Ford crown victoria pinging. Please help!!!?

Question

Have a 1998 ford crown victoria that is pinging. It will ping during high engine loads at high rpms when the engine is cold and ping at random engine loads at random rpms the warmer the engine gets. I am already using premium fuel. At idle the timing advance is at 20 degrees and increases ridiculously as Rpm's go up.(E.X. 30degrees @ 2000 rpm) I am having a mechanic help me try to figure this out and we believe that the pinging is due to the timing advance being so high but we are not exactly sure what is causing the timing advance to be so high. One theory is that when we plug the computer into the obdii, there are two reading for the engine coolant temp. One is reading a normal engine temp averaging from 196-212 degrees and the other engine coolant temp reading is -40degrees. We think since the engine thinks its -40 it needs to bump up the timing to heat up the engine. But we cannot figure out where the second engine coolant temp sensor is located let alone why it's reading -40. Is there two engine coolant temp sensors? The only sensor we are aware of is the sensor on the cylinder head behind/next to the alternator. Any information is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Update:

Fuel pressure is good and fuel filter is not clogged. The intake manifold is NOT the all plastic, had it replaced after it cracked. Spark plugs were new with the intake manifold, in going to guess both have 20,000miles on them. Car only has 101,500 miles on it. Clarification: there are 2 readings for the engine coolant temp. One says 196-212 and the other says -40.

gee-man · Accepted Answer

It really sounds like the timing chain has a lot of slack in it and the timing has been advanced to compensate for the slack.I have seen this many times in the past 35 plus years working on cars. See if the mechanic knows how to check the timing chain,it is very easy to do. Just pop the distributor off and put a socket on a long break over bar and put it on the crankshaft pulley and watch the rotor button,then just slowly move it counter clockwise until the rotor moves then stop.  then turn it slowly clockwise while watching the rotor and when it starts to move,then just calculate the distance that the crank has turned before the rotor started moving. This may sound crazy and hard to understand but believe me this is the only way that I ever diagnosed a timing chain and is 100% accurate. I would almost bet that this will be your problem.Also have you had the fuel pressure tested,it is also possible that the fuel filter could be clogged.I hope this helped ya out,please let me know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Maxoverload · Answer

any coolant temp sensor reading 40 degrees less than engine temp ? would need to be in one of the radiator end tanks , a cold motor wont bump timing ,not knowing this mm/y engine in particular I cannot say there is or is not one , Have you checked for proper spark plugs ? plug conditions ? or carbon deposits glowing inside a given cyl , pull one plug at a time and see if it can be eliminated , If the problem cyl is near your egr system  , look to see proper egr operation or if egr tube being plugged up , affecting mixture causing the ping ., do a radiator pressure test , in the event your are getting coolant in a cyl . crown vics and taurus have also been known to have cat issues , hows your emissions ? do you have one of the plastic intakes , that the egr system can eat a hidden hole thru to the interior of the motor , giving a close cyl an overly lean condition ? Id look at egr carefully due to temp ping variables .

Shane · Answer

I had this same problem. First off, switch to premium gas. That was my problem. It needs a higher octane level that premium gas gives. And then if it still pings I would switch the timing to 8 degrees advanced and just increase 2 degrees at a time (test driving in between each change) until it pings again and then go back down to where it didnt ping.

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Ford crown victoria pinging. Please help!!!?

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