Found solution to my pinging, 2.5l lima

[asukar]

Hey, I'm normally just an observer on this forum but I finally have something worthwhile to post.

TL;DR - I cleaned EGR valve and disconnected negative battery terminal to fix my ping.

I bought a '99 ranger xl a while ago, and have had an ongoing pinging problem for as long as I can remember. The pinging was only prevalent when the engine was warm and especially under acceleration or up hills. I tried a bunch of the common remedies, such as seafoam throughout the engine and in the gas tank, running higher octane gas, and replacing air filter/cleaning MAF sensor. I replaced my coolant which improved the pinging but didn't completely fix it.

My check engine light would occasionally come on, which is triggered by exhaust sensors (if I'm not mistaken). This encouraged me to remove and clean my EGR valve. After cleaning the EGR valve, I replaced it but didn't notice much difference and the check engine light stayed illuminated for longer than it usually did. I don't have a code reader, so I unplugged the negative battery terminal to reset the CEL and waited to see if it would come back on. It didn't, and the pinging also didn't come back! I've read that resetting the engines computer will also cause it to start building new engine performance histories which can improve future efficiency/performance. Anyway, my pinging is now gone and I couldn't be happier! Hopefully this could help someone in a similar situation.