Steam is a very productive method for removing carbon build up in the combustion chamber. It's as simple as reving the engine and slowly emptying a glass of water into the engine through the carbirator. Trouble is that we have EFI engines. If he was able to get the water to vaporize then I'm sure he gained the results he was after but I'm not about to try it on my truck unless I know exactly where the water is going and how it's getting there.

 

What about if we change to 'cooler' spark plugs? the idea being to avoid early detonation as they are more resistant to the increase in heat. I've never really heard an answer for this idea.

 

I have had this stupid pinging on every truck I have ever had. From my Mazda, toyota to my f150 and have NEVER found a soloution.. I notice it on the interstate a when merging or flooring it at 70mph to 85-90 mph. Aggravaiting as hell. If you want to hear it bad, try pulling a boat up an intercoastal canal bridge here in Louisiana. talk about knocking. sounds like a rhythem from some stupid rap song. You guys find a solutoin for this, HELP!

Thanks
Snoman

 

My engine has developed such pronouced knock that I've stopped driving it until my appt with the dealer Wednesday. I don't know if they'll be able to solve it but I havn't been able to on my own.

You can end knocking by changing to a cooler plug or running a higher octane fuel but this doesn't resolve the underlying reason for detonation, it just masks the problem. If an engine is designed to run on 87 octane but needs 92 to keep from knocking then there is something seriously wrong. Could be faulty sensors, advanced timing, carbon build-up, wrong plugs or our imagination.

The best thing to do is find why an engine has begun knocking rather than just trying to adjust to it with different fuel or plugs.

 

AjRagno:
Your right, we need to figure out what the hell is causing it rather than masking it. I wonder if there is a connection between piston slap and spark knock. This might make sense since the slap comes from an incorrect piston to bore ratio, so it could actually be that or the piston rings themselves creating an increase in blowby or pumping. Is this possible?

 

Well with all ya'll trying differnet things has any of them worked ever changing the O2 sensors. I never thought of that, I dont know what detonation is but I know the engine just does not seem to be getting enough gas to all the cylinders. Am I totally work or what well if one of ya'll figure it out please post your new found ideas. Well I just started today working for a Ford delearship sells trucks and I will talk to the tech when I get a chance and see what he thinks is I wont just be a dumba$$ custumer but an employee. Well good luck on finding the fix.
Thanks Joe D.

 

I've had the dreaded "ping" now for almost 10K miles (I have 30K on the truck now). My pinging occurs after the engine is at full operating temperature and is most noticable when the weather is hot. I've had it into the dealer a total of 5 times now, 4 at one dealer and 1 time at another. Between the two of them, they've replaced the MAF sensor twice and reprogrammed the computer. The tech that reprogrammed the computer said the programming required 103 octane.

Any how, after all this, the problem is still not fixed. I told the dealer that the problem still exists and he told me that they can't fix what's not broken. I told him I didn't believe their trucks should ping all the time and if they are to prove it to me by letting me get into any truck on the lot and driving it just as I drive my truck. He said he understood my position, but they can't redesign my truck engine (you believe that?!?!?).

I asked for the Customer Care Hotline number and spoke to a gal there. She was just wasting air. She said I must work through a dealer. I told her I have and they're not competent enough to fix my truck. So I asked her for someone that can hear my greivance. She told me that would be the dealer. Some customer care, huh? I'm stuck with an incompetent dealer and a customer care rep that doesn't understand her job.

Anyways, I'm taking it to the same dealer again for him to check it out, again (and probably tell me there's nothing wrong and the pinging is normal). I'd love to hear if you guys get a fix for your problem. I still got about 6K miles of warrenty left, but would be willing to pay to get this problem fixed for good.

Steve

 

Is this a problem with only the 4.6? What about that Knock Sensor I thought these engines have? Does only on the 5.4 have it (the Knock Sensor)?

 

Well, I thought I could hear something that sounded like pinging.......

I was hoping it was my imagination.

I too have the 98 4.6 with code FOU1. I doesn't ping bad, and I can actually avoid it by driving it a little differently. Will it get worse? Who knows!

To answer some of your questions, I added a Superchip (Just this weekend). Not to try and fix this, but because I heard so many wonderful things about it.

Well, it hasn't done anything for the pinging. It still does it when I'm accelerating with low RPM's. To avoid accelerating at low enough RPM's to cause the pinging, I turn off the O/D until I get close enough to highway speed. Especially when towing my boat.

I geuss I'll try cleaning out the intake and such, and see if that makes a difference.

 

Are you serious??? 103 octane??? I think i may have shot the tech right there and then! Where do you even get 103 octane? Maybe you meant 93?

 

That's what the guy said. He was refering to the original program, though, not the new one. The tech said he reprogrammed it for a lower octane.

I did take my truck in for transmitions service on Thursday. I told them I'm still having problems with the pinging. And they took a look at it again. And again, told me there was no problem to fix.

The service advisor told me the tech was able to reproduce the pinging noise under light acceleration, but the OBD II scanner did not report anything out of spec. Since nothing is out of spec, there is nothing wrong. In addition, he said to wait until something does go out of spec and then get it fixed.

I asked the service advisor what the impact of having detonation in an engine is. His response was that Ford says some light pinging is normal and that is what I have "light pinging". Nothing to worry about. I told him, what if my warranty runs out before the problem is diagnosed. His response was "we'll show Ford your paperwork and history of this problem and hopefully they'll cover it". I'm not holding my breath.

Ford is going to have a hard time getting my business in the future with this kind of service and "customer care". I'm 31 years old and would have the potential of buying 5-6 new vehicles over my lifetime...oh well, their loss.

Steve

 

My truck started to knock when the temp was below 45 degress about 100 miles ago. It sounded so bad that I thought my engine was going to explode.

It was a confusing situation because it would only knock when I was on the hwy at cruising speed. There were no codes in the computer and because it wasn't a traditional knock that one gets when accelerating or climbing a steep hill, I gave up and made a service appt.

I WILL NEVER AGAIN DEPEND ON FORD TO DIAGNOSE AN ENGINE PROBLEM

I explained to my service adviser that it would only knock on the hwy. Told him that there were no codes, ignition produced the proper voltage, good gas milage, cool engine, sensors all testing fine.

I brought it in Wednesday morning and called for an update that evening and they told me the lead tech took it on a twenty minute drive and everthing sounded fine. Truck didn't act up and the computer didn't show any codes.

I explained the syptoms again and he offered to keep it overnight and take it for a drive first thing in the morning. I also asked him to check the EGR system for stuck valves and carbon build-up.

Well.....I called Thursday night and went through it all over again. They say there is no knock, no codes, nothing wrong.

I know my truck and know how smooth the engine was a month ago and THIS IS NOT MY TRCUK!!!

Anyway, I pay them $99.00 to tell me it's all in my head.

 

I'm less than impressed with Ford's attitute torwards the pinging problem aswell. To be compltely fair though I DO belive it says in the owners manual that some light pinging is normal, and not to worry about it. But excessive pinging is not normal, and they didn't do it brand new, so you'd think there's something they could do to correct it. At the same time, this is not a new problem. I've probably heard more complaints of pinging on here than just about everything else but door cracks and intercooler leaks! You'd think if there was a simple fix, all service departments would have been thru it a hundred times by now, and would know the exact list of possibilities to look at. From just about everyone's input on here, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Anyways, I seemed to help my problem considerably by resetting the computer, then driving it fairly aggresively for the first couple hundred miles while the computer 'learns' your driving habits. I only had light pinging occasionally under WOT, but I haven't heard anything in the last two weeks, and have been purposely driving it hard looking for it. Seems like if it was something like a MAF, DPFE, EGR, etc. it would do it all the time or atleast all the time under similair circumstace. In that it doesn't it makes me wonder if the computer may be the problem. What do yall think?

 

Well, all I can speak for is my experience and my truck.

The service manager tells me that the sensors are all performing within spec and the computer is not reporting any problems. To me this means one of two things. 1) the specs are wrong for the engine design or 2) the problem can't be detected by the sensors and/or the computer.

My experience and common sense tells me that you can't rely on the onboard computer to diagnose a problem that may be caused by the onboard computer itself. But that is all these guys at the dealer want to do. What ever happened to troubleshooting the problem by identifying the probable cause and eliminating the problem one source at a time?

BTW, for all those who have called Ford and talked to an engineer or somebody else that can help a customer out, how did you do that? Who did you call? When I called the customer care hotline, the lady I spoke to refused to do anything but tell me to call the dealership.

Steve

 

First and foremost I am brand spanking new here,but I have all of you guys to thank. If it were not for your help, my truck would still be piston slapping. I owe you guys alot of money for the free engine. Being that I just traded in my 97 Cobra Mustang for my 2000 4x4 I was all in to the performance and speed side of things. I remembered a timing adjuster for the 4.6 Mustangs from Steeda. If my truck was pinging and nothing else worked I would definitely try this add on. You might get a little more performance as a bonus. Try contacting Steeda, or one of the many Mustang sites available. Hope this helps, I look forward to future posts. Knowing is half the battle.