Alright..I was hoping my adventures wouldn't come to this, but after battling what seems to be engine ping for a couple months I can't stand it anymore. Here goes.

I've had this truck since September 2006. Approximately 99k miles on it. Bought the Hypertech power programmer for my birthday in December for speedometer calibration purposes. After reading around on here, I soon learned that my pcm had been death flashed, so I quickly put the 87 octane tune on to get my old performance back.

Anyway, long story short, now I can hear a distinctive "tick tick tick" sound under heavy acceleration with 87 octane tune & 93 octane gas. Sounds like its coming from the passenger side of the engine moreso than the driver side, ONLY when accelerating more than 3/4 throttle and ONLY in first gear. Once it gets into second the ticking is gone, never to be heard from again until I slow down, stop, or do something to make the transmission go back to first. After running about 5 tankfuls of 93 octane gas (usually Shell V-Power or the Exxon Premium), the ticking sound is still present. It is there with both hypertech tunes, and even back to stock settings with 93 octane gas. I want to say that I've heard this sound some before I used the hypertech, although the pcm has definitely been deathflashed, and even bears the "factory software update" badge to let me know it's been neutered. After Autolite 3923's gapped to .040**, a napa 180* thermostat, a couple cans of sea foam in the engine, fuel injector cleaner in the gas, etc the ticking sound is still there. I searched through the intake manifold via a couple telescoping mirrors and a flashlight to find very little oil in the intake, a teaspoon's worth at most. I haven't completely ruled out a bad plenum gasket, but the very little oil makes me think it's something else. I have no idea what's causing this. The exhaust looks relatively new along with the cat, so I wouldn't think the cat would be clogged. Any other ideas would be great. There is an occasional where the tick isn't heard, but that's once in a while. I would like to get this figured out soon because I'm looking at buying a fastman but I'm holding off until I can figure out what's causing this. Thanks in advance.

**: I was thoroughly excited thinking I had found the problem when changing the spark plugs. Autolite Platinums ::yuck:: were in there. I changed them all out quickly only to yell some more when the pinging continued .

 

does it tick without the programmer on it? does it tick on the 87 octane setting? a low temp stat usually helps but you already have that.. hmm.. could maybe be just engine wear and tear?

 

Yeah I tried tonight trying the different tunes. The pinging is the same regardless of the tune, 87, 93, or stock. And this is all with 93 octane Shell V-Power Gas :/

 

I have a 99 Ram 1500 and i have the SAME issue, took it to the dealership and they told me for 500 bucks (parts and labor) they can fix it, they said its the intake gasket needs replaced.

 

Eek..if it comes to that I'd much rather do it myself. I wouldn't have a problem doing it, just the annoying fact of having to yank the distributor out. I *hate* with a passion messing with distributors. I can never seem to get them in on the same degree they came out, absolute PITA for me. There's a test on TSB 09-05-00 with a vacuum gauge that I'm going to give a shot tomorrow and then I'll know for sure what's going to be needed. ::sigh:: for some reason there's a huge difference between working on a vehicle because you want to, and working on a vehicle because you have to

 

let me know if that vaccuum issue fixes it.. i have been procrastinating fixing mine cause i have other priorities right now.. but will be planning on it soon.. dont want to throw 500 bucks away

 

you dont have to yank the dist to repair the plenum.

 

one thing not mentioned is the cap & rotor... have they been replaced? condition of the wires? I had a pinging problem I was trying to track down and it came to the cap & rotor were shot... Accell pieces... went back to the stock mopar ones and problem went away. if the cap & rotor are worn too much you may have a similar issue.

 

The wires look fairly new. I've looked at all of them, they *seem* to be in pretty good condition. The cap looks to be in decent condition also, though I haven't popped it off and really taken a look at it. I might as well just replace the cap and rotor since it would be another simple job. I've been listening a little more to the engine now, sounds like the engine pings for a second when it first starts up. Maybe once every 4 or 5 starts, dunno if that helps.

Can you elaborate on that a bit? I thought there was a ring on the manifold that the distributor went through so it had to come out beforehand.

If I could get my hands on an M1 intake or have some polishing done on the stock intake I wouldn't mind having to yank the distributor, I just hate taking a stock part off and putting the same unimproved part back on.

I was thinking about flushing the coolant. The anti-freeze looked kind of icky when I changed the thermostat a couple days ago. It looked like a mixture of dark brown and green.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

the dist is behind the intake manifold. you really dont have to take off the fuel rails either, just disconnect them from the fuel line.