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Author Topic: Bobcat's PING THING, after EGR block-off..............Fixed! (I think)  (Read 443 times)

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Offline browniecat

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Hello Boys.... another year upon us!

Thanks for comments and suggestions from ALL of you back in Nov/Dec.  You will recall that I'd blocked off EGR on my '80 Bobcat some time ago (see other thread if you want..), and it had resulted in bad pre-ignite under any kind of load.  Not helped by Premium fuel nor even octane-boost!

Over last few months I tried several of your suggestions... playing with timing some more, de-carbonizing, and also tried pinto_one's intriguing recommendation of adjusting the spring inside advance can...but all to no avail, alas!

But then...

About a week ago I decided to recheck and play with the vacuum lines (plus the car had started to run really poorly last couple months...no power, pronounced hesitation at cruise and take-off, etc..).  Rather randomly I BLOCKED OFF carb's vac-port you see in center of photo (port for vac-line pointing off to the left, hose has that valve canister and goes to thin yellow line....which goes down, I believe, to big vac-junction near front of block).

Thereafter, took a lengthy 100+ mile drive (actually drove to a friend's to rebuild front brakes!).............. ....and....... VOILA!!.....NO MORE ping, even under very hard driving.

Not sure what I've disconnected or bypassed, but happyhappy.  I suspect this is an emission-related port (??..do we know, Gents..??).  At any rate, the ol' Girl is now being weened OFF Premium, and I'm getting the rosy feeling that the further I get from 93+ octane, the better the car's running.

Still testing, but my idle-miss is almost gone and lack-of-power improving a lot too.  Trial and error scores again, and/or...

"Oh what a difference a golf-tee can make"....

My conclusion is that I probably had a significant vacuum leak ever since I bought the car, leaning things out, and the EGR elimination didn't help matters, causing the nasty pre-ignition, but watcha think of my "fix"??

Anyway, for the moment at least, it seems the Ping is a Thing of the Past... hopefully!!

Cheers, and have a good week, Kids!


Offline pinto_one

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Re: Bobcat's PING THING, after EGR block-off..............Fixed! (I think)
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2020, 07:16:05 AM »
Great that the ping of death is gone , you are right if you have a vac leak it will cause a ping from being to lean , EGR does mask that by slowing down the burn some , but not knowing you have a vac leak before had you chasing a ghosts for a long time , the picture I see also shows somthing bad that should be corected as soon as posable , you have a clear plastic fuel filter in place before a another fiter before the carb  , the bad is those clear filters will leak later on and drip on top of the distribtor and cause a fire and melt the filter above making a bigger fire and when running down the hwy a huge fire , simple fix would be use a metal can filter of the same size and remove the small fatory filter and use a 5/16 barb to 1/8 pipe fitting and hook direct to carb ,, now you safe ,, have a good one ,
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline dga57

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Re: Bobcat's PING THING, after EGR block-off..............Fixed! (I think)
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2020, 07:49:58 AM »
I've been known to stumble onto a solution without ever really knowing what I did.  My philosophy is to not question these gifts when they come.  Enjoy your well-running Bobcat!

Dwayne :)
Pinto Car Club of America - Serving the Ford Pinto enthusiast since 1999.

Offline Wittsend

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Re: Bobcat's PING THING, after EGR block-off..............Fixed! (I think)
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2020, 11:04:16 AM »
70's/80's smog devices are a real nightmare. Both in how they (supposedly) reduce smog and how they affect power. EGR induces hot, spent exhaust gasses back into the combustion chamber..., to reduce temperatures.. ., to reduce NOX. Maybe not the best analogy but it is a bit like saying a human needs to re-breath exhaled carbon dioxide to slow them down..., so they consume less oxygen.

Graduating HS in 1975 I saw the smog laws crush my dream of working in a Speed Shop. 25+ years later those same laws have brought about EFI and the "Tuner" crowd. I guess I was born in the wrong time. Shouldn't complain though. 190HP 2.3T (88 Turbo Coupe) in the Pinto is good enough for me. Starts every time too regardless of how long it sits. Hard to believe it is 32 year old technology. And, really going back to 1983 it is 37 year old technology.

Pre-smog era cars are simple enough. Modern cars are relatively trouble free. But this dark era time automotive time (roughly '73 to the mid 80's) I see either an EFI or complete engine swap to keep these cars going.