posted somewhere that the same happens to me when i use 87 and kia dealer said it was normal >> NOT... have been alternating octane with each fill...

 

if you are using 85 octane that is the reason for your ping.
IF YOU READ your manual it will clearly state in section 1/ page 3 that the MIN octane rating of 87.

Heck it's the fifth page in the manual. I would suggest that when you have an hour to kill to read your manual before you do anymore damage to your car.
PING='s BAD for engine.

 

I realized that I put the wrong numbers this morning when I woke up. It's 87 and 89.

 

Down shifting might help as well. I only use midgrade fuel.... and when you really calculate it out, it's not that much more expensive.

 

I've been using Regular - I think it is 87 - and have had no ping problems; even when accelerating hard. However, my car has only been driven in temps from 50 to 75 degrees F. My Soul was produced in October.
Yep - ping = toasted valves and hole in piston.

 

it's been many moons since i've seen 85 octane even sold - my 1.6 does just fine on 87 octane -

 

Yup SD.....I was about to ASK where the hell you were getting 85!!

Even the rotgut there at ARCO on Texas and ECB is at least 87. I'm always alternating between 87 and 89, and always Chevron, so I have whatever benefit that "Techron" is as well.

I'm running the 4-speed slushbox, so if you are in a manual, you should probably learn your power curves and keep Soul from "idling" down the street (under load this ALWAYS pings)

I do notice some ping on hills....with pretty much either of the two octanes. I usually keep the overdrive off in city driving to keep Soul from trying to drive down the road in overdrive.......and @ 1200 rpm or something ridiculous. I notice Soul tends to keep "lugging" in a high gear when it really should be staying in the 2000-3000 rpm range.

I've even had to KEEP soul from going into THIRD going up Texas street (our local "ridiculous incline" street).....Soul will try and go to third even under load if you get up to around 35mph, and to me that seems weird. Soul should stay torquey until the LOAD is gone.

I'm no expert in this though....and I've never heard anyone ELSE mention this same weird shift behavior. It's not a "broken" behavior, but do feel the AI in this transaxle may not like my driving style.

 

I do notice some ping on hills....with pretty much either of the two octanes. I usually keep the overdrive off in city driving to keep Soul from trying to drive down the road in overdrive.......and @ 1200 rpm or something ridiculous. I notice Soul tends to keep "lugging" in a high gear when it really should be staying in the 2000-3000 rpm range.

I've even had to KEEP soul from going into THIRD going up Texas street (our local "ridiculous incline" street).....Soul will try and go to third even under load if you get up to around 35mph, and to me that seems weird. Soul should stay torquey until the LOAD is gone.

I'm no expert in this though....and I've never heard anyone ELSE mention this same weird shift behavior. It's not a "broken" behavior, but do feel the AI in this transaxle may not like my driving style.

Mine (and I guess all the automatic Souls) has the same insane programming. I HATE lugging an engine, and that's all the automatic wants to do, unless you really step on it, and then it still upshifts too soon while under a load. I guess they did this to help their EPA ratings (must have worked, since the auto and manual 2.0's are rated the same), but shifting into fourth and locking up the torque converter at 27mph is maddening. I'm glad they at least have the button to turn off overdrive. Like it tries to keep the RPM's down to 1200 to 1500 while you're trying to accelerate; my highest RPMs are in 4th going down the highway!

I keep hoping KIA will come out with a reprogram for the transmission control module now that they have their EPA rating, or else someone else come out with a chip for it. Since most of my driving is city, I still prefer the automatic to a manual, but it does take a toll on performance the way it is programmed.

As for pinging, I have only heard a slight pinging 2 or 3 times, so that isn't a problem on mine. Not that many hills around here, though. The car I traded in on the Soul used to ping a lot when the winter mix of fuels came out, even though the octane was supposedly the same. I wonder if there's something different in the fuel mixes in different areas of the country that could aggravate pinging??

 

A higher octane fuel would help. Maybe also putting in a heat range colder spark plug.

Sam

 

Not sure if San Diego even DOES the "winter mix" thing.....unless it's industry wide. Winter HERE means closing a window.

I'm not all that sure about the programming having to do with the EPA rating that much. I find keeping Soul OUT of overdrive in town shows QUITE an improvement in the Kiwi driving computer's "current and trip" mileage screen. BUT......driving in the way the Kiwi APPEARS to like the mileage, sounds and feels a bit aggressive on the road....sorta like Soul WANTS to stay up in the 2500-3500 range.

I could ALSO be putting too much faith in the Kiwi, and could be throwing off engine management by driving like a DICK sometimes

Driving with a passenger and being conservative (leaving it in drive...letting the overdrive do it's thing) usually yields only around 15-17mpg in town. ALONE and keeping out of overdrive....and sometimes even in "D2" (so even outta third)...makes me sound MUCH too aggresive (especially with the howling CAI), but yields mileage in town closer to 18-20mpg.

Me....I personally don't stress about gas mileage, as long as I don't see something REAL alarming. I just sometimes surprised that I get mileage BETTER when I'm "playing" than when scooting back and forth to work.

 

I'm not all that sure about the programming having to do with the EPA rating that much. I find keeping Soul OUT of overdrive in town shows QUITE an improvement in the Kiwi driving computer's "current and trip" mileage screen. BUT......driving in the way the Kiwi APPEARS to like the mileage, sounds and feels a bit aggressive on the road....sorta like Soul WANTS to stay up in the 2500-3500 range.

I could ALSO be putting too much faith in the Kiwi, and could be throwing off engine management by driving like a DICK sometimes

Glad to hear your Kiwi results, and I would bet it is right on. And I agree that the Soul seems to like that 2500 to 3500 range for accelerating. Makes sense to me that if you let the engine operate in this range where it has much better torque instead of lugging it, that it would accelerate more efficiently and use less fuel.

As far as the EPA test, what I was thinking is that if KIA knew the pattern of the test for the city mileage, like at what speeds they would accelerate to and cruise at for city traffic, say 30mph, then on the dyno it would probably get better mileage at 30mph in 4th vs 3rd. So they made sure in was in 4th by 30mpg. In other words, I was insinuating that KIA may have programmed the transmission based on the speeds tested for EPA city mileage to get better results. Then as your Kiwi shows, in real life driving on the road, that programming actually hurts mileage rather than helping it. I know, that's all the world needs is another conspiracy theory, but as well as the KIA is engineered, its hard to explain the programming on the automatic.

My gas mileage has been creeping up over the past month, as I get more comfortable in using the overdrive button and sometimes even holding it in second for a bit longer, depending on traffic and the speed I'm accelerating to. And I'm not talking about redlining it or anything, just letting it get up to 2500 to 3000 rpm or so. So due to your Kiwi info, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing and having fun driving my Soul!

 

If you're getting knocking with 87 octane fuel, I first suggest you change the place you fill up at first.

If the second tank does the same thing, you might need to take it back to the dealership to have checked out. It should run fine on 87 octane fuel.

Don't let the dealership tell you that you need 89 octane or higher to fix the issue. The book says it will run fine on 87 octane. So if it doesn't, then something is wrong with the engine.

 

Yep .... I started using Chevron 87 and developed a ping , about 3,000 miles ago ... and switched back to Shell 87 , went away and has not been back .

 

I can't explain why the Shell does do good ... but I swear it was like night and day .

 

Speaking of gas. What are you paying for gas down there in 'Bama right now? Here in San Diego, we're paying anywhere from $2.99 to $3.30 a gallon depending on which part of town your driving through. They are projecting $3.50+ by Memorial Day.

 

Yeah , I am on the Alabama Coast . Right now it's running 2.65-2.75

 

Are you guys sure it's a ping and not just a vacuum switch?

 

Nope.

 

Vacuum switch ? .... Lemme put it this way ... I KNOW mine was pinging .

 

Is somebody asking me if my car sucks?

 

I googled 85 octane unleaded and apparently there are a few mid-western states that have 85 octane unleaded with 87 being their mid-grade.

 

Yes.....When you ride bikes across several states (I mean motorcycles, I'm NOT peddling my ass across state lines).....I do remember you had to watch for ethanol blends and such and AVOID them, at least on bikes. I wasn't aware that "regular" in some states is 85 octane. I'll have to remember to mention that at one of the Yamaha chapter meets.

I'm sure some of the "iron butts" are well aware of this already.

 

Wimp! I didn't have to worry about octane ratings....just carbohydrates

:laughonfloor

....... 'Leatherbutt'

 

One more thing to check - your oil viscosity must by 5W20 for the hydraulic valve timing mechanism to work properly - some say 5W30 is OK.

 

 

Cost per gallon of "MID" grade (87 Octane) here in Colorado is about $2.80/Gallon

 

85 is regular in Utah?

I know what car runs on this stuff. Everyone uses it though! It's been around for maybe 7 years used to be 89 back in 80's and slower there lowering the numbers. Squeezing all they can out of barrel of oil

 

It has to do with elevation. Higher regions have less air density and require less combustion potential thus lower octane.

 

Hey there- sorry to dredge up an old post, but I didn't want to create a new thread. I live in Colorado where the lowest grade gas is 85 (mid is 87). Kia soul manual says use 87, but that is in lower elevations. Has anyone in Colorado had any problems with using 85 in their car?