pinging problems

[metstalker]

My explorer has 206000 miles on the engine and i have been having some serous problems with pinging. Recently i have put 93 octane and it has helped but are there any other suggestions?

P.S. i took it to a mechanic and he told me that the cat was clogged? could the cat really cause pinging. (any suggestions would be appreciated)

 

[EliteConcept]

try midgrade gas, i heard teh highest grade can actually do more harm than good.

try midgrade or gas from a different station than where you've been buying... i had a ping , and i bought from a different gas station, and it greatly reduced the ping, Not gone, but much better than it was

 

[Nate1]

Replace that cat. Its part of the emissions system and a clogged cat can cause problems with fuel/air mixtures and it certainly isnt going to HELP the engine. Also try sea-foam. Do a search and you will find a HUGE thread on it.

 

[94ExplorerSS]

hey i had pinging on my 94 eplorer and 2 things other then gas and a clogged cat that can cause it are: dirty maf filter, or a loose intake manifold. I cleaned out my maf using an air compressor, and it totally took away the pinging, and it felt like i had 15% more pick up. I almost thought i was dreaming. You could just unplug the maf sensor and drive around and if it still does it then you know its not it.

nick

 

[metstalker]

nweibley
i will look into the sea foam and i plan to change the cat when possible hopefully with a high flow

94ExplorerSS
i have checked my maf but i will look into the intake manifold (by the way is the intake manifold hard to tighten)

 

[Nate1]

Personally, I would go with a high flow cat because I did a little checking a while back and high flow cats are hundreds of dollars cheaper than stock replacements. Dont ask me why! Anyways, good luck, and ALWAYS use the grade of gas specified for your vehicle (unless of course you have a custom burn chip). You could potentially increase the pinging problem! Do clean the MAF also, that is another cause.
Good luck!
-----Nate

 

[Bashman]

I would replace the cat and clean your MAF sensor with an electronic cleaner that does not leave a film. Remember to reset your computer (disconnect battery approx 10 minutes) so it can learn the new fuel/air mixture. If you don't it might still ping even though you have fixed the problem. If these fixes don't work, it might be that your lower intake requires re-torquing. Hope these help, let us know how it progresses.

 

[metstalker]

Bashman -where are the bolts that need re torquing are they hard to get to

 

[metstalker]

cleaned the maf sensor still pings also reset the computer still no go put 93 octane and all pinging stopped so will have to wait until get another tank of lower octane to do more test

 

[Nate1]

Using higher octane fuel than 87 (unless you have a chip), can actually increase pinging. I would really consider running some injector cleaner through it and trying sea-foam.

 

[Ross-N-Chicago]

I completely second the Sea Foam. I ran a full can through this morning and will do another tonight and then change the oil. The smoke show was incredible on the first can, probably a little less tonight. Let it soak for a good half to full hour and then drive the crap out of it and look out!!

 

[Bashman]

To get to the lower intake bolts, you have to remove the upper intake. You will also require a swivel socket, torque wrench, extensions and not sure but i think it's a 12mm socket. You will also require a Haynes manual for the proper torque sequence. It may sound hard but it really isn't. They are usually loose around #5 cylinders, this is pretty common for Gen 1 X's. I would do this after trying the seafoam.

 

[Rhett]

I 3rd the sea foam suggestion.
The Sea Foam cured 95% of the ping on my truck. I noticed it doing it just slightly yesterday; it's almost not noticeable and considerably better than it was before. I'm sure there's still some carbon in there; I saw enough of it in the upper and lower manifolds when I re-did the gaskets to know that. But at least now I can run 87 without fear of slowly destroying the engine.

 

[metstalker]

i have the manual. so how long should it take roughly an hour 1/2 . when i changed the spark plugs they did not look like carbon was the prob. what about the timing could it be off? i have decided to use the sea foam and will post the results later. (i dont know how much later B/C finals are approaching fast)