thematrixhazuneo

2013 scab 3.7l, 3.73 gears stock
Was hoping to see if anyone else has had this issue with their 3.7na.
I have excessive pinging (sounds like popping and rattling on passenger side) when I drive 35mph in 5th gear and press the throttle lightly. I can also get it to ping in other gears if it's under the same load as stated above (sometimes even in 1st gear)

I have tried different types and octane gas. I have taken it to ford three times already and their response was that it is normal per page 202 of the manual. Does anyone with the 3.7na motor have the pinging issue? Should I fight this or is it actually a normal thing (it's very annoying when driving)

Tothemax

How many miles on the truck?

Have you tried changing your spark plugs?

thematrixhazuneo

22k

The truck is still under warranty so havent touched the plugs (would have to pull the intake to get to it) I did mention to the dealer if they can look at the plugs but they repeated the "this is a normal thing" response and there is no problem (took it in mutiple times for the pinging)

So I am stuck I guess with ford wanting to do anything.

Tothemax

I would change the plugs yourself. Its cheap and worth a shot.

If that doesnt help, try a different dealership.

Manuellabour247

I had this problem on my old SCab 13 with a 5.0. I was told by a mechanic I know at the dealership it was traded into that the spark plugs were not gapped correctly. It only did it in cold weather though, so that was odd. It would be the first thing I would check. Borescopes are cheap enough now, you could get one and look into the cylinders to see if there's any damage. Then take it back and point it out.

Or like said above, take it to another dealership and have them scope it. Don't let them talk you out of it.

thematrixhazuneo

Thanks for the feedback!

I'll spend a few hours and pull the right side bank plugs.

But I'm getting the feeling this should not be a normal condition and hope to get ford to fix it ultimately.

GSTOREY1

I realize this is a very late post on an old thread, but I've been experiencing the same exact thing on my 2013 with the 3.7L (currently at 41,000 miles). Higher octane makes a difference, so it's got to be spark knock. Nothing is lose and again if higher octane makes it go away then it's a detonation issue. But I'm tired of paying for 93 oct so I've switched back to 87. Posting to see if any major mechanical issues have resulted from this pinging from OP, if you still own the truck. Of course, page 201 talks about "light knocking" but it doesn't specify how often and how light approved knocking is, nor does it say much else about it. Figured I'd see what's happened over the past few years with your truck.

GrasslandHVAC

Anyone get to the bottom of this? I've not experienced this in either of my 3.7s

treystoys

Mine does this, low rpm high gear/load. I thought mine was doing it due to being tuned to aggressively, but even running the 87 octane tune with 93 octane fuel I still have the issue. No other drivability issues, changed my plugs with fresh iridiums about a year ago. It sounds almost identical to my 5.4 f250 shop truck under higher rpm conditions, where the 5.4 gets worse with rpm, in my 3.7 it goes away with heavier throttle application or when the trans down shifts.

What I have not tried was reflashing the ecu with the oe tune to see if it goes away.

[F2C]MaDMaXX

I'm going to throw this out there, having seen similar reports from the 5.0 in the past year, it seems that the intake manifold gaskets on the older trucks are failing, i just replaced mine, and several others have also done this, fixing their pinging issue on lower octane fuel.

I can't image the gasket material on the 3.7 is any different, so worth a shot - of note, one person had a hairline crack on the underside of their intake manifold, so they replaced the whole thing.