Newer Homelite 2-Cycle Blower/Vac Making A Rapid Pinging Sound Often After Startup. Help.

Hello. Nice to meet you all!
 
I have a question. In the fall of 2021, I purchased a Homelite 2-Cycle Blower/Vac UT26BVL3VNM. Overall it has performed well and still runs. I have only run it twice and I only use it to blow leaves around my home starting last year in 2021. Approximately 3-4 hours total runtime since I bought it. I need to inform you that I am a novice with small engines and little experience with them in general, but I am a fast learner. I blew leaves the first-time last year with the Homelite blower, drained the gas/oil mixture right after I bought it to store it away, put it away in a dry place, and then this fall, placed clean gas/oil mixture this year before running it again. I even replaced the spark plug this year. The original spark plug could be used again this year as it only had dry black soot on the electrodes, but I decided to put a new replacement in this year.
 
Now, I am having an issue this year that I did not have last year. When I first time started the blower this year; I noticed after running it for 5-10 minutes for the first time, a fast-paced ticking or better described as a pinging noise coming from within the engine area. The sound is tough to explain. It sounds like metal hitting metal with 3-4 pings per second like a tip of a screwdriver tapping a piece of sheet metal. This pinging sound I do not remember this from this area last year I ran it. I would have remembered it if I did make this same noise. I had my experienced father run it for less than two minutes the other day and he thought it sounded normal. (Sorry dad, there is something wrong here. My dad has hearing issues too.) I told him it gets louder over many minutes. He had no time to listen and had to leave after two minutes. At arm’s length, the pinging sound is louder than the sound of the motor itself after running for 10 minutes or more as it gets hot.
 
As of late, the pinging sound now begins low within 10-20 seconds of startup or instantly if the trigger throttle is maxed out right after starting the blower with my pull cord. It gets gradually louder over time or quicker when the trigger throttle is pressed tighter. At idle, the blower sounds normal with little to no pinging sound. Again, when the blower engine is cold and starting up after it has completely cooled, the pinging sound will start for 10-20 seconds. It has no effect on the operation of the blower as it continues to run okay. I have run a few 2-cycle chain saws in the past and one over a year ago and I never recall ever hearing the pinging noise from the chainsaw engine over time. This does not sound normal.
 
Does anyone have any idea what it could possibly be? Please reply with your ideas.
 
Thank you.