[The_Ghost]

I don't like the tune that's currently on the SCT tuner I have, it causes too much ping, even with 91 octane fuel. I have to run approximately 96 octane to get it to stop pinging. This may be because the plugs are 2 steps colder than factory or more likely due to the timing change with the tune.

When I have the tune in, I've got ping under 3/4 or greater throttle, without the tune, no ping at all. I'm running the good gas, mind you, but the damn ping man. the damn ping. By adding a whole LOT of octane booster, I can make it quit pinging, but with my tune the mileage seems to really suck and that damn ping is there unless I boost the hell out of the ****ty CA 91 octane. The gas is dirty or I don't know what.

I know it made a difference on my SC, but I didn't think I'd see the same problems with a 4.6L and gas quality.

I am not using the cheap ARCO and CostCo crappy gas, either, I'm using 76, Mobil and Chevron. I will not go to an Arco station.

If it's a bad tune, where would I go to get it fixed? I understand that to get an SCT tune redone I have to go to an authorized dealer??

Anyhow, let me know what to do to make this ping go away.

Thanks,
Ghost

 

[wether]

I would talk to Lonnie or get in touch with him through http://www.blueovalchips.com to find out if he can do a mail order tune for you that may fix your problem.

 

[JustinH]

Yeah I'd have them pull some timing out, and tell them about the poor quality cali gas.

 

[girdnerg]

Just a couple of things while you wait for the experts.

Did you specify 91 octane and the colder plugs in the tune? My performance tune is for 93. I thought of this since you said octane boost works. But, from my understanding it only raises the octane by 0.1 point instead of 1.

If you have the xcal 1 or 2, you can play with the timing a little with the supplied software.

If all else fails, try the seafoam stuff to remove the carbon out of the cylinders. If it's a mail order tune, it might be correct, but the tuner couldn't have known about carbon build-up.

Rob

 

[girdnerg]

Wow, I must type slow. 2 responses while I typed.
Rob

 

[Porkchop]

the tune was made by lonnie and it was set for 91 octane. timing might be exaggerated and might need to be worked on. its a micro tuner so send him the tuner and he should be able to come up with a better program for you.

 

[The_Ghost]

I wish it had the versatility of my Diablosport predator... if I was able to use that, I'd fix the timing myself-- that thing gives me free reign over WOT fuel, all trans options, idle, timing advance etc and allows for datalogging.. I optimized the mustang to run really lean that way and thus improved mileage by about 2mpg with better power and no ping that way... I just wish the SCT tuner would let me do the same thing.

Is there anybody LOCAL who can fix it?

 

[Porkchop]

there are tons of local dealers, not many reliable tuners. and the predator is more up to date like the sct x-cal2 seeing how you have a micro tuner that was made what 4 years ago it cant edit like the xcal2 can.

 

[Darrin]

Make sure the car is right first. Go through everything including making sure the MAF is clean. A dirty MAF will cause that.

Oh, and Lonnie only does custom tunes for the particular vehicle. If this is a different car than what he tuned or in a different location then it needs to be redone.

Darrin

 

[Porkchop]

no he made the tune for that car that i sold to the ghost.

and yes i had to clean the maf every 6 months due to the dam k&n thats on there.

that is a good point tho darrin. did you clean the maf nick?

 

[The_Ghost]

No, I haven't cleaned the MAF... Fortunately I do have q-tips and a can of MAF Cleaner spray... yes, it really is MAF Cleaner spray specifically indicated for maf cleaning. Since I don't work tomorrow I'll give that a shot.

Oh, as a sidenote... I'm converting the car completely to LED and HID lighting. The LED's for the taillights are done and installed, and the reverse lights are now the cluster LED bulbs... makes backing up at night a lot easier. My HID kit should be here within 2-3 days, hopefully I'll get my x-mas present to myself early. I need a resistor inline somewhere to slow down my blinkers since the draw on the electrical system is already significantly reduced... right now I've got turboblinkers...

 

[Porkchop]

what hid kit did you get and at what rating?

 

[sweet99]

What gauges are available so that we can monitor what is going on with the motor? I will be getting a wideband but do not know where NA motors shouod run at WOT. Anyone? I was told to start at 12.8:1 and lean from there, possibly to 13.2 as long as it does not ping. I worked too many years in factories and cannot hear ping/knock. I have the SCT2 and need to learn how to log but if you haven't noticed I am using webTV as I am computer illiterate. Honestly I just learned to use a cell phone this year!
A knock sensor reading would be great but I understand 2v's do not have a sensor that puts out a signal that can be read, one that retards timing at a certain count.
How about o2 voltage, can that be logged, read, somehow?
If somebody was an electronic wizzard they could come up with a system that would plug into the diagnostic port and read data as the car was being driven and the data displayed on a LED screen on the data collecting box that would sit on the dash. Check out www.fullthrottlespeed.com and find a Scanmaster on that site and check one out. I already emailed them and asked that they consider a model for the 4.6 Fords. Not likely to happen soon unless we can get 50K members from various forums to inundate them with email requests! I would think that a company like SCT, which uses the diagnostic port to enter data could easily come up with a way nto collect data!? I will email them on that. Those Scanmasters are great and once you have used one you find driving without one like being naked. Mark

 

[JustinH]

Hey Mark.

You need to get the car on the dyno, with a professional tuner tuning it.

Its not something you can pickup yourself overnight and expect good results.

You need a wideband o2 sensor.

The 4.6L 2v doesn't have the knock sensor (in the tbird).

What gauges are available so that we can monitor what is going on with the motor? I will be getting a wideband but do not know where NA motors shouod run at WOT. Anyone? I was told to start at 12.8:1 and lean from there, possibly to 13.2 as long as it does not ping. I worked too many years in factories and cannot hear ping/knock. I have the SCT2 and need to learn how to log but if you haven't noticed I am using webTV as I am computer illiterate. Honestly I just learned to use a cell phone this year!
A knock sensor reading would be great but I understand 2v's do not have a sensor that puts out a signal that can be read, one that retards timing at a certain count.
How about o2 voltage, can that be logged, read, somehow?
If somebody was an electronic wizzard they could come up with a system that would plug into the diagnostic port and read data as the car was being driven and the data displayed on a LED screen on the data collecting box that would sit on the dash. Check out www.fullthrottlespeed.com and find a Scanmaster on that site and check one out. I already emailed them and asked that they consider a model for the 4.6 Fords. Not likely to happen soon unless we can get 50K members from various forums to inundate them with email requests! I would think that a company like SCT, which uses the diagnostic port to enter data could easily come up with a way nto collect data!? I will email them on that. Those Scanmasters are great and once you have used one you find driving without one like being naked. Mark

 

[sweet99]

Just a couple of things while you wait for the experts.

Did you specify 91 octane and the colder plugs in the tune? My performance tune is for 93. I thought of this since you said octane boost works. But, from my understanding it only raises the octane by 0.1 point instead of 1.

If you have the xcal 1 or 2, you can play with the timing a little with the supplied software.

If all else fails, try the seafoam stuff to remove the carbon out of the cylinders. If it's a mail order tune, it might be correct, but the tuner couldn't have known about carbon build-up.

Rob

Rob, 2 octane boosters really raise the rting enough to make them worth the expense. You are correct that when the bottle says raises octane 5 points that it is raising it .5 so a bottle would raise 93 to 93.5. Lucas and NOS(not sure on this one but will check) actually raise the octane a bit more. I will get the numbers on both but I believe Lucas is the best and it raises the level at least 3 full points. Goes for around $9. bucks in central, NY. 1/4 oz. of acetone per gallon of the best fuel you can buy will help but I don't have numbers. It helps many turbo cars raise boost 3 psi and not increase knock. They run the cars at 3-4 counts of knock.
I'll get some concrete numbers and post back. Mark
After more reading I am not sure I would mess with acetone, sounds dangerous. Seems it does not raise octane but change the fuel's "flash point"?
The NOS booster comes in a 12oz. bottle and the OFF ROAD stuff goes for around $10. or less and raises octane 6 FULL points. Not sure where to get that one. Mark

 

[sweet99]

Hey Mark.

You need to get the car on the dyno, with a professional tuner tuning it.

Its not something you can pickup yourself overnight and expect good results.

You need a wideband o2 sensor.

The 4.6L 2v doesn't have the knock sensor (in the tbird).

Justin where is the closest one for us? My SCT came with 3 custom tunes from Brenspeed. Brent even had me get a number off or the ECM as there are 4 different models. OH, I have a Mustang GT. This site has the brighest guys associated with the 4.6 and the 4R70W than any site I have seen so here I am! Brent took my mod list and location above sea level along with the ECM # and said he had dynoed so many cars with the same mods as I have that he could pinpoint it pretty good. Then if I get the wideband and at least some way to read o2 voltage I could make adjustments myself. I would not touch the fuel until I had a wideband. I will find a dyno near here next spring. Mark

 

[sweet99]

I don't like the tune that's currently on the SCT tuner I have, it causes too much ping, even with 91 octane fuel. I have to run approximately 96 octane to get it to stop pinging. This may be because the plugs are 2 steps colder than factory or more likely due to the timing change with the tune.

When I have the tune in, I've got ping under 3/4 or greater throttle, without the tune, no ping at all. I'm running the good gas, mind you, but the damn ping man. the damn ping. By adding a whole LOT of octane booster, I can make it quit pinging, but with my tune the mileage seems to really suck and that damn ping is there unless I boost the hell out of the ****ty CA 91 octane. The gas is dirty or I don't know what.

I know it made a difference on my SC, but I didn't think I'd see the same problems with a 4.6L and gas quality.

I am not using the cheap ARCO and CostCo crappy gas, either, I'm using 76, Mobil and Chevron. I will not go to an Arco station.

If it's a bad tune, where would I go to get it fixed? I understand that to get an SCT tune redone I have to go to an authorized dealer??

Anyhow, let me know what to do to make this ping go away.

Thanks,
Ghost

Why are you running plugs 2 steps colder? You don't have a SC now do you? I would think the timing would be raised to fire those plugs but I often get plug action backwards. What thermostat are you running? I would want to cool those heads until this was corrected. Be sure the plugs are the type to draw the heat from the chambers. Somebody help me out here but wouldn't a plug with an extended tip be best for that?
I have a Steeda Timing Adjuster that I am not using if you want to be able to retard the timing up to 10* it's available. Didn't see what motor you had but I think the adjuster is for the '96 and newer. I would have to check that. Great poor mans tuning tool! Used it with my Predator as they come with the most LAME tune. I had already added the 10* in the 2 ranges the Predator allowed and added 6* to the base timing so I had 6* more from idle to redline, no knock on 93. Mark

 

[sweet99]

I'm beat from Googling! The Lucas raises the octane rating 3 FULL points when used as per the bottle. One bottle treats 25gallons and adding more of the booster to double the amount of it will still raise the octane rating 3 points.
There is a company called Kemco Oil that sells a case of 12 x 32oz. bottles for $125. and 2 cases for $220. so share with some friends! You can raise the octane by as much as 16 FULL points but this product has LEAD. You deceide from there with that. I would have to check the numbers again because I have 3oz. to a gallon raises the octane 8 points and 18oz to a gallon would raise it 16 points so that needs to be confirmed.
Torco offers an unleaded product that takes 10 gallons of 93 with 32oz. of Torco to 104 octane. 5 gallons costs $178. shipped. My calculation shows that that would treat 200 gallons making it pricey.
Here is the best but needs more research. Acrtone which is available easily will treat 4 gallons of gas with 1 ounce of acetone. I did not get the octane change but mileage was a major side benefit. An '88 T-bird got an 18% MPG increase with it's 302! I need to find the octane increase. M

 

[dirtyd0g]

Oil consumption causes particles to be left buring inside the cylinder which ignite the fuel upon entry causing preignition. My 95 motor has that problem, something to think about how much oil does it use?
Alan

 

[The_Ghost]

what hid kit did you get and at what rating?

9007 kit, 6000 kelvin color temperature rated at something like 2500 lumens. 1 year warantee from a guy with over 10000 positive feedback with ZERO negatives, 90 day warantee on bulbs.

as for the 2 steps colder, not my setup but i thought it might have something to do with it.

-Ghost