02 Ranger

Hi guys, I have this problem where when my motor is put under minimal stress, like an incline or small acclerations, there is a pinging. I cant really tell if it idles rough or if its my imagination, but the pinging is real. I have put new plugs and wires in and it worked fine for a few months. I cant adjust the timming because it has that electronic thing instead of a distributor cap. Not sure what else to try! Thanks for your help.

Well minor pinning is not unusual.

You could try a tank of higher test fuel. As cars get older they can build up deposits that increase the compression ratio and the need for higher octane. Of course if you are feeding it lower octane than the manufacturer specified for it, that is likely the reason.

It seems to be more than minor. I have tried some lube. that my parts store reccomened to put in with the gas and it did nothing. I have also tried higher octanes and fuel cleaner aditives, any other ideas?

What motor?
2.5,3.0,4.0?
~Michael

It is the 3.0 with about 68k, I also forgot to mention that my gas mileage seems to have gone down about 1-3 mpg on average.

Most pinging problems are usually caused by an EGR system fault.
You might drop by a local AutoZone, Checkers, Advance, etc. and have them pull the codes to see if you have an EGR code lurking around in there. It can be present without turning the CEL on.

Other possibilities could be a faulty knock sensor or carboned up engine, although these are less likely IMHO.

You could try running a can of SeaFoam through the intake and see if that helps it. Some of the SF will be regurgitated to some degree back through the EGR passages. (And your truck will smoke like a grassfire with the SF, but this is normal.)

Should have mentioned; these places will pull the codes for you free.

As soon as I get a few minutes I will try that out. Thanks a million and I will let you know if and what worked for it.

not to sound really smart#$%, but have you made sure the oil is on the mark?

I havent looked at it recently but, its like I mentioned its been doing this for a while so its gone through a few oil changes, but I will at least check it for the sake of checking it.

Well, Autozone scanned it for me and no codes were being stored. What do you think the next step would be? Try to replace some of the items you mentioned or bring it to a garage?