built in Westmoreland, PA (not a great example of German craftsmanship), I've never owned an American car. But I see that changing. My ex has been driving a Ford station wagon for the last ten years that somehow survives despite the abuse. My sister has a Saturn that is nowhere near state-of-the-art, but is screwed together decently. American cars are getting better. What needs to improve is American-car-manufacturer management. Lear and Delphi and Collins & Aikman can build quality products. But when they're not partner to the design decisions and they're continually asked to tighten their belts on existing contracts, management is the problem. When GM cries that worker benefits cost them some $1,500 per car, management (who gave away those benefits in better days and apparently could not envision that the gravy train would stop one day) is the problem. (Special mention goes to UAW management, too, which also failed to believe that the gravy train could stop.) When Ford paints a dark picture of their future because customers are no longer buying Extinctions and don't want to buy outdated Foci, management (who green-lighted the priority for huge SUVs and chose not to sell the world-class European Focus) is the problem. American workers are capable of building cars as good as Japanese can make them. American parts, as used in hundreds of thousands of Camrys and Accords and Sentras, are as good as anyone else's. The difference is management and how little they seem to care beyond making this quarter's numbers. BTW, my perception issue with Toyota doors is that they're just too light. They close fine, the handles don't feel junky. But when I open that door and see that little hinge and feel the door fly away from my hand :-) I just don't feel really confident that the door is in it for the long haul. Obviously, it is. It's just a perception issue for me.

Keep advertising flyers printed only one side using typewriter paper to use to write notes, make calculations, etc. The ones written on both sides I save in a grocery bag to put in the recycle bin for fine paper. Got a heavy paper/card flyer, regular office size from a local deli in the mail today - will punch holes in it and use it for subject divider in ring binder. When I get their flyers half that size, glue a store flyer printed one side to them - then can use it to write material that I want to use frequently (e.g. phone numbers, listing of area codes, frequently used web site, e-mail addresses, etc.) on that blank sheet. Newspapers saved in different bundle. Use large sheet of scrap cardboard to build open-top box to organize magazines that I wish to save for future reference, to stand up on bookshelf. Cardboard pie boxes will do the job, as well - but they don't stand alone as well. Need to cover plastic window on inside so doesn't catch on mags with a sheet of (used) printer paper, held in place with a dollop or so of glue. We just had a shot of snow this morning - much earlier than usual. Brrr-r-r-r. With electric baseboard heating (and inadequate insulation in this rented townhouse), I can adjust heat room by room, so keep heat level low in kitchen, where I'm usually moving around. Turned heat up in bathroom yesterday. Keep it rather low in office, as well. Put on winter underwear this morning. When it gets cold I wear a sweater, batting-insulated vest and light jacket. Wear a hat to cover my head (only lightly insulated by hair). Get along O.K. until fingers get cold. My 22 year old Ford van has couple of leaks in roof, small holes in body and major hole in floor. Am getting some body metal, pop rivets to secure pieces that I've cut and shaped, tar to coat the outside under floorboard, fender, etc. and body paste to smooth over new metal to blend in with current body, then can sand and paint. Retrieved several spray cans with a dab of paint left from garbage, a couple of years ago. Several colours - but I plan to use only black and white, thank you. Not really a hard job. Should cost approximately $50. Better than scrapping the vehicle - which looks rather scruffy and some said that I should do four years ago when I did last body job. Takes a lot of materials and energy to build a new vehicle - so I say it's best to run the old ones into the ground. There are some rust spots on the hatch at the back of the 13 year old car, so need to use wire brush in electric drill to clean off rust, then smooth out with body paste, and paint with primer and finish coat. (Don't have right colour paint on hand). If I don't do it soon - I'll have rust holes to deal with. Much more effort required, then. Annual insurance (I don't carry collision coverage, of course) on both costs about 150% of what I paid for the van, 13 years ago. It had around 150,000 mi. on it then - about 190,000 now. Originally used it to deliver corn-fired heating stoves that I used to sell. Anyone know where I can find some hot air? Surely not produced by anyone around here! joyful guy