Norm
New Member
- Joined
- August 13, 2002
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- richland
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94XLT
My '94 X has had an intermittent engine pinging problem. Usually it occured when it is hot outside, the vehicle is fully loaded, and it is accelerating uphill (like everyone elses senario). It progressively got worse and worse so I searched this forum for possible solutions.
The consenses from the posting I found suggested to:
1) clean the mass air flow (MAF) sensor
2) reset the engine computer
3) clean the carbon building up on the intake/injectors
I removed the MAF sensor. It was not terribly dirty, but I cleaned away. I sprayed a full can of Junk carb cleaner into one of the blanked off vacuum ports. I then reset the computer. This wasn't the most scientist method, since one of these fixes should have been done at a time. Anyway cleaning the MAF sensor and resetting the computer seems to be single fix. Previous pinging problems were solved by FORD by decarbonizing the fuel intake (my wife now tells me that was $250 charge!).
So the bottom line is the pinging problem is completely fixed. I hauled the X fully loaded, towing a tent trailer, four bikes, and a cargo carrier over the mountain passes on the way to the Oregon coast -- not one ping ping!
On a side note, the radiator was leaking since about the first day we bought it. I replaced this with a Modine 2 row radiator ($150). Towing the trailer over the Mt. passes can be done with the air conditioning on MAX level 4 with no overheating. Previously we had to drive with the air OFF. I also noticed that the plastic radiator fan had serious cracks in it. I bought and installed a new fan blade from FORD ($50). A word to the wise, CHECK YOUR FAN BLADE before it blows apart into the radiator!
Thanks for all your great advise. Taken with a grain a salt, these posting helped solve my problem.
Regards, Norm
The consenses from the posting I found suggested to:
1) clean the mass air flow (MAF) sensor
2) reset the engine computer
3) clean the carbon building up on the intake/injectors
I removed the MAF sensor. It was not terribly dirty, but I cleaned away. I sprayed a full can of Junk carb cleaner into one of the blanked off vacuum ports. I then reset the computer. This wasn't the most scientist method, since one of these fixes should have been done at a time. Anyway cleaning the MAF sensor and resetting the computer seems to be single fix. Previous pinging problems were solved by FORD by decarbonizing the fuel intake (my wife now tells me that was $250 charge!).
So the bottom line is the pinging problem is completely fixed. I hauled the X fully loaded, towing a tent trailer, four bikes, and a cargo carrier over the mountain passes on the way to the Oregon coast -- not one ping ping!
On a side note, the radiator was leaking since about the first day we bought it. I replaced this with a Modine 2 row radiator ($150). Towing the trailer over the Mt. passes can be done with the air conditioning on MAX level 4 with no overheating. Previously we had to drive with the air OFF. I also noticed that the plastic radiator fan had serious cracks in it. I bought and installed a new fan blade from FORD ($50). A word to the wise, CHECK YOUR FAN BLADE before it blows apart into the radiator!
Thanks for all your great advise. Taken with a grain a salt, these posting helped solve my problem.
Regards, Norm
