98 F-150 with 4.6 romeo. Going up hills or romping on the gas causes pinging. I've run Lucas fuel system treatment, X1-R fuel system treatment, and a bit of 93 octane gas in there and notice no difference. Maybe it's just me but it seems to be a real dog on hills and on the highway the slightest incline makes it a battle to hold 65 mph. Don't know if that is normal for said truck/engine combo or an indication to the cause of ping. Any ideads? Thanks.

 

None of these trucks like pulling hills in OD.
I would try cleaning tha MAF. When they get dirty, they do not read airflow properly and it can lean out the fuel mixture.
Jimmy

 

That makes sense and would cause it to ping but isn't the knock sensor supposed to correct that?

 

I have never seen a knock sensor that actually eliminated all of the knock. I think that the PCM is only programmed to pull out so much timing and if that doesn't work, then it will still ping.
Jimmy

 

Probably makes sense, too bad I don't have a scan tool to view real time values. What's best to clean the MAF? A blast of carb cleaner?

 

the 4.6 does not have a knock sensor.

If you are pinging, I would switch to an AWSF-22c spark plug and see if that gets rid of it.

You shouldn't need anything except 87 octane in your truck.

JH

 

I run 87 in it. I used injector cleaner stuff cause I had a slightly rough idle which is now gone. When the ping developed I topped off with 93 octane to see if it would make a difference in the ping but didn't. The 4.6 does have a knock sensor. It is down in the lifter valley. Plugs probably could use a change but it's not missing or anything. I notice the ping to be slightly less if I hold a steady rpm, maybe a ign the knock sensor lives, lol?

 

the plug I recommended is one heatrange cooler. It will help to fight detonation.

AWSF-22C bring that to your dealer, it is a copper plug.

JH

 

Well, with straight 93 octane in there it pings very very little. A copper plug ought to be good for like 20k in this engine? I'm going with the platinum plugs after I implement my chemical attack with Sea Foam. Got to be a nasty case of carbon buildup. I get no MIL and cleaning the MAF twice did nothing.