What is Engine Knocking and How to Prevent it

• Apr 9, 2021
• |   Comments

It is such a serene moment to ride your bike along the road, being one with it, enjoying the smooth buzz of the engine as you cross cars and crossings and buildings and hills. In that moment, if you start hearing a clunky knock from your bike, it is sure to ruin the moment with a hundred worries. Most of the times it is nothing to worry about, just know that your bike is due for some maintenance soon. But, also ensure that it doesn’t repeat. Engine knocking can be a serious issue.

What is Engine Knocking?

Do not confuse engine knocking with engine stalling in high gear at low speeds. That is just an overload on the crankshaft due to the bigger cog. Engine knocking is when your engine makes clunky noises of metal hitting metal during a combustion cycle. There can be numerous circumstances for it.

Your piston might be hitting the cylinder wall, the combustion cycle must be off and the fuel is being ignited at an incorrect point in the cycle. The bearings might have been damaged and clinking, and so on. Engine knocking does not have a substantial impact on the performance immediately, but it can cause permanent and irreversible damage to the engine if not address soon enough. Ways to Prevent Engine Knocking

Preventing engine knocking is easy. All you need to do is ensure your bike is properly serviced and maintained at all times. There are also some points to care about for your bike to avoid engine knocking:

Check your spark plugs at regular intervals. Worn out spark plugs can cause incomplete combustion or off-timed combustion and can result in engine knocking, as well as can harm your engine parts significantly and permanently.

An unclean engine can also result in engine knocking if there are hindrances for the piston to complete its cycle. This generally occurs due to carbon deposits in the engine. The best way to counter this is to change your engine oil at regular intervals and use engine cleaners at regular intervals to flush your engine from time to time.

One of the most rampant issues of engine knocking is the quality of fuel. It is recommended that you use a high-octane fuel, but that is not possible at all times. Moreover, it pinches the pocket that one bit harder. The other solution for this is to fill fuel from a trusted source to ensure good quality and pure fuel.

The engine’s timing belt plays a big part in ensuring that the combustion within the engines occur smoothly. An OFF timing belt can cause a lot of issues in your bike, including knocking. To avoid this, keep your timing belt well maintained through regular maintenance of the bike.

Read Also: Engine Tappet Noise- All you need to know

An overheating engine can cause increased stress on the internal moving parts and result in knocking. The best solution for this is to ensure proper health of the engine and optimum coolant levels to avoid overheating. In case your engine is running a lean mixture, it can also cause overheating issues. Here you need to tune your carburetor for an optimum air-fuel mixture.

A cold engine can also be a cause for engine knocking in your bikes. This is also due to the sudden stress and heat applied to the cold engine parts. It is always recommended that you warm your engine well, at least up to a good ambient temperature before setting off on your journey. This way, the engine parts do not receive a sudden shock and hence go on for longer.

The above pointers will help you keep your bike well maintained and ensure there are no engine knocking issues. If you do hear any knocking, immediately reduce the stress on your engine by either switching to a lower gear or by stopping and giving it a rest. Post that, take it to a garage and perform a proper check to triage the reason for the knocking and resolve it. Know that knocking can cause serious and permanent issues to the bike, and we do not want that now, do we?

Ride hard, ride safe!

By: Pratik Patole