Is pingin and misfiring the same thing?

[The motor guy]

The gas in my side by side was getting pretty old, over a year, maybe two even. I think that engine is high compression, if not then it's fairly close even though they only recommend 87 octane. I decided to add some 93 octane to it and rip around the backroads a bit with half a tank of fresh gas. The little misfire at idle seemed to be gone after that. These fuel injected engines don't burn much fuel compared to old carburetor engines that would drink through it, so the gas gets fairly old in some of my stuff. Personally I think it was pinging. The gas was so old it got to the point where it lost enough octane to burn easier. Hence burn when it wasn't supposed to. (Pre ignition) opinions? What's the difference?

 

[CarlB]

Pinging is just an onomatopoeia for what you might hear during misfire/pre-detonation.

 

[ripcord]

No, pinging is not the same as misfiring. Pinging is when the ignition of the fuel in the cylinder happens too early in the cycle. Misfiring is when the fuel fails to ignite at all.

Old gas may cause both ping and misfire. As fuel ages, octane reduces and can cause pre-ignition (pinging) as well as become less volatile and therefor harder to ignite thus causing misfires.

 

[The motor guy]

No, pinging is not the same as misfiring. Pinging is when the ignition of the fuel in the cylinder happens too early in the cycle. Misfiring is when the fuel fails to ignite at all.

Old gas may cause both ping and misfire. As fuel ages, octane reduces and can cause pre-ignition (pinging) as well as become less volatile and therefor harder to ignite thus causing misfires.

I suppose the lighter stuff that allows it to burn easier evaporates, but at the same time it loses octane which is resistance to ignition, so imo old fuel just burns too easy causing the issues I'm asking about

 

[kschachn]

I suppose the lighter stuff that allows it to burn easier evaporates, but at the same time it loses octane which is resistance to ignition, so imo old fuel just burns too easy causing the issues I'm asking about

The fuel octane rating is not resistance to ignition. It is resistance to pre-ignition, or igniting at a time before the spark plug fires. It is different than "old fuel just burns too easy".