Taurus 2000 knocking up a hill
Postmaster
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,968
Likes: 3
From: So Cal
Could be several things, all depends.
What do you mean knock? Is it a gentle almost quiet pinging that is occasional during load(hills, hot weather) or is it a serious rattle and knock? Did it start all of a sudden or has it been gradually getting worse? Is it just after the last fillup?
The gentle ping can probably be ignored, usually a sign of your computer tweaking the timing to the max and pinging lightly under load is within norms according to a magazine article in Car and Driver I read back in the 90s. The hard knock should be looked into.
Likely causes are carbon buildup in the combustion chamber, poor gas, ignition timing is off, lean mixture and a few other things.
If this has been going on for awhile and getting worse I would suspect carbon, then either mixture or timing. Sometimes, romping the heck out of an engine is good for it. If you drive your car like a cream puff and just do easy commutes, you may just need to stomp on the gas hard for a few runs to clean things out. I had a TA that needed that every couple months, it didn't like going 55 and got carboned up. When I romped on it, it would sputter a little and then spit out a dark grey cloud and then it would purr for months. Cars like to be played with once in awhile. I am talking full throttle 0 to 80mph a few times, naturally avoiding tickets if possible. Works for me.
If it is recent, I might suspect bad gas or the other three starting to go bad.
If it is bad gas, just get a fresh tankfull and see what happens.
First thing to try would be something like Techron to clean up the chambers. If you have access to an engine analyzer, you could check timing and mix. I have not had to mess with any of my computer controlled engines so don't know how much fussing around you need to do with timing and mixture, or if you can fuss with either.
A relatively short term cheap fix or bandaid would be to use a higher octane gas. This is usually more of a fix for a vehicle that tows and pings lightly under heavy load and or heat. I used to run regular in winter and premium in summer on my Taurus SHO since it would ping just a bit while going uphill with AC on and hot outside.
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
What do you mean knock? Is it a gentle almost quiet pinging that is occasional during load(hills, hot weather) or is it a serious rattle and knock? Did it start all of a sudden or has it been gradually getting worse? Is it just after the last fillup?
The gentle ping can probably be ignored, usually a sign of your computer tweaking the timing to the max and pinging lightly under load is within norms according to a magazine article in Car and Driver I read back in the 90s. The hard knock should be looked into.
Likely causes are carbon buildup in the combustion chamber, poor gas, ignition timing is off, lean mixture and a few other things.
If this has been going on for awhile and getting worse I would suspect carbon, then either mixture or timing. Sometimes, romping the heck out of an engine is good for it. If you drive your car like a cream puff and just do easy commutes, you may just need to stomp on the gas hard for a few runs to clean things out. I had a TA that needed that every couple months, it didn't like going 55 and got carboned up. When I romped on it, it would sputter a little and then spit out a dark grey cloud and then it would purr for months. Cars like to be played with once in awhile. I am talking full throttle 0 to 80mph a few times, naturally avoiding tickets if possible. Works for me.
If it is recent, I might suspect bad gas or the other three starting to go bad.
If it is bad gas, just get a fresh tankfull and see what happens.
First thing to try would be something like Techron to clean up the chambers. If you have access to an engine analyzer, you could check timing and mix. I have not had to mess with any of my computer controlled engines so don't know how much fussing around you need to do with timing and mixture, or if you can fuss with either.
A relatively short term cheap fix or bandaid would be to use a higher octane gas. This is usually more of a fix for a vehicle that tows and pings lightly under heavy load and or heat. I used to run regular in winter and premium in summer on my Taurus SHO since it would ping just a bit while going uphill with AC on and hot outside.
Good Luck,
Jim Henderson
