1995 Ford Thunderbird Repair Question
Topics covered: Gas, Rpm, Fuel filter.
Mileage: 180,000 miles.
Mileage: 180,000 miles.
Asked on January 21, 2011
Pings under load
1995 Ford Thunderbird mileage: 180,000. I bought my T-Bird used with 70,000 miles. The car pings when you get on it hard. It also only gets about 18 mpg overall. I checked over the plugs and put a professional 3-part injector cleaner in it along with a fuel filter. The car is still no better. Also the car in first gear tachs up to 4500 rpm and shifts and drops to 2900 rpm, which seems to cause the pinging. Is this normal? What can I do to achieve good gas mileage with using expensive premium gas to stop the pinging?
Asked by 2CarPros-ArchivesAnswer
Replied on January 21, 2011
We are assuming here that your car is not in need of a tune-up and the computer has recently been scanned for fault codes. Most cars have knock sensors that adjust the timing but yours does not. Instead, located in the wiring loom that goes to the computer you will find a small connector with a jumper. Removing that jumper will retard the timing approximately four degrees. This should stop your pinging and help your gas mileage