Pinging in '01 GT, any suggestions on how to cure?

[StangDriver5650]

I've been getting detonation/pinging when I get into it in any gear. The engine doesn't make any annoying rattles/sounds when I'm going easy on it. However when I get on it, it starts sounding rattley, doesn't have much of a kick, and sounds "airy" or "tinny". It just doesn't sound strong. I'm pretty sure it's detonation. It pulls decently (although it feels slower) but it doesn't sound right at all.

It has 74k miles on it and I don't believe the fuel pump has ever been changed, I think the plugs were changed during the 30k maintenance checkup. The idle is smooth though; I would think if I had bad plugs that the idle would be slightly rough.

I have the Steeda timing adjuster and have played around with different timing settings. It pings less at 10* (stock) but it's still more than what I would call acceptable. At 14* and 16* it's noticeably worse. It used to run fine at 14*-15* but it's gone down hill pretty quick. I've always ran '93 in it.

The fact that it's ~30* outside and it STILL pings just pisses me off.

It has seemed to have gone downhill ever since it got colder, which is puzzling. Unless it's making more HP due to the colder air and it doesn't have the fuel to mix with it. I've put in a new fuel filter recently and that didn't seem to help much.

Anyone have ideas on what I should get checked? I hate to take it to Ford b/c they charge so damn much but I guess that's what I'll do.

What all could be causing this?

 

[Go HoTO!]

If you are getting detonation, in this situation based on what you just told us, I would look into too things.

The first is the TA. That may be you problem. Could the TA setting slipped? You might think you are at 10 degrees, but what if you are actually seeing something much higher?

The second thing would be dirty or fouled combustion chambers or plugs. Try pulling a plug or two and see how they look. They might be fouled.

 

[Darkhorse845]

Too much timming or bad quality of fuel?

 

[StangDriver5650]

Thanks for the replies,

The strange thing is, no matter how much I retard the timing, it still sounds like it's pinging, still rattling coming from the engine when it's under load. It seems to run worse with anything less than stock timing. Oh well, I'll check out the plugs (they haven't been replaced since the 30k mile service) and if that doesn't fix it, maybe it's bad injectors? I've ran quite a few bottles of injector cleaner through the gas (not sure if that helps or not) with no luck. Loading it up with octane booster seems to help a bit but not much.

 

[tomustang]

when did it all start?

 

[daver01]

resetting the cpu help @ all?

 

[raykrv6a]

Dump the steeda timing adjuster and get a SCT or Diablo tuner. You can adjust the timing and fuel at WOT for best HP without detonation. You can also log the WOT timing, tip-in, for RPM and gear.

 

[jstreet0204]

Doesn't Steeda apply their calibration flash to their cars? if so, the timing may have already been increased before you put the TA on it. The EEC also adds spark for colder air charge temps, which would explain why it is happening more so now that it has gotten cold.

 

[Go HoTO!]

Doesn't Steeda apply their calibration flash to their cars? if so, the timing may have already been increased before you put the TA on it.

That's actually a good point. I did not realize you were driving a Steeda stang. But, I still think there is something else at work here too as I mentioned earlier.

 

[Stang_Dawg]

Just for the record, I've noticed the same thing in my stock '01 GT. Smooth transitions are fine, but when I downshift to grab some real hps, it pings big time. I've noticed this since day one, but I chalked it up to SOHC. So I hope we can figure something out in this thread.

 

[StangDriver5650]

Good point about it being a Steeda and possibility of an EEC reflash. Steeda says that they don't do that to their cars unless the customer requests a custom tune OR it's documented in the sheet that you get with the car. Mine had neither. However, this summer when I took it to Tim at T&J Performance for a tune, he thought the timing had already been played with and was unable to mess with it much. It turns out that my timing adjuster had been bumped back to 8* (-2 from stock) before the tune (my mistake). So that fudged it all.

Anyways, it started as the temperatures started dropping, it isn't a blatent pinging problem but it's easily audible and I know something is not right. It still seems to pull hard (but doesn't sound the same, not as strong and "full" sounding). I've reset the computer several times (each time I've changed the timing) but no luck.

I don't really want to dump a bunch of money into it for a tune and all since I'll be selling it sometime in the spring for a '03 Cobra; but maybe that's what I have to do. I'll try putting in some new plugs, would 24# injectors help anything?

 

[jstreet0204]

If you don't see anything obvious when you check the plugs, try putting the crank sensor back in its original position and see if it goes away.

 

[StangDriver5650]

If you don't see anything obvious when you check the plugs, try putting the crank sensor back in its original position and see if it goes away.

Ah, I had the T/A installed by a shop and am not sure where that is/what position it should be in visually.

 

[tomustang]

if you got the Steeda and it didn't have the steeda t/a on it, what did you think?

 

[jstreet0204]

Ah, I had the T/A installed by a shop and am not sure where that is/what position it should be in visually.

There is an arm on it now that extends it out to line up with the TA Wheel. The point where that arm mounts to the engine is where the sensor originally was. The arem covers up the hole the sensor goes into. Remove the sensor from the arm and insert it back into the original hole. You'll have to loosen up the bolts on the ac compressor to get to it, but the whole thing shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to do.

http://www.steeda.com/instructions/01timing_adjuster.htm

 

[Kraw]

Just for the record, I've noticed the same thing in my stock '01 GT. Smooth transitions are fine, but when I downshift to grab some real hps, it pings big time. I've noticed this since day one, but I chalked it up to SOHC. So I hope we can figure something out in this thread.

same here. It seems to be worse for diff kinds of gas. I bumped to midgrade and didn't do any hard accelerating so I didn't note any ping
I rarely drive the car but when I do, I notice it