How to adjust timing
 

How do i adjust my timing on my 97 f150 4.6 v8 to get rid of spark knock

You can't.

Wym
 

What do you mean you cant, you can adjuat timing on any vehicle, just not sure how

Nope, it's all electronically controlled, no adjustments possible without buying a programmer and getting some custom tunes. That's going to be around $500. Distributors are a thing of the past.

You need to find out why it's knocking. You may have a defective knock sensor. You may have excessive combustion chamber deposits. Does the knock go away if you use premium fuel?

Fuel
 

Yes it goes away if i use premium, if i buy a new timing kit will it fix it?

It might help. I'd try a few bottles of Gumout for high mileage engines or Chevron Techron in the gas first.

B12
 

I have b12 chemtool in it right now, i solved the problem before. Last week i unpluged a sensor behind the battery and poured chemtool in it, but last night after it came back out of nowhere, i did almost run on empty then after i put around 15$ in it the knock came back

Ignition timing is all controlled by computer decision.
Inputs from air temperature, coolant temp., engine RPM, throttle opening, road speed are all involved in the final timing advance or retard at any given time and load.
You needto take a look at live data to see what's going on, then address the issue.
You can't fix it from outside with simple fixes.
How do you know the following;
A. The EGR might be causing the issue.
B. A lean fuel condition.
C An air leak into the intake tract.
D A restricted exhaust.
E. Poor gas quality.
F. Deposits in the combustion chamber from burning oil.
G. Knock sensor out of tolerance. You should never hear spark knock because the sensor normally will retard the timing as much as 8 degrees until the knock goes away. Is it?
Codes don't have to be set to have marginal issues that come and go.
This is called system tolerance as built into the control system.
The computer is capable of detecting every deviation that occurs but would drive you nuts with CEL and codes all the time if it were sold to the public with a system operation that tight.
You can't guess but have to look in,and see what's going on.
For example, ignition timing viewed on a Scanner.
What is it while driving and how does it act.
Under EGR opening, it can advance as high as 38 degrees.
Ford systems are a bit more advanced that many others.
Welcome to the club.;)
Putting any additive in the gas changes the Octane rating of the fuel. That's why you saw the effect, but it's not a 'fix' for the original cause.

Good luck.

Thanks
 

Yeah i see you all over the forums helping with this type of problem, everyone wants to pay for a quick fix by getting better gas, i want the problem solved unlike most, but under the circumstances, im replacing my 240k motor, with a 90k motor this weekend. Hopefully all goes well

I get the premise of your comment here, but it has not been true for a very long time. The crank and cam position sensors tell the computer where the engine is, and timing is set by firmware. You could change the program, but you cannot adjust timing by moving stuff around, as you did with your old car that had a distributor. Once upon a time, you had to set the distributor position to get the engine to run right, but those days are long gone.

Darn
 

so would putting a new timink kit in it not do anything?

Not a thing unless the chain has jumped time. That's not ignition timing, that's cam timing.

Jumped time
 

Yesss it has jumped time, i figured adjusting it would fix it, i just need to fix the jumped time

How do you know the cams have jumped time? Have you had the front cover off and inspected the timing chains? If they have jumped time, you would have a lot more issues than just spark knock. Cam timing and ignition timing are totally separate and not really related.

well i have spark knock, loss of power by alot, pretty sure the timing guide broke cause the timing chain housing knocks pretty bad, and just several other issues