I've been doing some 60,000 mile service on my truck over the past few weeks. This 3.0L engine has had pinging problems since it was new, so I aimed to try and cure that while I do the maintenance.

So far, I've changed oil w/SuperTech 10W-30 Synthetic oil and Motorcraft FL-400S oil filter, changed automatic transmission fluid and filter w/Castrol Mercon V, changed power steering fluid w/Castrol Mercon, drained/flushed/refilled coolant, changed air filter, changed fuel filter, cleaned pcv valve, cleaned MAF sensor, and cleaned/neutralized slightly corroded battery terminals.

The MAF cleaned helped a little. The transmission fluid change helped more, which was a surprise. I haven't quite figured that one out yet.

Today, I changed the original spark plugs. I double checked the manual and the sticker just to verify gap, and the manual says .052 - .056 and the sticker on the car says .042 - .046. So I used .042.

The old single platinums that came out (AGSF22P) didn't look too bad, but you could see that the drivers side of the engine ran hotter than the left, and I didn't see any platinum left on any of them. The passenger side had gaps of around .051, and the driver side had gaps of around .060. Wires were in good shape.

I didn't have any luck finding the AGSF12PP that Bob Ayers suggested, so I put in a set of Motorcraft double platinums, AGSF22PPM / 605PPM. I disconnected the battery for a while to reset the computer before cranking it back up.

The difference was impressive. Fast starts, rock solid idle, and no more pinging! I even accelerated up a long, steep freeway bridge while lugging along in overdrive with the AC on and it never missed a beat. Just a smooth flow of power

I owe the folks here in the FTE forums a bunch of thanks for all the good advice leading me in the right direction so I could get this fixed

 

Thanks for sharing! Always like to hear those success stories!

 

That makes tow of us Jogging. If fixed mine with a EGR hose. And you are right the folks here are FAB! Everyone gets a pat on the back.
Keep up the good work Mods!

 

I just cleaned my MAF sensor and throttle body but forgot to disconnect my (-) battery terminal to reset the computer. Perhaps I should disconnect it so that it can reset itself. I take it this is important?
PS I'm not quite used to all these sensors and computers just yet.

 

Yep, it's important to disconnect the battery for at least 10 minutes to make it relearn the engine settings. It'll idle strange too after you crank it back up until it relearns the idle trim.

 

Hello Joggingguy! You got me thinking about changing my spark plugs as I have about 52,000 on my engine and pinging was driving me crazy! Cleaning the MAF sensor and changing filters seemed to help but when I changed the spark plugs today with the AGSF22PP plugs the pinging is so much improved! Now it only pings under hard acceleration which I really never do anyway. Before it really irritated me though because it would ping under minimal engine load like after shifting. That frustrated me because the last 6 cylinder I owned was a 64 Rambler with a straight 6 and it never pinged. I found it hard to believe that with almost 40 years of technological improvments that the engines had become more tempermental. Anyway, I am very glad to have the plugs decrease the pinging.