I'm new to this site and this is my first post.... BEWARE drink your coffee, this is long and an attempt of detailed info on this truck that way you can better help me.

I have a 02' F250 5.4L superduty and I seem to be having problems with some pinging on highway and up hills.
The highway pinging only happens when I try to speed up a little bit and the truck is still in O/D.
Up hills isn't a big deal because I should be downshifting anyways...
Truck has slight ping at WOT, not nearly as noticeable though.

I took out my K&N because I thought the oil was 'fouling' my maf sensor resistors due to my over-oiling. I cleaned the MAF sensor and installed a stock paper filter. Didn't really help.

I've looked for vacuum leaks with no luck.
No check engine lights
Truck has good power considering its 5.4l SD on 35's.

I've been running Reg. octane fuel, and will use mid grade tomorrow morning to see if the pinging stops & then whatever the highest octane is here in AK if midgrade doesn't help.

When starting the truck in the morning I hear the good ole' piston slap which I read is "normal" for these motors.
Truck has about 78K on engine.
Stock except for aftermarket muffler. They called it a "turbo" muffler, which I'm hoping is not my problem due to too much backpressure. Truck is slightly louder then stock which I'm guessing means it flows better then stock.

I do not know when the spark plugs or O2's were last changed, since I just purchased this 6 months ago. I did borrow a snap on scangauge and observed the O2's sweeping from low to high voltage so I know they aren't pegged rich or lean.

Where should I start in my pinging search!?
Thanks in advance!

 

Great... now I'm paranoid.

I keep thinking I'm hearing a manifold exhaust leak when driving next to buildings only. Not your typical ticking noise though, sounds more like a slight on and off whooshing sound.

I just read about this infamous Spark Plug Blowout B.S. thats been going on.

Would this cause pinging at all?

And should I go ahead and change out my spark plugs before they attempt to blow out? If so, sounds like a project for this weekend.

LMK I'm bout to CHIT myself worrying...

 

Ok I went ahead and put the highest octane gas here which is only 90 oct.
The pinging up hill was completely gone but on the highway I could tell it was on the verge of pinging.

Anyone wanna help out? I've searched this site all over and only found people talking about the EGR causing this...

Anything else?

Any possible way my ECU was flashed with a performance tune before I bought the truck requiring high octane???

 

you may have sh*t gas in your area, meaning that what is advertised as 87octane is not really 87octane...

 

The causes of ping can get involved and can come from a number of possibilities.
1. the program has been modified with to much spark advance.
2. carbon buildup in the chambers.
3. egr malfunction that may not yet set a code.
4. poor quality gas, to much ethonal etc.
5. the big tires may cause the motor to lug more but the program still does the same action.
Of note, is in OD and under light loading, the fuel injected is cut back (leaned) and the timing advanced as a normal operation. If anything gets to far away from spec you can experience ping.
A combination of more than one of the above will not clear with one change, so you get confused on what's wrong until someone goes thru an investigation of each area to find out what is out of spec or marginal.
The problem is getting a tech that understand all this and is willing to do the job.
Welcome to the world of computer control.
Good luck with it. A little ping is not a problem as long as it doesn't sound like a little monkey with a hammer, banging away.

 

1.---- Any way of telling if a new program has been flashed into the ECU???
2.----I'm thinking of running some seafoam thru the engine for a sweet James Bond smoke screen and then changing the plugs this weekend. I believe the plugs may have already been changed by the dealership because the COP's are already numbered w/ red marker.
3.---- I might as well clean the EGR since its relatively easy to take on and off.
4.----I use only Chevron gas... only other gas we have up here is Shell & Tosoro. I guess I could try some other gas.

I wouldn't say it sounds like a monkey w/ a hammer but it does sound like a marble in a soda can... loud enough for me to care...

Thanks for the input

 

I believe I know why I'm getting my piston slap... I used a FRAM
Motorcraft going in tomorrow.

I'll buy my motorcraft plugs while I'm there.
Now I want to run some seafoam thru an intake port before the plug change...
Does the oil need to be changed after running seafoam or will it be ok? I just changed my oil less then 1K ago.

Thanks

(TB and Intake neck getting cleaned this weekend too)

 

Ok I believe I fixed my pinging.

I clean the throttle body and TB neck which were only the slightest dirty.

Changed all my plugs to Autolite Platinums, torqued to 156in lbs - Only took 1 1/2 hours ( i dunno what everyone is complaining about. Its not that bad and I took my sweet **** time. Didn't even need universal joints. Maybe the F150's are more crammed??? )

*Finally which I believe was the culprit... *
Small vacuum leak... located on the intake hose itself. Right infront of the throttle body where tho 2 hose ports are located. Apparently this piece is 'plastic welded' onto the hose itself. I used a sauder iron to melt the plastic back and siliconed it. Using a flashlight to make sure I couldn't see light shining thru small holes.
Reset the KAM and filled up with 87 octane... no pinging so far.

I did not see a EGR valve on this engine anywhere, I looked for about 20 mins w/ no luck.

 

Forgot to add, I also replaced the Fram w/ a Motorcraft which completely fixed the start up slapping noise I had.

Now I'm getting more of a knocking noise about 3 full seconds after I start the engine, and does not go away. Sounds like a quieter diesel engine.
I think the noise was there before but I was more worried about the start up slapping to really care.

This is my last issue w/ the truck and I want to knock it out.

I've used the search button a hundred times and the only thing I could find was the bad bore from the factory, so the pistons are knocking around in the block.
I spun the crank around many times and tried prying it to see if I could get a clunk out of it and NOTTA

 

My F250 does the same thing...I think it is more of a resonance going through the CATS that is causing the knock noise...it seems to be an F250 thing....

Yes the plugs are easier in a F250 vice an F150...there is tons of room in a 250....

 

Ok I didn't think they could possibly be the same because I had tons of room, only pain in the *** is laying across the engine bay in a lifted truck. It probably looked like my truck was eating me with my legs dangling out.

Resonance going through the cats?

How would we solve that then? Get different cats?

Have you looked at our stock Y pipe? It goes from about 2.5'in right off the manifold then around only 2' inches right as they join the main exhaust pipe?
WTF is up with that? Looks like a huge restriction to me... deffinetly would change the pulse of the exhaust.

Do they sell just an aftermarket Y-pipe for the F250?

 

When I get the long tubes for my ride I'm going to get the whole system custom fabricated, I don't know of any aftermarket y-pipes..I haven't really looked that hard though...

Got any pics of your ride? How much lift?

 

Skyjacker Lift I believe its a 4'inch

I guess the g/f likes to pose while I'm under the hood trying to figure out why the hell my truck is pinging on this road trip...

 

You should check out your Y-pipe... I wonder if this is the cause of the noise...

 

Nice ride!

Here's one of mine....4" Skyjacker lift also






Back to the noise.....


I think there was a Service Message on this noise, I'll dig through them later to see if I can find it.