Lots of Pinging

After eliminating my loud tire noise with new tires, I now notice that my car seems to ping a whole lot. It pings under normal accelleration, and alot when downshifting, and even a little bit during upshifting. Everything but the most feather light touch causes it to ping, and after it shifts to over drive, even a light touch causes ping. I dropped in some injector cleaner today, and changed gas stations. Its an '01 and I've only got 41K miles on the car, could I have an intake leak? I sure hope not, havn't got the funds to replace that. I've got the DOHC motor, is there a cam sensor I could maybe adjust to fix this? my next tank of gas is going to be 89 octane, i've always run 87 in the car. As always, appreciate any insight or where to go from here....

Is the air filter clean? Pinging, spark knock or detonation can be caused by a number of things but I believe most frequently caused by timing to far advanced. Isn't timing controled by the PCM computer? Click, "What causes my engine to ping?" http://www.swedishbricks.net/faq/ignition.html#pinging

I don't know if this aplies to a Taurus because it came from a 02 Camaro thread: "It sounds like you have a knock sensor operating out of range or a main PCM that is not responding to the knock sensor values." http://www.2carpros.com/topics/noises.htm

Go to Advance Auto or a parts store that can pull the codes and see if there's any stored codes that would cause pinging.

Your Duratec engine is designed to run on 87 octane and you shouldn't have to use 89.

"Where is the knock sensor, i'm thinking that may be the source of the problem."
I don't know and someone else will have to help you with that or go to your local Ford dealer service dept and ask them.

I don't have a check engine light though, everything looks good, dummy light wise. I get good mileage, and the car makes good power, no rough idling or anything of the sort. If it wern't for the pinging, there would be no indication of a problem. Where is the knock sensor, i'm thinking that may be the source of the problem.

You can find a diagram of the knock sensor location at
http://www.members.aol.com/Rod2414738/Car_Stuff/knock.pdf

You're sure it's a ping and not a misfire? If you can find a scan tool with the I/M readiness component parameters or datastream modes, you should be able to find out if the engine is counting misfires rather than knock counts, even if it is not setting a check engine light.

-Rod

Mine always pings but I'm going to try using some sort of premium gas.

A badly carboned up engine will ping. You do enough high speed driving to blow the cobs out of it now and then?

Are you sure it is pinging and not dry cam noise? I had a oil filter that must have been made wrong that all but stopped my oil and it caused such a loud almost pinging noise from my cam and the valves that I thought it was bad gas at first. Couldn't hurt to change the oil and filter.

This whole time I thought he had the vulcan engine.

Well I put two bottles of STP injector cleaner in when I filled up the other day (87 octane), and ping is all but gone. If i tromp on it while i'm rolling at low RPMs and make it downshift, it pings for a sec until it downshifts than goes like greesed lightening. I don't drive the car spirited at all, I prefer to drive like a granny to prolong tranny life. I've never owned a vehicle that had transmissions problems bad enough to warrant replacing, and don't want to start (I nursed a dodge stratus for 35K miles with a slipping tranny before I sold it, never did a thing to it but change fluid and filter when I bought it). Hopefully my luck holds out on this thing. I've had it for 7 months, and it seems to be OK, slips a little between gears every now and then at random times so I keep my fingers crossed. I got such a good deal on it and paid in cash ($4700 US for an '01 with 36K miles and every bell and whistle minus sunroof and traction control), that if I have to bite the bullet and rebuild the tranny i'll still be in a good place.

Since you're trying to prolong trans life, have you changed the trans fluid?

Since you're trying to prolong trans life, have you changed the trans fluid?


That was the first thing I did after purchasing the car, I did a pan drop and filter change. It took about 6-7 quarts to fill back up after that (Castrol Syntech Mercon V fluid). I'm adding a trans cooler as soon as I get my hands on one and a cooler saturday afternoon in the garage. I'm gonna stick to a 20K mile rotation on the trans fluid, though this next time i'm gonna use my harbour freight drill powered pump to pull the fluid out the fill tube. Should be loads less messy!!

"It took about 6-7 quarts to fill back up after that . ."
I'm to lazy to go look at the manual, but I think it holds around 15 qts total and to change what's in the torque converter & cooler you have to get it flushed at a shop. I had a GM product and Mr Goodrench tranny "flush" was $130. about standard price. "Change" is where they drop the pan, clean or replace the filter and pan oil is about $60. bucks, but the torque coverter & cooler fluid does not get drained and changed. Good pics here: http://www.autoblog.com/2006/03/31/autoblog-maintenance-101-transmission-fluid-and-filter/

"I'm gonna stick to a 20K mile rotation on the trans fluid,"
If you mean siphoning out 6 qts every 20K miles, that sounds reasonable. When we got ours it had 38.5K miles on it and I took a 1/4" ID hose and ran down the fill tube and let it siphon until I got out a gallon and replaced with Mobil 1 fully synthetic ATF, think it was $5.44 a qt at Advance Auto. My intent was to refurbish the ATF until 50K miles when I'll have it flushed at the Ford Place. $130. isn't exactly pocket change, but heck of a lot cheaper than a $1500. tranny rebuild. http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Other_Products/Mobil_1_Synthetic_ATF.aspx
Can't remember which ATF, but one I saw was a synthetic blend.

Transmission cooler: I read a thread in a forum and never knew the Taurus tranny has a heat sensor that doesn't open until the fluid gets to operating temp and flows like it should. Guy said don't put to big a cooler on because the fluid doesn't stay warm enough to flow like it should. :rolleyes: Sounded strange to me and perhaps one of our tranny experts can elaborate.

Cooling system: One of the most important components of an engine but the most neglected. I flush the system and put in new Prestone anti freeze every three years. Keep a close eye on that reservoir cap because it goes bad and doesn't hold sufficent pressure you're subject to running hot and/or boil over. Caps are relatively cheap and overheating number one cause of blown head gaskets. What would you prefer paying for, a new cap or replace a head gasket? DUH? http://www.castrol.com/castrol/genericarticle.do?categoryId=8264013&contentId=7006991