Ford Repair: 2000 Ranger engine ping, quality gasoline, knock sensor

Question
Hi Dennis,
   The engine starts ping when going up a hill. 4cyl, 2.5, 5 speed,I can find the tdc on the lower pulley but can not find where to set the timing. What the timing is, and where to set it at. With no cap i`m kind of lost.Thanks for any help at all on this. j.T.  

Answer
Timing is not adjustable on this engine since it is distributorless. Attempting to read timing in the conventional method will result in erroneous readings. Timing is completely controlled by the PCM.

First thing I suggest is checking for codes, even if the CEL has not come on there can still be codes stored in the memory, and since your engine has a knock sensor there may a problem there or elsewhere. Are you using a good quality gasoline, might try something else see if this changes the ping.