Hey everyone, new here. I've run into a brick wall trying to diagnose whats going on. Pinging, power loss when towing, and occasionally a miss/ rough idle after driving for a while.

Pinging- 3000 - 4000 RPM. primarily under heavy load, such as pulling a grade, loaded or unloaded. Tried all fuel grades and different stations regularly (90 miles per day driven). I did an experiment when towing, filled up with 91 octane, dumped 3 bottles of stp octane boost, still had pinging. Dealership has reflashed, all tests pass, fuel pressure checks out.

Power loss- I have a 6000 lb trailer. Pinging is obviously worse when hooked. Can't pull a grade like it used to. 4500 rpm, 45 mph, and the grades around here east of Sacramento aren't anything crazy. It's sluggish on accelleration too.

Stumble- When coming to a stop, idle drops to ~500 rpm, and it runs rough. takes a second to clear up after accelerating. This has happened before, dealer performed coil stress test and found a faulty coil. This time, nothing comes up as suspect.

Never had a check engine light, no codes, nothing in memory about any misfires, nothing.

Pinging started about 70k miles or so. Power loss about 108k. Misfire type symptom happens inconsistently.

Heres the info:
2010 e350 2v v10
118k miles
4.10 gears
quigley 4wd conversion
285-70-17 tires
bone stock
regular maintenance done religiously every 5k miles
plugs changed at about 90k
MAF cleaned multiple times
had a tuner (xcal 3 I think) from 5star, haven't used it in a long time, makes matters worse.
reflash done 8k miles ago, due to dealer not being able to connect.

I've searched the web high and low.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

I have the same exact problems. started as pinging then got worse, then power loss with tremendous pinging. Still there.

Mine has excessive heat on the passenger side floorboard. The catalytic converter on that side is noticeable hotter than the others..

I'm scared my engine is about to die b

 

Just thinking out loud here, but my suggestions are:

Check the exhaust manifolds for cracks and/or studs that are not right. This will cause a misfire

You mentioned it passed all tests. Was one of these tests a compression test? A leaking head gasket or cracked head can show itself early as a misfire-type event. A simple coolant reservoir check for the presence of exhaust gas is quick and easy to do (but only accurate for determining a breach of exhaust gas into coolant, not all types of cylinder head/gasket leaks). The other quick and dirty way is to check your oil for water/oil dilution.

When the plugs were changed, was the correct heat range/PN used?


Hope any of this helps.

Scott

 

Sounds like when I've had watery gas, it has taken me a couple tanks to thoroughly get back to running normal. Instead of octane booster in tank, try Heet to remove water.

 

I use 2 to 3 full tanks of gas each week. And this problem has been for tens of thousands of miles. And I only buy gas from quality gas stations

 

Oil is clean, coolant is clean, all work done at the dealer... next time I do plugs I will have a compression test done. I fill up every 3 days, so water isn't the problem.

 

Sounds like you might have a clogged cat or bad o2 sensor(s)

 

At the bottom of the throttle body, is a vacuum connection. Mine was visibly ok but rotten and crumbling/leaking. Caused a similar condition- misfiring/pinging. I believe it goes to pcv connection near #5 cylinder on valve cover. ( '98 V10 E-350)


I used a homemade stethoscope to find this, made from a set of hearing protection earmuffs and vinyl tubing/hose barbs.


John

 

EGR .. you said kalifornia .. key word lol

 

From your description I would strongly suspect a damaged catalytic converter on the passenger side, from my experience if any engine is driven for any distance with even a slight misfire the Cadillac converter will be affected adversely. Unburned fuel from the misfire goes straight into the catalytic converter and explodes inside the honeycombs and destroys the first several inches of the cats, The back pressure from the damaged cat causes severe pinging at high rpm's and A significant loss of power when it's trying to push a lot of exhaust through.

 

After reading this thread , and another thread from 2011/2012, I believe my catalytic converter is clogged and causing the power loss and pinging.

As soon as possible I'll be removing my Y-pipe and bashing it to hollow-ness. Looks like I'll have to remove the tranny crossmember to do this.

This leads me to TWO new questions for my fellow van-nerds: obviously I will get a Check Engine Light, but will it affect the power/fuel consumption/drivability?
And: what causes a catalytic converter to fail? Just engine misfires and/or burnt valves, right?

 

The biggest killer of catalytic converter's is a constant misfire on one or more cylinders, the cylinders that aren't firing are basically pumping gas into the exhaust which hits the catalytic converter and explodes. The second problem is running for extended times with high oil or antifreeze consumption through the exhaust which will eventually plug converters up.

I destroyed the cats on my 99 Mustang in under 20 miles limping it home with a misfire and like you said had a check engine light for the rear O2 sensor's being out of range after a cat removal. I really don't know why I tried it but I put a piece of pipe (flexible copper propane gas line fit tight over my O2 sensor) and haven't had the check engine light on sense and pretty close to normal on the live data on the scanner, I don't know if it was just a fluke of luck but nine years later it's still running great.

 

Please tell me a bit more about your copper tubing thing.
I assume it fit right over the element but how far did it hang off the end?

 

I spent almost 6 hours on this project today and it sucked! My hands hurt (haven't wrenched much in years), my back and body is sore (from working while laying on the cement), I have a burn on my arm that looks like ringworm (from the hot nut that I leaned on). And I'm generally exhausted. And I spent $45 dollars on some cheap metric sockets.

SIDE BAR: actually I am rather impressed with the tools; I got a small set from Harbor Freight that included a ratchet, two short extensions, and short and deep Metric sockets. These tools were actually GOOD. heavy, strong; no complaints at all with the tools (except the set didn't include 15mm nor 18mm.. I bought a 15mm short and 15mm deep at Advance Auto)

OK; back to the van. The biggest problem (or so I thought) was that the transmission cross member had to come down in order to remove the Y-pipe. All I have is one jack stand and a crappy Harbor Freight aluminum jack. Not even a piece of wood for the Trans pan... I made it happen.

So once I got the cross member down and everything else done, I was unable to disengage the Y-pipe from the straight pipe behind it. No rust, it just wouldn't come free. Even with the clamp/bolt completely loose.

I was pretty frustrated. But I was able to get a look into the exhaust pipe to see the catalyst material. It wasn't "terribly/obviously" defective, but I judged it defective. So I grabbed a long pipe and began the Catalyst Abortion. But the pipe was too thick and straight, and the exhaust pipe is curved, so I didn't make progress as desired.

In the meantime; the wires from the O2 sensors were secretly getting damaged on the heat shields... Yep, frayed wires sticking out the top. (strangely, no Check Engine light after 10 minutes idling and 10 minute test drive).

It took me and entire hour to reassemble everything. Then disconnected the battery for a bit, then the start and test drive.

Test drive showed the exact same symptoms as before. Spark knock at part throttle. Death rattle at heavy throttle near/above 2,500rpm.

I just glad it's "as good as it was" before my failed attempt.

anyone do illegal exhaust work in central Florida?

 

On my car I used a piece of tubing that was flush with the end of the O2 sensor element, it had the type of O2 sensor with the flared out openings on the sides of the sensor with a closed end (i'm not sure if it would work or not with the type with flat sides and pinholes?). Again I won't guarantee that it will work it could've just been a fluke thing with my car. I think having the sensor mostly covered and still in the exhaust stream blocks enough of its readings to bring it back to normal range?