2012 F150 5.0L
running the stage 3 motorsports Tune on the SCT X4 device
Noticed higher gear while going up a hill the motor is Pinging. Running 89 Sunoco fuel for two fill ups in a row and I have the 89 Performance tune loaded. Anyone else run into this before? It would not surprise me if the Gas station is selling 87 for the 89 Price!

 

How many miles on the truck? How long since you last checked/changed the air filter? I have a 2011 F150 with the 5.0. Mine running stock was doing the same thing. I checked the air filter and it was filthy. When I changed it most of the pinging went away. However I still once in awhile I'm still getting the pinging. I also noticed that the truck has a slightly rough idle. And sometimes it even has a mild shudder while driving down the road. I have an appointment with my local dealer on Friday to get it checked out. Hope this helps.

 

25,000 miles and just installed a drop in K&N filter about 3 months ago, checked it last oil change and it clean. My idle is fine and never noticed a shudder while driving.

 

Just for the hell of it replace the K&N filter with the stock filter. And be sure to use a motorcraft filter too. K&N filters have been known to cause all sorts of issue with these trucks. Not to mention over oiling the filter element can damage the MAF sensor. That will certainly throw you air fuel mixture and could cause the engine to ping. Plus the stock motorcraft filters are proven to flow just as good or better than the K&N filters.

 

Interesting on the air filter, I will try that. For the time being I switched back to the 87 Performance Tune.

 

I think paredneck has nailed it. I have never liked the K&N style oiled filters. too much oil and it plugs the filter and too little and you might as well not have a filter. Besides with that filter you are allowing contaminants to enter your motor which is why they seem to breathe so much. Honestly the stock Motorcraft filter does flow very well. There are also aftermarket filters from stage 3 motorsports that do not require oiling.

If all you did was add a tune and don't plan to race this truck and haven't done the exhaust or anything else to it the stock filter is more than adequate.

 

Any updates on how the truck is running?

 

I filled up gas with 89 again after running the majority of the other fuel and ran the program again this time with 89 performance and there was a ton of updates that went through and truck runs great. Not sure if it was the gas or something with the tune. I would take a guess that it was some bad gas or the sunoco station did a switcheroo with 87. Thanks for asking