Hello everyone,

I was looking into getting into the ME7 tuning, but before touching anything I wanted to understand the current state of my car.
While logging with VCDS (still haven't received my KKL cable), I noticed that my car is pulling quite a lot of timing, even during daily driving / low load.
No codes are thrown by the ECU, but the high timing pull even at low loads scares me.

I'd like help while trying to understand why that is.
I know that the ME7 can pull timing for multiple reasons: Knock, IAT, Coolant temp, STFT etc.

My car is an Audi A4 B7 with the 1.8t 20v BFB motor and runs on the stock map.
What I've checked:
- My coolant temp is good. Max temp reached is 99c-100c before the thermostat opens (late model 1.8ts had a hotter thermostat)
- IATs inside the city are high (last two CSVs are inside the city), but even on highway trips, where my IAT is constantly at +5-10C ambient, the timing pull also occurs (e.g you can look at the 'highway-low-iat*' CSVs. For those two trips I know my IATs are always at 35C).
- I've serviced the PCV system recently.
- The car meets the requested boost without any problems or big overshootings.
- Fuel trims look OK.

I do believe that the actual timing pull might be due to pinging - as I can hear a metallic sound when I accelerate my car at tight roads (buildings to reflect the sound) at ~1800-2200 RPM.
My car will pull timing even if I blip the throttle at idle. What is even more interesting is that after I cleared the codes (there were no codes, but I did it so that I clear our the LTFT), the timing pull improved and no more timing pull while blipping the throttle at idle.
The idle throttle blip timing pulls came back as soon as the LTFT had been re-established.

My suspicions are the following:
- Something on my fuelling system might be wrong. Could it be a bad O2 sensor causing all this? Me reseting the long-term fuel trims and getting less timing pull could indicate that the O2 is starting to go bad?
- Injectors have not been serviced. I think I'll clean them and install a new set of o-rings on them just to get this out of my mind.
- I don't believe that Knock sensors are going bad. As said, I can hear some slight pinging sound, so I do believe that the pre-knock filter of the ECU is doing its job.
- I've read threads where people said that all this happened due to carbon buildup (and thus increased CR) on the combustion chamber.

I'm happy to provide more logs via VCDS if needed be.
Would appreciate if you can chime in!