93 gasket, pinging codes story

[Christobal]

I developed the ping related to the laughable intake manifold gasket set leaking coolant/oil into a couple combustion chambers creating ping. I replaced all related gaskets that came in the Fel Pro kit. Plugs are all even, now. The two that were wet before the gasket change have now equalized to the others. Showed signs of leaness and the spray bottle steam cleaning I gave them about 1000 miles ago.

Only code I am getting is 186, injector pulse width too high. This only happens during higher load settings particulary when the remaining but greatly reduced ping is audible.

From reading, it seems the MAF elements may need cleaning to remedy a lean condition. My theory is, the PW goes high when the engine begins to ping because of remaining deposits from gasket issue. Or, maybe it just pings because it's lean, due to MAF code, though I'm a bit surprised I'm not getting a MAF specific code.

Thoughts? All of this with 87 octane, I need to smog, been running injector cleaner. I think I can keep the CEL off and pass smog with 92 octane at this point.

 

[Anime]

I'd definitely suggest cleaning the Mass Airflow Sensor, usually the pinging in my X goes away after a good cleaning and resetting the ECU. It can also be a good idea to disassemble and clean the MAS housing, and clean the throttle body while you're at it. I'd advise against using anything over 87-88 octane unless it's just to pass smog, otherwise it can throw off the ECU or otherwise mask a knock/ping issue. Injector cleaner is good once in awhile, but it's better to just use good quality gas and avoid the discount stuff so you won't need to use cleaners.

 

[Christobal]

Thanks, I'll do that before I smog it and see if things calm down on 87.


Chris

 

[Christobal]

The pinging gradually creeps back into the picture and seems to be the mass air flow sensor wire getting contaminated as described.

Changed the thermostat because it froze up about the same time I changed the intake manifold gaskets to get the oil out of two cylinders which was causing a much bigger ping issue due to hot spots from cooked oil in the combustion chamber. The tstat is a 195. It now runs consistently a little hotter on the guage. It now gets a good mile per gallon or so better cruising than with the old stat which I assume was a sub-195 unit for reasons of tow package maybe, or possibly just variation among tstats.

Problem is now, when it is short tripped vs long tripped the mileage varies more widely than ever. It just got 15.7 and I've seen as low as 13 for tank. However if were to long trip it, it will get 24-26, better than ever....Still runs well, a good durable/reliable machine, even with a few problems.