jvm051

Less than a month into ownership of my 06 GT, I think I might have some engine Ping. It only seems to occur when under load, and then it is brief. With all the damm noise comming from the transmission, I do not know if it actually is the engine or the Tranny. I am running Mobil 87 octane from Arizona. If I was to go to 89 octane would that compensate for the crappy arizona gas that is similar to the stuff in California, or does Ford take crappy gas into considereation when setting the computers on these engines. It is really taking the fun out of the car, when I decide to get on it, and have to worry about detonation on a car with 2000 miles on it. I will take it to the dealership, but I'm guessing they will not find anything wrong with it. Any help/advice would be great.

TehSLeeper

Is it a clicking like sound?

lodom

Before you take your car to the dealer, I'd at least try a full tank of 89 or at least add half tank of 91 or 93 and see if the noise goes away. It won't hurt anything and will rule out the pinging. My'99 pinged on 87 when it was hot and humid outside, so 89 cured the problem. The conditions you're describing sound like the ones that pinging occurs under. It almost always stops when you let off the gas a little.

The S197 has pretty high compression for a engine to run on regular unleaded.

clintoris

or try getting a bottle of Octane Boost 104 or a similar octane booster.... instead of waiting until your gas is all run out and then buying the more expensive gas... it used to be like $5 a bottle.... check it out.

jvm051

I went to a local dealer this morning, and had the quality control person go on a ride with me. I had him drive first and then I drove. I only heard it when I was driving, and he did not hear it at all. He did not go WOT and when I showed him the spot (Around 2800-3000 rpm, and give it some gas) he did not hear it. It is so quick that once you pass that spot in the RPM's it goes away. Once the gas is almost at E, I will switch to 89 octane and run that from now on.

clockworks

I have the exact same thing you are talking at about the same RPM (between 2800 and 3200 for me). Once you pass the RPM range, the sound is gone.

Mine only happens under a specific load. To light or too heavy of a load and it doesn't happen. Or maybe WOT is too loud for me to hear it, but it still happens?

I just finished a tank of 89 octane (which didn't make the rattling go away), and I'm now on 93 octane and still faintly hear it. I haven't driven enough with 93 octane to happen to chance on that exact load that makes it fairly loud.

Because it only happens on a certain load, it very hard for me to reproduce it.

GhostGT

Can you explain what this "ping" is? (Sorry, im with stupid)

dustindu4

If your engine is pinging, it sounds like a machine gun under the hood

S197 GT

Leave it to Dustin to make a machine gun comment

SixtySix

I have a feeling it's not really pinging (detonation) at all that you're hearing.

I previously thought the same, but to be brutally honest a true detonation type of pinging is practically impossible on this car. It detects "real" detonation quickly and retards timing quite well.

I've done a little data-logging, and in the extreme heat that I experience here in the desert in the summer, this happens quite a bit under load.

Thing is, when it's retarding timing, it doesn't coincide with the occasional "ping" I was hearing.

So what is it? I'm thinking it could be as simple as the butterflies in the throttle body "fluttering" under certain conditions.

My data logging assured me that this was not classic pinging due to detonation, so I've dismissed it as something normal.

Pinging due to detonation is unmistakable, and it wasn't doing that, but I automatically thought the same thing, that somehow this was a detonation ping.

Just my 2 pennies

jvm051

Tony, when is the next time you guys are having a car show GTG, I may have one of the AZ stangers listen to the car. I am starting to think I am crazy. It reminds me of when I was having cooling issues on my 93 5.0, After overheating, all I did was watch the temp gague all the time. I am going to finish out the 87 and put some 89 in with a can of octane boost. If that doesent work, it must be something other than detonation. Funny when I went to the dealer, when I was trying to explain the issue, they were asking alot of questions about the mufflers. makes me even more scared to do other performance mods, if they are questioning mufflers?

SixtySix

Next trip is Nov 5th/or 6th. We're heading up to Sedona. We may also think about Fun Ford Weekend the last weekend in Oct at Firebird. Oct is a busy month for me, so we'll see how it goes. I'll be posting info over at my roundups section in the next couple of days.

ponyboy66

I would try this before you do anything.
Remove the negative battery cable from your battery.
I'm not sure the length of time it will take to clear the memory.
Reconnect and let the puter re-learn your driving.
Don't be shy with her. Maybe this will reset all the fuel/air/timing curves.

HolyPony!

My car was also making a lot of funny noises, especially after driving a lot in heat, humiduty and .... traffic. It is a lot different now with a tune and CAI. I seems as if there is something choking the "stock" engine

gt6974a

My engine is 'pinging' as well but not sure its a detonation issue. Sounds like someone is dropping a quarter onto a hollow steel pipe.

When I'm driving seems like it happens every 11-13 seconds. I'll have to try different loads to see if that effects it. You'll only hear it if you're really listening for it.

Sitting parked and in idle it never pings, I'll try to take notice of more environmental variables today when I go home

DENVER05GT

I too have this knocking or detonation sound and I cannot determine if it is something in the clutch or the transmission. It does it really bad in the powerband when I really get on it. It sounds bad. I don't know how to locate it.

I noticed in the summer it woiuld make this noise when it was really hot and the AC was running. But lately it has been very cool outside here in Denver and It seems to be doing it much more thani it was in the summer.

I was at half a tank of 87 gas today so I topped her off with 91 and replaced my HC trap (not sure if this will matter) but I figured I'd put it back to as stock as I could and reset the computer and see if she still makes the noise.

I will let you guys know what happens tomorrow.

By the way, why is this transmission so fricken noisy? It sounds like I'm in a Pro Stock car or something. The gear whine in first is just ridiculous. Also noticed whenever i slowly release the clutch without alot of gas I get a slight ticking sound? Anybody go this?