My truck used to ping. 1998 Extended Cab, 3.9l V6, 5 speed (Let me know if
anyone wants more info). I noticed that the problem got worse when I put a
3" lift kit on my truck. It actually got to the point that I could feel the
engine "jerk" when I drove up a hill on interstate 71 in fifth, while
lugging the engine. I started running 89 octane, which made the pinging go
away somewhat. I then dedided to replace the spark plugs. When I pulled
the old ones out, I noticed that they had very long electrodes. Something
like a half an inch. I felt that they were way too hot, so I replaced them
with colder plugs. The pinging got a little bit better, but it was still
there. So, I decided start playing with the air intake. The flexible tube
had gotten a little kinked as a result of the lift, so I looked into getting
a K&N intake setup. Since they don't (or didn't) make one for a 98 V6, and
since the air mass sensor is located in the throttle body, I decided to just
rip off the whole air system from the flexible tube back. I bought a K&N
canister filter (PN RU2820) with a 3.5 inch diameter whole, 6 inches long,
and about 5 inches in diameter. I clamped it directly to the intake
housing. The pinging is gone. I can take the same hill that I used to ping
like crazy on, and floor it in fifth gear and get *no* pinging. Looking
back, I feel that what was happening was too little air was being taken into
the cylinder, therefore, too little gas was injected. This leads to a lean
charge in the cylinder, which in turn is easier to ignite (via too hot a
spark plug). I may be crazy, but it worked for me... total cost... 6 1.29
dollar spark plugs (Bosch, forget the Chumpion crappy ones) and a 35 dollar
K&N cannister filter. Not too shabby.
Dave
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