How do I prevent it? Is that what the knock sensor is for? If I am detonating, what sound does it make?

I found all the easy fix:

Detonation can be prevented by:

The use of a fuel with higher octane rating
The addition of octane-increasing "lead", methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT), isooctane, or other antiknock agents.
Increasing the amount of fuel injected/inducted (resulting in lower Air to Fuel Ratio)
Reduction of cylinder pressure by increasing the engine revolutions (lower gear), decreasing the manifold pressure (throttle opening) or reducing the load on the engine, or any combination.
Reduction of charge (in-cylinder) temperatures (such as through cooling, water injection or compression ratio reduction).
Retardation of spark plug ignition.
Improved combustion chamber design that concentrates mixture near the spark plug and generates high turbulence to promote fast even burning.
Use of a spark plug of colder heat range in cases where the spark plug insulator has become a source of pre-ignition leading to detonation.

What else can I do?

 

i don't understand. whats your question?

 

Everything you mentioned + meth/water/alcohol injection (auxilary injection)

As well as lower your intake temps (and thereby, EGT's)

 

monitor engine parameters better. Use an aftermarket temp gauge, boost gauge, and a wideband.

 

I have all 3.

What sound should I be looking for if the engine is detonating?

 

i like to refer to the sound being close to a large "pop rock candy" exploding in your mouth... dunno if you have those in canada though... haha

 

The knock sensor (ON PAPER) is supposed to retard timing when it detects knock.

 

i dont know what your so worried about, things like that almost never happen when your treating your car right....unless your being a bad little cookie, or have messed with the engine.....and even if it does minor detonation is almost never fatal to the engine unless it was going to begin with....

also because of how different the engine is, those little pops in the exhaust are ok, and actually sorta normal, if you only have one cat then loud pops and ocasional backfire i normal, if your running on no cats then spitting flames is normal and perfectly ok

its the way the engine is made that makes these things ok, when it would be fatal for a piston,

also running a lower octain aka regular...is also ok, it even says it on all the info sites that have ever been made on our cars, thats why we are an optimum sports car, were built to do what others cant

 

Right.

N/As run on regular and Turbos run on 94 octane.

 

Is this serious?

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FWIW, the owners manual in my TII says I can run 87 octane......I don't, but just saying

If you hear detonation. you should be looking for your compression tester when you get home. The noise is extremely distinctive, and sticks out like a sore thumb over the rest of the engine noise.

If you are extremely paranoid about it, retard your timing a couple of degrees. But running higher octane in itself on a mostly stock setup will be enough of a saftey net honestly.

 

helghast none of that is true, detonation is the bane of rotary engines, one good pop and it's all over. please do not post inaccurate information

 

Running high octane fuel gets carbon build up according to Atkins FAQ. Or is that for N/As only?

Cool. I dont even turn on the radio in my car because I wanna hear everything.

I am being paranoid. I'd rather prevent than to fix something. And reading all those threads here about how people poped their engine doesn't help calming me down.

Thanks Classic, again.

Helgah, FYI, a backfire is not detonation.

 

it sounds exactly like metal popcorn.

 

Thank you!

Never heard that before.

 

my apologies i did not mean do miss inform, rather i misunderstood...and for the most part was confused......since i am a big boy i will admit i was wrong....and further more to show my maturity i wish to learn.....

so how can you tell the difference between detonation and those little backfires?(this is what threw me off by the way)

 

well, one (backfire) is a loud pop, like a gunshot, usaully preceded or followed by the sound of a flamethrower (kinda). The other (detonation) sounds like metal exploding. Not a good sound. If you heard THAT sound you would be like.... ****... my engine just blew up.