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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Explorer / November 2005

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1994 Explorer Pinging

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Vern - 24 Nov 2005 02:53 GMT
My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
in it and that helps quite a bit, but it still pings whenever I
accelerate into a stiff wind.  I've changed spark plugs, wires, air
filter and fuel filter.  Nothing seems to help.  My mechanic says that
the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Ulysses - 24 Nov 2005 04:47 GMT
> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Cleaning your MAF sensor and the other one on the throttle body may help a
little.  How many miles do you have on it?  Are you hearding any rattling
from inside the engine?  When my '92 with about 265,000 miles on it started
pinging it turned out that the timing chain was loose and had jumped two
teeth.  This seems to be very unusual for the 4.0 engine so I would rule out
everything else before tearing off the timing cover.
Vern - 24 Nov 2005 15:27 GMT
I've got about 180,000kms on it.  I only hope mine last to 265,000
miles!
Paul Scrutton - 24 Nov 2005 12:46 GMT
I have the same symptoms on my '96. I believe the consensus is that its
likely to be an intake manifold gasket leak. I haven't yet got round to
undertaking this project so can't comment on whether this fixes it or not.

> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Bob - 24 Nov 2005 16:57 GMT
Cleaning the MAF sensor cured my '94 of this problem.

> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Ashton Crusher - 24 Nov 2005 18:27 GMT
>Cleaning the MAF sensor cured my '94 of this problem.

Same on my 92.  I used to have to put premium in it in the hot summer
months to stop it from pinging.  Then I cleaned the MAF and have not
had to use premium since.  

>> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
>> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Happy Father - 25 Nov 2005 16:11 GMT
same here i clean it twice a year and notice much better performance and gas
mileage
> Cleaning the MAF sensor cured my '94 of this problem.
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
>> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Vern - 26 Nov 2005 18:05 GMT
Could you tell me where exactly the MAF sensor is located?  Thanks to
everyone who responded to my question.  I've searched for "pinging" on
the rest of this group and have found a ton of information.  Thanks
again.
Bob - 26 Nov 2005 23:52 GMT
> Could you tell me where exactly the MAF sensor is located?  Thanks to
> everyone who responded to my question.  I've searched for "pinging" on
> the rest of this group and have found a ton of information.  Thanks
> again.

It's located on top of the air intake tube, held down with security torx
screws (you'll need the security torx tool which is easily available).
It's a snap to remove and replace. I clean mine with some electronic
switch spray cleaner, be careful it's delicate, don't touch it, just
spray till it looks clean.
carbide@egine.com - 24 Nov 2005 18:51 GMT
> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

There's the "remove the shorting bar" fix, which retards the spark 3
degrees:

"The bar was easy to find, it's in the passenger side of the engine
compartment behind the diagnostic connection block.  Look for a
wire with a connector on the end taped to the large harnass leading
into the block.  The shorting bar is a small grey rectangular cube
that plugs into the connector.  I just grasped onto it and pulled."

There is also de-carbonizing. Carbon builds up in the head and on the
intake valves, effectively increasing the compression ratio and making
little glow plugs if the carbon gets red hot. Both of those things can
cause pre-ignition or pinging.  I read an old post by guru Jim Warman
about adding a small amount of water to the intake of the engine as it
idles, "steam cleaning" the carbon out.  There are also kits of
chemicals that do the same thing.

Search this newsgroup or the web for "pinging" "shorting bar" etc if
you need more detail.
-Paul
Big Shoe - 25 Nov 2005 17:14 GMT
Give the bar a try if you want to.  I tried it on my '92 and it gave
such a bad hit to performance and gas mileage that I put it back. Some
of the posts advise against running premium gas but I ran it in my '92
for years with no ill effects that I could see.

>> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>>  The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>you need more detail.
>-Paul
S.P. - 30 Nov 2005 04:31 GMT
> There is also de-carbonizing. Carbon builds up in the head and on the
> intake valves, effectively increasing the compression ratio and making
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> idles, "steam cleaning" the carbon out.  There are also kits of
> chemicals that do the same thing.

I haven't put water in my carb since before there were catalytic converters.
I was afraid the water might slam against the converter guts breaking it
into small pieces.  Is it safe, then?  Thanks.  To get rid of my pinging
(166K now, but there since 100K) I use a tank full of 89 octane or a couple
of gallons of premium every 4 or five fill-ups of regular.
Mike Iglesias - 24 Nov 2005 23:45 GMT
>My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
> The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
>better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Your engine is designed to run on 87 octane gas, so don't use premium.
Regular use of premium tends to build up deposits and cause the
pinging, according to posters in this newsgroup in the past.

Try some of the suggestions others have posted to get it to stop
pinging.  Maybe Jim Warman will have some suggestions too.

I put over 100k miles on my 94 using regular gas and it never pinged.

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Mike Iglesias                          Email:       iglesias@draco.acs.uci.edu
University of California, Irvine       phone:       949-824-6926
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Randy Johnson - 27 Nov 2005 18:04 GMT
I ended up in the intaken mainfold catagory  Cleaning the MAF never fixed
it.  Factory gasket is hard plastic - doesn't seal well.

> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
> The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Ashton Crusher - 29 Nov 2005 03:52 GMT
>I ended up in the intaken mainfold catagory  Cleaning the MAF never fixed
>it.  Factory gasket is hard plastic - doesn't seal well.

I was lucky.  Mine (1992) developed some sort of problem (don't recall
what) when it was only a year or so old and the warranty took care of
the repair which included  RR of the upper and lower intake manifold.
I recall the service guy saying something like the factory gaskets
were crap but the ones they put on to replace them should last the
life of the vehicle.

>> My '94 Explorer pings horribly whenever I put regular octane gas in it.
>> The pinging is worst when I accelerate.  I've been putting premium gas
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>> the vehicle doesn't need premium gas, but it sure seems to run a lot
>> better on it.  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

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