Ive got an '88 F150 with 4.9L

A few weeks ago I drove about 15 miles and my truck started to lose power and when I hit the gas it would bog down if I got on it too much. It died and wouldnt restart. I had it towed to a shop and the next day they let it idle until it overheated so they replaced the T-stat.

Today I drove about 20 miles stopped at a store and came back out 10 minutes later and same thing.....wouldnt start. Waited about 15 minutes, got it started and drove home. Same symptoms as before....when I got on the throttle it would bog down, act like it was gonna die. Everything to me felt like it was overheating... Towards the end it was really losing power. I was lucky to being going fast enough to make it up some hills.

After I got home I noticed a small cold puddle of coolant that probably leaked out the last time I drove it. Maybe it came out the vent? Then this: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...irship/fan.png aux. fan kicked on for about 15 minutes. The radiator made a lot of gurgling noises.

I installed a water temp gauge last week and it was only reading 200 and the water pump, hoses, and t-stat are new.

Is this truck overheating? I just dont get it. Something is wrong and it feels like its an overheating problem, but the gauge wasnt reading it, and it wasnt boiling over. Im really stumped.

 

Are the hoses boiling hot? My truck did that (351w) engine ran hot but gauge always read cool. I swapped in a new t-stat and it seemed to fix mine. Are you sure the stat is in correctly? You could check the temp sending unit too. That is a likely culprit, gauge only reads what the sending unit says.

 

I dont think the hoses are excessively hot.

The temp gauge is a new equus mechanical temp gauge that I just installed last week.

 

If the gauge is reading right then its not overheating , but if there is a blockage or no water in the motor the gauge won't read the right temp.....

 

get a sunpro

 

Make sure that you dont have a faulty stat. I had to get 3 before i got a good one,and that was at napa.

 

Thats true, I could install another one. Thanks.

Its possible too that they installed one designed for the wrong temperature at the shop.

 

There could be lots of different things. No one has mentioned the radiator cap. Those can fail, too. Electrical components can build up resistance when they get to hot, and then break down. There's vacuum line to check, emissions parts and sensors Etc.

 

I have heard of the TFI ICM doing what you are talking about in the running part of the thread.