Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 8:35 pm Post subject: 2005 F150 5.4 Liter engine is pinging - should it? Quote Edit Delete

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My 2005 F150 5.4 Liter engine has been pinging since the day I purchased it. It is intermittent, but pinging under all circumstances except when under crusie control. It is very irritating and a surprise for a brand new truck like this. At 4327 miles I took it to the Ford Dealer. Their response on the Invoice was:

"All PCM PID Data are in specs. Under light load engine pings sometimes. Under heavy load engine does not ping. Contacted hotline - some engine ping is considered normal due to fuel quality in Washington and owners manual. Reprogram PCM to latest calibration."

Is this typical, or am I being lied to? Isn't this bad for the engine?

Thanks much.

 

Depends on how severe it is. If you are as picky as me (not likely, never met anyone else who was) you'll probably hear something if you listen hard enough. Most people will tell you that any detecable pinging is terrible. If you are anything like me, you'll have to accept that it isn't hurting anything and don't worry about it.

This is my second 5.4 F-150 and they have both mades noises that I call pinging under certain conditions. I have had friends, family, mechancs, etc listen but no one else can ever hear it.

If you can hear it without trying to, it might be worth looking into. Otherwise, turn the radio on or quit trying to hear something. It took me a long time to figure out how to do that.

 

fords right... its problem with the quality of gas u are purchasing.. a TSB went out months ago during Katrina incident. ford said that the high sulfure content in the current gas that is being produced is causing pinging and clogging of the fuel sending unit causing it to rear wrong. ford recomended running a techron additive atleast 3 tank fulls with the additive to clean it out. but id suggest sticking with chevron or shell gas.

 

I have not had any roblems with my new truck(05 screw 5.4), however my old 03 expedition 5.4 would ping unless I used Shell, Chevron or Exxon. It was worse when towing my boat(to be expected)! I have yet to tow it with the new truck, so we shal see!!

 

Hey Faster,

Gas down here in DR reallly smells, I usually buy gas at Shell but my truck still pings alot. I`ve been adding additives every other tank and pinging stops for a while then comes back.

 

Let me bring some other items to the table.
First, you can't solve the problem with additives. The PCM will re-adjust for them. You also risk plug deposits from certain/some additives that will eventually bring on a miss during cruise when the fuel is cut back and the timing advanced even further. The plugs are contaminated with deposits.
The problem is the PCM program is set for just a little to much advance.
This can only be changed by programming.
Every engine is a little different and when the "same" program is used, the results will be a bit different from engine to engine. Called parts tolerence!
The only way to get around this is have a chip done by some one who is experenced, that changes the final computed ignition timing to be a little less, then the problem is taken care of.
Ping and detonation is used interchangeably here on thei board.
They are not the same.
Detonation is a real loud hard low sounding hammer sound and it to be avoided at all costs where ping if light and not continious can be tolerated without damage to the engine. Ping is the ringing of the piston, head and cylinder walls to a light extent from ignition that is just a little to early.
This causes the peak cylinder pressures to occurr too close to piston top center 'after' the crank has gone past TDC and before the crank/rod angle has rotated far enough to effectivly begin to use the cylinder pressure to push on the crankshaft.
Ignition causing peak cylinder pressure to soon with the crank/rod in to much of vertical alignment and there is no place to go at that moment, so the cylinder pressure "rings" everything and is called ping.
Why does the factory do this?
Engines are small displacement, to get max fuel milage and max torque.
When overdone ping is the result.
This has been going on since the first port EFI engines in 1985.

 

I have an 05 5.4 and had a knocking noise that made it sound like a diesel engine. I took it in and after 3 road tests they determined it was a phaser assy noise in the right rocker. Had it replaced and it is very quiet now.

 

Just FYI a mechanic friends says Chevron is the best.
Michael

 

I haul / deliver gasoline for a living. I load the truck, drive to the gas station and transfer the gasoline from my truck to the station tanks. At the terminal where I usually load my truck, there are several brands available. There is Sunoco, Mobil, Citgo, Hess, Gulf and "unbranded". When I load my truck, regardless of which brand I choose, IT COMES FROM THE SAME TANK!!!! Which was loaded from the same barge or ship, which came from a refinery somewhere that was determined by location, quantity of product, price and availability.

The difference in the various brands is the additive that is injected at the time of loading (less than 10 gallons in a load of 9000 gallons). The terminal where I usually load my truck has TWO different additive tanks available. I'll leave it to you to figure out which brands are the same.

There are several terminals in my area where I load. Each one has several brands available. In every case, the gasoline comes from the same tank! With ONE exception, I know of NO terminals that load only one brand of gasoline and I know of NO terminal where the brands are separated into different tanks. That one exception WAS for Amoco (now BP) premium. That gasoline had it's own tank at any terminal where it could be loaded. Since I don't deliver BP, I don't know if this is still true.

Yes, there may be slight differences in the quality of gasoline at different stations. However, the difference is due to the refinery that produced the product, usually because of the quality of the crude, rather than because it's Chevron, or Conoco, or Shell or whatever. One brand is not consistantly better than another.

Just remember, all gasoline HAS to meet certain minimum requirements. When a ship comes to the terminal to be unloaded, a sample of the product is taken and chemically analyzed before it can be unloaded. If it fails to meet the standards, the load is rejected. No company intentionally sells "bad" gasoline.

What happens after the station gets it is another matter.

Flagship

 

Fantastic post Flagship.

Thanks for taking the time to share this.

Anthony