things i've recently done:

advanced timing to 13btdc
leaned vafm 3 clicks
new intake/isr mod
running 87 octane

i have been running like this for quite a while. just drove 3+ hours yesterday. no problems at all, but right before i got home the other night the CEL came on for a quick second and then went away. i checked it and it was code 71 . i cleared the code and haven't driven very far yet but it hasn't come back. however on my way to work today i heard a ping sound. just one and hasn't happened again.

i know i'm doomed when it comes to power on the 3.0 without putting a lot of money into it, but i did like the idea of taking advantage of these little tweaks to gain a bit more pep. i feel like i've achieved a better throttle response and few more ponies, but nothing amazing.

what should i do here? decrease the timing? try the stock vafm settings without retarding the timing? advance to 15 BTDC and run higher octane? or say screw it and go back to stock? i'm no expert so any advice is much appreciated. one thing i do not want to do is significantly decrease the life of the motor.

 

I don`t know anything about 3.0`s , but if the EGR has a temp sensor remove it and clean it, and clean the area that it screws into as bast as you can, sometimes they can get carbon build up on them and that can cause a bad reading by the sensor.