I've been trying to figure out my coolant temperature issues recently, and haven't been having any luck. I have a mechanical water temp gauge on the way (Autometer #2333) from Summit, so we'll see what that tells me.
I'm also getting some pinging at the higher RPM's, and I'm running 91 octane (premium in CA). The pinging gets much worse when the fog rolls in at night here on the coast. While I'm waiting for the gauge, I decided to mess with my timing and try to eliminate the pinging. After messing with it, I'm wondering if I didn't set the timing right when I dropped in the distributor. I admit most of my 5.0 knowledge is from reading these forums, I don't have a lot of hands-on work.
The 'Stang will ping:
--At 3000 RPMs when the stock temp gauge is at about "R" or "M"
--At 2250 RPMs at night when the fog has rolled in
I set my base timing when I had my engine out this spring. I pulled the spark plugs and turned the engine until I got to the compression stroke, then stopped at TDC (stuck a pen in the spark plug plug hole). I put on an adjustable timing pointer and pointed it to 0 degrees on the harmonic balancer. I turned the engine by hand until the timing was at 10 BTDC, then dropped in the distributor and rotated it until it pointed to #1. After dropping the engine and tranny in the GT, it turned over on the first try. Good, right?
Maybe not so.
My balancer is a Pioneer 872030, the SFI race model. It has markings from 10 BTDC to 40 ATDC. I had painted it black and rubbed a white pencil over the timing marks so they show up clear. I verified timing was still set to 10 BTDC. (yes, I took the spout connector out) I know you can get pinging if the timing is too far advanced, so I decided to remove timing. I dropped the timing to about 6 BTDC, and took the car out for a spin. I expected to be down on power but the pinging should be reduced, if not gone.
To my surprise, the engine revved much easier than it had before. The pinging was there at around 2000 RPM, and the water temperature climbed to halfway within a few minutes (faster than before). Back home I went.
I then tried adjusting the timing to about 12 BTDC. The engine was a bit harder to rev up, but there was NO pinging at all! I revved it up all the way to the rev limiter several times, and no pinging. I didn't expect that. The water temperature was already at halfway from my earlier test, it was bouncing between "R" and "M".
Oh, a note for anyone that might forget this - always remember to put the spout connector BACK IN. I forgot that once, and I could hardly rev the engine. Spark advance is truly your friend.....
This morning, I advanced the timing to about 16 BTDC. I would have expected pinging to return at this point. During the drive, the car felt a little harder to rev up, but still no pinging above 3K RPMs. The temperature was reacting a bit weird as well. It didn't seem to be heating up as fast as usual, but it still got to "M". I went back home and tried out something. I sat there in park and turned on the A/C (which turns on the high speed fan). The temps creeped down to between "O" and "R", something it hadn't done before. I haven't tested enough to say for sure, but advancing the timing seems to let the engine run cooler.
My gas mileage is also really bad. I'm getting about 9-10 MPG average in city driving, a little higher on the freeway.
Any ideas?
I'm also getting some pinging at the higher RPM's, and I'm running 91 octane (premium in CA). The pinging gets much worse when the fog rolls in at night here on the coast. While I'm waiting for the gauge, I decided to mess with my timing and try to eliminate the pinging. After messing with it, I'm wondering if I didn't set the timing right when I dropped in the distributor. I admit most of my 5.0 knowledge is from reading these forums, I don't have a lot of hands-on work.
The 'Stang will ping:
--At 3000 RPMs when the stock temp gauge is at about "R" or "M"
--At 2250 RPMs at night when the fog has rolled in
I set my base timing when I had my engine out this spring. I pulled the spark plugs and turned the engine until I got to the compression stroke, then stopped at TDC (stuck a pen in the spark plug plug hole). I put on an adjustable timing pointer and pointed it to 0 degrees on the harmonic balancer. I turned the engine by hand until the timing was at 10 BTDC, then dropped in the distributor and rotated it until it pointed to #1. After dropping the engine and tranny in the GT, it turned over on the first try. Good, right?
Maybe not so.
My balancer is a Pioneer 872030, the SFI race model. It has markings from 10 BTDC to 40 ATDC. I had painted it black and rubbed a white pencil over the timing marks so they show up clear. I verified timing was still set to 10 BTDC. (yes, I took the spout connector out) I know you can get pinging if the timing is too far advanced, so I decided to remove timing. I dropped the timing to about 6 BTDC, and took the car out for a spin. I expected to be down on power but the pinging should be reduced, if not gone.
To my surprise, the engine revved much easier than it had before. The pinging was there at around 2000 RPM, and the water temperature climbed to halfway within a few minutes (faster than before). Back home I went.
I then tried adjusting the timing to about 12 BTDC. The engine was a bit harder to rev up, but there was NO pinging at all! I revved it up all the way to the rev limiter several times, and no pinging. I didn't expect that. The water temperature was already at halfway from my earlier test, it was bouncing between "R" and "M".
Oh, a note for anyone that might forget this - always remember to put the spout connector BACK IN. I forgot that once, and I could hardly rev the engine. Spark advance is truly your friend.....
This morning, I advanced the timing to about 16 BTDC. I would have expected pinging to return at this point. During the drive, the car felt a little harder to rev up, but still no pinging above 3K RPMs. The temperature was reacting a bit weird as well. It didn't seem to be heating up as fast as usual, but it still got to "M". I went back home and tried out something. I sat there in park and turned on the A/C (which turns on the high speed fan). The temps creeped down to between "O" and "R", something it hadn't done before. I haven't tested enough to say for sure, but advancing the timing seems to let the engine run cooler.
My gas mileage is also really bad. I'm getting about 9-10 MPG average in city driving, a little higher on the freeway.
Any ideas?