Tired of the valve rattle/probable detonation

[bcost882]

Well as it states im tired of my truck rattling pretty bad on acceleration. I filled up will midgrade to see if that would help. just wondering if i need to go to premium. run some cleaner through or what to look at first. I just dont remember it being this bad last summer. It doesnt run rough, not more than you would expect with sucking down 105+ degree air, and not a loss of power. just dont think its good for the engine. not sure if this is also something related but after a jaunt on the highway in midafternoon heat my engine will stumble a bit at the light for a second and oil press. will bounce. just wondering the suggestions or if it is just from sweet(kidding) vegas heat?

 

[oldfordman]

Here are some things to check on pinging Ranger 3.0 engines.
• The 3.0 Vulcan Flex-fuel engine is very prone to pinging. They are set up to run on 85% ethanol, so they have more advance, a bit more compression, and the chambers tend to carbon up.
• Buy a service manual
• Check for vacuum leaks
• Sea foam the engine. Be careful- feed it in too fast and you can seriously damage the engine. Go in through the vacuum port just behind the idle solenoid or the brake booster hose. Keep revs at about 1500, feed in just enough to make it run rough. Suck in about 2/3 can, shut it down and let it sit about 20 minutes. Start it up, feed in the rest of the can, hook the vacuum line back up and go for a hard drive. It will smoke like hell, if you have sensitive neighbors, do it out on a back road someplace.
• Check the EGR valve, make sure it is operating smoothly. You can apply a little vacuum to the EGR valve, it should open easily and the engine will almost stall.
• Check the metal EGR tube- mine had a huge split in it. Check the 2 pieces of silicon tubing that go from the EGR tube to the DPFE sensor, they sometimes get plugged. Do not use vacuum tubing, this is high temperature stuff. Find a dealer that buys it bulk, the individual tubes from Ford are stupid expensive.
• The old DPFE sensors have a habit of going bad. It measures the flow through the EGR tube by pressure drop through an orifice. Check the input and output voltage. I forget what it should be, it’s in the manual.
• By-pass the hot water going through the intake manifold. Sometimes helps.
• Run colder spark plugs. Original factory plugs were a #AGSF32 (not sure of the letters), later they went to #22, some people have gone down to #12. I am currently running AR-93, Autolite racing, 2 steps colder than stock.
• I know this will cause some arguments, but after all the above, my truck still pings a bit on some brands of 87 octane, does not on others. If I am not sure of a particular brand, I just put in the 89. Ten cents a gallon is a lot cheaper than engine parts.

Regarding the "bouncing" oil gauge. You don't really have a gauge, just a meter hooked into a switch for an idiot light. The sending unit trips at about 8 psi, so as long as you have 8 psi, your gauge will read in the middle of normal. Three things could be going on- 1) the sending unit is starting to go bad. Probably unlikely since it sounds like the gauge bounces only after a hard run in 100+ temps. 2) Your cam position sensor could be going bad. These things have a nasty habit of failing, sometimes as early as 60-75K miles. The CPS is in the rear of the block, on top, where an old style ditributor would be. The lower part of the CPS drives the oil pump. When it fails, no oil pressure. The only sure way to check it is to pull it, check the forum for the proper way to change it w/o screwing up the timing. 3) I know I'll get arguments for this- If you are running 5-20 oil in 100+ temps, your oil may be too thin for the heat. I am in eastern PA, and run 10-40 year round. Have for years with no propblems. I just run the engine a bit easy till it warms up. That thin oil is for 2 reasons- get slightly better mileage for the CAFE standards, and let people rev up a cold engine. All my engines last well over a quarter million. Unless you have an engine with spray cooling/lubrication under the pistons (porsche), or hydraulically controlled variable cam timing, going up a grade or so in oil won't hurt it.

 

[disciplerocks]

^Very good info. Some things should be done, but don't relate to your problem. I second the colder plugs for sure, bypass the egr, and replace the O2 sensors.

 

[Big Jim M]

Don't change spark plugs!

What happens when a different brand of plug is used id the user has NO IDEA what the heat range is compared to the stock plug! Sure them new plugs will screw into the head... but zackly what is going on with them compared to the stock plug that FITS all the performance of the engine?
A colder plug MAY be needed ig the engine has been changed considerably into a high reving performance engine. Something our engines simply aren't doing!
Colder plugs into our engines is a mistake...don't do it! Here is a cut and paste that may help to inform about colder plugs.

In identical spark plugs, the differences from one heat range to the next is the ability to remove approximately 70°C to 100°C from the combustion chamber. Note, that a projected style spark plug firing temperature is increased by 10°C to 20°C due to more area exposed to the combustion temperatures.


The firing end appearance also depends on the spark plug tip temperature. There are three basic diagnostic criteria for spark plugs: good, fouled, and overheated. The borderline between the fouling and optimum operating regions (450°C) is called the spark plug self-cleaning temperature. This is the temperature point where the accumulated carbon and combustion deposits are burned off automatically.

Bearing in mind that the insulator nose length is a determining factor in the heat range of a spark plug, the longer the insulator nose, the less heat is absorbed, and the further the heat must travel into the cylinder head water jackets. This means that the plug has a higher internal temperature, and is said to be a "Hot" plug. A hot spark plug maintains a higher internal operating temperature to burn off oil and carbon deposits, and has no relationship to spark quality or intensity.

Conversely, a "Cold" spark plug has a shorter insulator nose and absorbs more combustion chamber heat. This heat travels a shorter distance, and allows the plug to operate at a lower internal temperature. A colder heat range can be necessary when an engine is modified for performance, subjected to heavy loads, or it is run at high RPMs for significant periods of time. The higher cylinder pressures developed by high compression, large camshafts, blowers and nitrous oxide, not to mention the RPM ranges we run our engines at while racing, make colder plugs mandatory to eliminate plug overheating and engine damage. The colder type plug removes heat more quickly, and will reduce the chance of pre-ignition/detonation and burn-out of the firing end. (Engine temperatures can affect the spark plug's operating temperature, but not the spark plug's heat range).
Big JIm

 

[Froggmann]

If your truck is flex fuel, run several tanks of E-85 through it. It will do wonders for your truck.

 

[stmitch]

What he said^^^^^^^. It's the best fuel system cleaner going.

 

[bcost882]

thanks guys. i didnt get to reply cause i had to drive from vegas to NJ sooo. now it doesn't really ping alot but now i need a new clutch(can hear the rivets on the flywheel) slave, and Cam position sensor started chirping my second day home so thanks for the info. and i don't know why everyone complains about changing it is a slight pain but if you pay attention to where the flag is compared to the opening, i did it in 20mins(after i found a socket for the stupid sensor bolts) no TDC hassle and no lights gotta love it

 

[oldfordman]

Jim- I agree that just slapping in any old set of plugs is a bad idea. Just going by the numbers won't necesarily tell you if a plug is hotter or colder- some manufacturers use higher numbers to denote hotter plugs while some use lower numbers. My choice to use the AR plugs (Autolite, also make the Motorcraft plugs) was based on a 20 minute discussion with their tech support specialist who has over 40 years working on vehicles, from stock up through fuel dragsters. My choice was based on an engine that pinged after going through everything I could find, short of ripping off the heads to de-carbonize and polish. Replacing a set of plugs that may foul after 15-20K miles is a lot better than having to replace pistons, rod bearings, etc from pinging. My pinging was the classic mid range pinging, in the 2600-3200 rpm range. Since I put in the colder plugs- no more pinging. Someday, when I rip it apart, I'll fix it right. So far, I've run 12K miles with no problems.