Hello all, I've got a 71 F100 with the 360 and automatic trans... I just had the intake gaskets replaced and now (driving home from the shop) the truck has very little power. I must keep the pedal to the floor to keep in near highway speeds. Its done this twice. And when I arrive at my home from the shop (7 miles away) it dies in my driveway due to overheating. it gets up near 200 and shuts off then continues to rise to around 225-230 before making its decent to normal ranges. I have no idea what would cause this.. Thought it might be the thermostat, but I'm not sure.. seems like a bigger problem than that with the sluggishness.

Any help/info would be appreciated.

Thanks
Donnie

 

Maybe check to see if the timing is retarted. That can cause heat and weak performance. They had the distributor out to pull the intake so they had to reset it.

 

I have a friend that suggested the same thing.. I'll give the mechanic an earful tomorrow about it and see what he thinks.

 

well i talked to him and he said he'd ccme take a llook... any other ideas? It idles good.. just no power under load and then overheats.

 

If the problem just started after installing the intake gaskets it just about has to be the timing. Make sure he has the right timing spec and checks it with the distributor vacuum unhooked. If its retarded 4 degrees it would still idle ok but acceleration would be poor.

 

i don't know if you already checked but i had this problem with my truck where i had my intake gasket blow and coolant was pouring out of between the intake and heads, before that happened i had the same overheating problem and when i took the intake off i checked the t-stat i had a 160 degree t-stat in it but it was flipped backwards so my suggestion is to check the t-stat... it could be a mixture of the timing and thermostat... i hope that it helps

 

another thing that you can look into is the radiator i changed out my oe for an aluminum two core with 1inch cores that should help with cooling the engine faster

 

thanks for the reply, but this truck ran like a champ prior to getting the intake gasket replaced.. just the oil leak... now it runs like feces.

 

Would make me want to drag that 'mechanic' out back and beat him severely about the head and shoulders.

 

i don't think its the head mechanics fault.. his subordinates are the ones who messed stuff up i think

 

The trucks at the shop and I told the mechanic what I thought might be wrong according to you guys and a couple of friends who suggested the timing was probably to retarded. We'll see tomorrow.

 

Ultimately, all fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the head mechanic.

 

I feel the same way.. but this guy has came from his shop to my house twice to check the truck out then have it towed back to his shop 10 miles away. He'll still get my business if everything is kosher after this visit