Some oddities I've encountered and wonder if it's normal.

1. The decelerating idle speed. Sometimes when I let off the gas I can see and feel the RPMs drop. Sometimes, most often it seems, the IAC is holding open and the RPMs barely drop. As I roll to a stop I can see and feel that the engine is still pushing a bit. Is this normal for this engine? BTW, I have confirmed that it's not a sticking throttle, with the IAC disconnected the RPM always drops. I hate that it won't engine brake with the IAC so I have left it disconnected, just sucks that it won't idle cold.

2. 1st to 2nd shift point. It shifts early, haven't paid close attention to the 2-3 shift but I think it's higher. After having the battery disconnected for some repairs it started shifting much later, a hair too late actually and it hit the limiter. As I drove the shift point slowly lowered back to early. The truck seemed to have a little more power when I first started driving after the repairs, but hard to say for sure. I had done some intake porting while it was apart so I was probably expecting some extra power whether or not it actually helped.

3. Pinging/detonation. It does it mostly at mid-high RPMs and mostly when I let off a little or add a little throttle on hills or when towing. Giving it more throttle would often make it go away, don't recall it ever doing it at full throttle. Sometimes at lower RPM under heavy load before it downshifts. When towing heavy it was really bad. I replaced the knock sensor and spark plugs with OEM, completely cleaned the EGR and TB and it got way better, but still does it some. Sounds like all or most cylinders doing it and it's definitely not exhaust noise or loose stuff rattling, 91 octane cures it but that's spendy to run on a gas hog. Before the repairs and with 91 it still did it just a little when towing heavy. And by heavy I mean probably above rating heavy; 28' twin engine flybridge cabin cruiser that's over 13' tall, not a little car trailer or something like that. It got around 4 MPG on that run, it was working hard.

As far as I know the tuning is stock and I've never had any fault codes. I assume if the old knock sensor had been working and the system wasn't able to eliminate the knock it would have thrown a code...? The engine has about 50k miles on it, crate motor from Ford, heads show '05 production. Only mod is a catback system with a flowmaster muffler, pipe ends before the diff. Sounds pretty bitchen too. The Y pipe isn't the restricted one I've seen pictures of that looks more like a T connection between the two. It looks like a factory style part but I've never seen a picture of one that looks like mine so I can't say for sure. It doesn't have the exhaust flutter that I've read much about with some Y pipes.

 

05 motors have higher compression ratios than 99 motors.

In 2002 or so the pistons were changed to have a smaller cc dish. Probably 9:1 vs the 8.7 :1 compression on the 99 motor.

Pre 2002 the dish was .130" deep. After 2002ish the piston dish was .068" deep.

99 has 18.1 cc piston dishes
02 and above have 15.8 cc piston dishes.

I assumed the 05 motor is still a 2V?

I'm thinking your ping is due to the timing curve in OEM computer being geared toward a lower compression engine. Add the fact that heads and block were probably machined and that could have bumped up compression a tad more. With any overhead cam motor, machining heads and block will affect the timing a small fraction due to centerline of cams being closer to the crankshaft and you have a combination of things that are contributing to the "ping".

Add the ethanol in fuel factor and you have a perfect storm.

Use of higher octane fuel is probably your cheapest fix. Maybe try to locate a supply of non ethanol enriched fuel and see if that helps.

Pinging is BAD!

 

It's still a 2V, guessing it was a motor intended for an excursion since I think all the '05 trucks got the 3V. According to the previous owner it was a new crate motor not a reman, but I don't know for sure. He got a reman trans at the same time and didn't lie about that so I don't think he'd have lied about the motor. If the compression is higher then what you say makes perfect sense about it not matching the programming, I had no idea they'd changed compression along the 2V production years. Is there an easy to find date code on the block so I can verify it's also '05 and not just the heads?

Assuming the old knock sensor was indeed dead I would think that with the new one the pinging should be totally cured instead of just getting a lot better. I guess if the computer only allows for "X" amount of retard then I can see where maybe it's just not quite enough under some circumstances if the compression is higher. I'm very careful to not let it go on pinging when it does it. Inconvenient sometimes, but much less inconvenient than towing it home for an engine replacement.

Do you know if installing a '02-'04 truck computer would mess with the trans or anything else? If that would cure it I might give it a shot. I could talk to 5star about it and get a tune, but that's spendy and a junk yard ecm is only about $100. Do you know if the injectors, MAF, or other important engine stuff change between '99 & the '02 up 2V?

 

Don't know about a junk yard PCM. it could work I guess.

Honestly, I think finding a source of non-ethanol fuel will probably cure most of your issue.

Heat is another issue, as I believe 99s had 185 degree tstats. Some later models had 195 degree tstats. Make sure you have the proper tstat.

My supercharged V10 would retard way more than 4 degrees when knock sensor detected ping and IATs got above 140 degrees.

 

99 transmission is different, The tune for a later truck would make it shift extremely hard. Mark Kovalsky has previously explained it in detail if you care to search his posts. It is swappable, but is something you want to be aware of before you try trading PCMs with a later truck.

 

Non-E gas would be racing or aviation only as far as I know so not an acceptable option. Even our marina gas stations don't offer it.

Bummer on the trans programming change, but good to know; thanks.

I don't tow the boat much and when I do it's a pretty short run, the truck does fine without the heavy load on 87 octane and only pings under certain conditions when towing the beast. If I decide to tow it again I'll just put 91 in it to be safe. It's not ideal for heavy towing anyway being on 37's.

 

No non ethanol gas is not race gas. Do not confuse methanol with ethanol.
More accurately E-85 can be considered race gas.
The E10 gas most stations have is 10% corn ethanol.

This site will tell you where you can buy gas that does not have corn in it.

http://www.pure-gas.org/

Let me elaborate, a few years back congress decided to allow corn whisky to be used in our fuel.
Pure ethanol/corn whiskey cannot be sold as it can be consumed by our bodies. So they add 1% nonconsumable to it and call it E-99. E-99 is a VERY GOOD race gas. E-85 is also a good race gas, it has 85% ethanol and 15% normal gas.

E-10 is 10% ethanol and widely avaliable at most fuel stations. Most people without knowing or caring put this in their tanks everyday.

The problem is that non ethanol gas has an ideal air fuEl ratio of 14.7:1, which is the number our O2 sensors relay to our PCM. Great but E-10 (the gas you put in everyday) ideal air fuel ratio is 14.08:1, which is "richer" than 14.7. In other words your pcm is trying to maintain a 14.7 AFR, when the gas you put in needs a 14.08 AFR.

Under high load our PCM wI'll richen up the motors AFR to about 12.5. Problem the normal fuel you put in your tank is E-10 and it's ideal max power AFR is 12.0:1, so again the 12.5 AFR is lean and the result is "ping".

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/wideband-oxygen-sensor/

The result of the above conditions is our motors run lean and under load can "ping".

Now I'm not an expert on PCM programming and maybe our systems work off of lamba and not AFR. In that case ignore above comments.

What I do know is my Wide Band O2 sensor I installed to tune my supercharger displays the AFR of my exhaust as 14.5 to 14.9 AFR while cruising NOT 14.08. So my AFR is lean for the gas I use. However I have a water methanol system that kicks in at 4 psi boost, and the methanol prevents ping.

 

Check whether this "crate engine"'s heads actually say "PI" on them or not, and then we can discuss the rest of this.

The PI heads and pistons changed at the same time, and I'm not completely sure the compression actually changed a lot overall between non-PI and PI. If you slap a set of PI heads onto a non-PI short block, you WILL get much higher compression and the PCM needs to be tuned for that.

Stock knock-sensor strategy only pulls 4 degrees timing.

 

Found this table a couple years ago.
The website is no longer active.
Based on it PI head on nonpi short block will give you 9.5:1 compression

SOHC 4.6L, 5.4L,and 6.8L
1991 thru 1998 ------- 10.49cc dish
1999 thru 2000 ------- 18.10cc dish
2001 thru 2004 ------- 15.80cc dish

DOHC 4.6L
1993 thru 1998 ------- 2.66cc dish
1999 thru 2002 ------- 4.54cc dish

DOHC 5.4L
1998 thru 2004 ------ Flattop


Dish CC --- 1991-1996 NPI --- 1999-2004 PI
Flattop ------ 10.3:1 --------------- 11.2:1
2.66 cc ------ 10.0:1 -------------- 10.9:1
4.54 cc ------- 9.8:1 --------------- 10.7:1
10.49 cc ------ 8.9:1 ---------------- 9.5:1
15.80 cc ------ 8.5:1 --------------- 9.0:1
18.10 cc ------ 8.3:1 --------------- 8.8:1

 

What I meant was that to get non-e gas in California I'd have to buy race or aviation gas. We have no non-e option, that I know of, for on road vehicle use. On PureGas there's a few stations listed, but most sell race gas and some are complete mistakes that have been verified to not offer non-e gas.

 

They aren't marked PI which confused me a bit as I thought all the later model heads were PI. All I can assume is that Ford kept making the older style heads to offer replacements for older engines. From what I can tell the date code on them is '05.

 

PI will be stamped on the rear vertical surface of the head. It will be very difficult to see without a mirror or something.

Try this for some non ethanol stations.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer%3Fmid%3D12ji1gs1GXfMO6Pb6pWWiTXxPyHg%26hl%3 Den_US%26ll%3D40.44547835311921%252C-105.20182578125002%26z%3D2&ved=0ahUKEwiziL3Qp6fTAh XDTCYKHc0cD1UQFghdMBE&usg=AFQjCNHUrpTt0lCyY7PHfGCe F8TA5oBsKw

If link don't work try a Google search for Google map non ethanol gas stations. I seen hundreds in california.

It's a Google map of non e stations.

 

I'd been told it would be on the side near the exhaust ports, your post lead me to search some more and I finally found a picture of the PI mark. Tho it's hard to get a good view, mine doesn't appear to have the PI mark. I was hoping they were, but oh well.

Many stations are listed in different searches, but none of them actually have non-e except for the few that sell race gas and that's the only non-e gas they have. Everything I've read indicates that it's illegal for anyone to sell non-e gas for road use in Ca. and it appears to be true.

Can you or anyone else tell me anything about the Y pipe? I've read a lot about the restricted "T" shaped pipe on the later V-10s and seen pictures of them. I've read that the earlier version had better flow but haven't seen a pic or read a good description of them to know if that's what I have for sure. It has a factory appearance with welded heat shields and non-mandrel bent tubing so I assume it's OE but can't find a single pic of one.

 

The early versions had what is called "RAM HORN" wye pipes. Both my 2000 Excursions have the ram horn. My 2001 excursion has the pitifull "T" wye pipe.

Sorry CA is so strict. Maybe you could try some 89 octane and see if ping goes away. If it does its not a lean issue. If it's not as bad than try 91 octane.

In my state it's hard to find non E fuel but I have found a hand full of stations. Most non E fuel is 91 octane here. Much higher than the standard 85 octane typically sold at my elevation.

If higher octane does not help the issue will be air fuel related and a modification to the fueling and timing tables in pcm may be needed.

Another issue might be your O2 sensors. The may be working but not within spec if they are too old. New O2 sensors might fix your issues might not but for $150 or so in parts and a couple hours labor is worth a shot.

 

Was looking for an image to show where the "PI" is on the heads, and came across a thread with a lot of good information (starting around page 12)...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...-2v-dynod.html

For an example of a PI head, go here:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...p-ratings.html

Post 15.