Hey Skull, You've got a sporty right? If so, and it doesn't turn out to be sensors or intake, check your relays; particularly the system relay. The poor design of the electrics down to the relays often causes corrosion problems that then create electrical gremlins. I've had some experience with starting problems being solved with replacing the relays. Of course this won't help with the pinging... shame we don't have the ion sensing .

Hey Skull, What was the outcome from this in the end? Did you sort out what was causing your issues?