my poor ranger

[ashleyroachclip]

well I've been having intermitten problems with pinging .......I hateto hear that sound ...any way today I'm driving along and it feels like I'm running out of gas ....and then it picks up again ....continues to drive and accelerate ...fine and funs down the road as normal ..tonite when I fire it up to come home from work , I take off and the cel comes on , and then it starts to miss ....and then the cel light goes out ,and stays out .
I see the tail pipe is a light grey , ...here is my thoughts ,,,I have to have the truck for work tomorrow ....I'm wondering if the miss is caused froom the detonation damageing a spark plug , the detonation beiing caused from a weak fuel pump at load ....I'll have to pull plugs tomorrow , my parts store buddies won't have a replacement for me untill tomorrow any way ....the truck is a 4.0 w/196.000 milles ...probably well past due ...as this is the same truckk that had the original plugs .....
please any thoughts would be appreciated ....I'll drive my wife's explorer tomorrow if I can't fiind the culprit ...I hope the pinging did'nt do somme damage....Ashley

 

[MrShorty]

Have you checked the usual causes of pinging (loose lower intake, dirty MAF, carbon buildup in the cylinders)?

If the CEL came on, it should have stored a code. Pull any trouble codes from the computer (see tests at www.dalidesign.com/hbook/eectest.html).

 

[Mbrooks420]

Pinging is very bad, and needs to be corrected before it does damage the motor. You may want to consider some Seafoam, to clean out the carbon deposits in the motor.

 

[ashleyroachclip]

removed the plugs this morning , and the center cylinder on the right bank .....had no center electrode , replaced that one and checked all the rest ....engine is running lean by reading the plugs ...I;ll run codes this weekend , and change the fuel pump ...I', pretty sure that there is no chance for any carbon build up ...I drive close to a thousand miles a week ...and maybe 20 of that is in the city ...the rest on open roads , and I do drive iin a "spirited manner" . thanks for your imput .....Ashley

 

[Glacier991]

If you are still getting the "ping" ...You might look into removing the octane shorting bar until you have all your repairs done.

 

[ashleyroachclip]

could you tell me where I will find this ....thanks ....Ashley