ford ecu

[digi]

Hello,

I have a 95 thunderbird, with the 4.6l V8 and auto tranny. Awhile ago, it
started pinging like mad.. I poked around, having no way to retreive the
codes from the ecu, I took it to a dealer (after, it seems like a shady
one) to get it looked at, the MAF sensor had died.

They happily charged me $300 to replace it, which I doubt they actually
did. Before the MAF failure, the car had zero engine troubles and it NEVER
pinged. The car has slight pinging during acceleration and heavier pinging
when the transmission shifts, however, intermittently it slighly pings all
the time.

I've tried all kinds of fuel, every brand thats here, all grades, even ran
it almost totally out of gas, filled it with some 93 octane fuel, put in a
octane booster, it still pings.

When its warm outside, it seems to do it more, and easier. Also, after
having the vehicle serviced at the dealer I thought I noticed i quite
severe power drop, but since I rarely drive it harder than a old lady, I
wasnt really sure until I took it over to a skidpad to play with the
suspention and it wouldnt even burnout anymore.

Anyone have any ideas of what the problem could be? I lack badly in the
area of electronically controled engine knowledge. Theres nothing that the
ECM could do to reduce power like that, is there?

Any thoughts would be appreicated..

- Brian