My car pings, rattles, pre-detonates, etc. when I stomp on the throttle on the highway, or around town.
In old cars, this is caused by the timing being too far advanced. I had a `69 Torino GT with the 351W 4bbl. It had 10.7:1 compression, and I had to carefully check the timing when using lower octane fuel due to the pinging.
However, with my Cougar, I have no idea how to retard the timing. I also don't want to run premium in it since I will be using it for commuting 120 miles a day and the extra cost will really add up.
I think I've heard that some engines with higher mileage will develop the pinging due to carbon build up in the combustion chamber, which creates hot spots that can ignite the air/fuel mixture before its suppose to.
Anyone heard of that with the 4.6?
Any other ideas how to fix this? Could my free-flowing intake and filter contribute to the problem by leaning out the mixture?
I have the same pinging under higher RPM load such as full throttle runs up to 80+ MPH. I have been reluctant to try carbon removal stuff as I have over 170 K miles on my 96 and can't afford potential damage to my engine. I have a 100 mile r/t to work each day (from New River to Mesa, AZ) and have been just running premium fuel to help out with the pinging. I am very interested in your results with the Seafoam before I try it. THANKS !!!
John
96 LX 4.6
Mods: Pure stock except for a K&N filter.
(Been running Castrol Synthetic 5W50 since 46 K miles)
I've been seafoaming mine every oil change, (the day before the oil change) and am going to keep doing it until it quits helping; I have 210k on this one...
simply gotta get those combustion chambers clean.....dropping the timing on a bone-stock 4.6 is just a bandaid fix for an underlying problem.....you'll lose power when you drop timing, so you can also expect a slighty reduction in fuel economy
colder plugs can sometimes help too. i used to have a toyota that pinged like crazy w/ bosch plugs but was perfect w/ the recommended NGK's, just a thought. If you're not using the recommended plugs, i'd try getting those and see what happens.
Mine pings at low RPM, High load. (like if I try to accelerate in town, and the car doesn't downshift). But I have PI heads, and an SCT tune. I do run it on 91 Octane. I mixed about 3 gal of 110 Octane in it and (of course that fixed theh problem for that tank). but I can't do that all the time.
I'll put new plugs in tomorrow and see if that helps, but I don't think the current ones are that bad.
I'll try changing plugs, cleaning the MAF, and resetting the computer. I always use NGK plugs, but I can't remember if I've changed the plugs in this car. With 6 vehicles, it's hard to keep track of what I've done.
Anybody know which fuse is the EEC one that Grog6 spoke of?
I don't know what prompted the reply by DirtyDog regarding the burning of oil, but, ironically, I just noticed this today.
I use Mobil 1 10/30 full synthetic. I have no oil leaks and no smoke. After putting about 2k miles on this oil change, I checked the oil on Wednesday and was down 3 quarts!
I filled it up and then checked it again today. Down another quart!
check if the vacumm fitting have been broken off. on mine i have done everything but i can't find the missed when the engine under load and when i pull my engine i found this have broken off at the top fitting. so this may cause it.
One of my '97 Birds pings like crazy too. I have two. Only has 32,000 miles on it so high mileage is not the cause. Also cleaned the MAF and had no effect. Still has the factory plugs, so I doubt if it's that. Seafoam does absolutly nothing, neither does Chevron with Techron additives. I currently run a 50/50 mix of premium in it. I plan to water inject it next with an atomizer. Who knows??? My other '97 doesn't ping but is hard starting when hot and have never been able to cure that one either. Phil Swanson
Swap the MAF from one car to the other. The stock 97 timing table is already retarded about 10 degrees from optimum power on 93 octane, and is about perfect for 87 octane IMHO.
99.9% of the time its a bad MAF causing WOT pinging on a stock tune.
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