Hey y'all, trucks been actin' up a little as of late. *And the obligatory noob disclaimer: I have searched but I can't afford to throw parts at it. (been there done that )
*Again its an '89 F-150, 5.0/A4OD with 189,xxx miles.
First thing, the truck has always idled high when started after it sat but I can blip the throttle and she'll settle out everytime. Is there an idle speed screw? I figure if I decrease it, it wont idle up at first but then at regular idle, it would be low?

Second, maybe a week ago I drove it about 10 miles to get gas and Arby's, drove awesome. Got back after ~15 minutes eating, fired her up and it stumbled just a hair so I went on; got to a stop sign and had to gas it to keep her alive, after gettin' onto the road it started stumbling bad as if it was out of gas but I just got some remember? Pulled over, popped the hood and the motor was churning side to side and sounded weak in a way. Plugs and wires were the first things I checked, good to go. Then outta nowhere, it was fine again... Moody, huh? Think it was just bad gas? I ran some Lucas injector cleaner through and its been more or less fine since then.

Third! My power steering leaks slowly, and seems to rob a lot of power when I turn at almost or full lock. With both my undersized Douggies and these 31s. So?

Lastly, these past two days have been unseasonably cold. Yesterday morning after I got off, I let her warm up 3-4 minutes and went, got to accelerating and it hiccuped, revved up some but there wasnt any power delivery for a sec, like it wasn't in gear. Smoothed out and got me home. Today, again let her warm up and it randomly felt out of gear again, revved a little and bucked slightly back into gear just like yesterday. I'm doubting torque converter cuz as far as I know they aren't weather sensitive but perhaps some sensor or solenoid.

If you've read this much, well thanks I tend to ramble a little.

 

All the more reason to perform some diagnostics and know what is or isn't a problem instead of just guessing. You can pull the codes for free by following the procedure at www.oldfordinjection.com or get yourself a cheap but effective Equus 3145 code reader.

No such transmission.. you either have the all mechanical AOD or the fully computer controlled E4OD, find the trans code on the drivers door pillar calibration decal and post it up.


That's normal.

Yes but it's not to be adjusted.

What are undersized Douggies? Underdrive pullies? If so pitch them and put the stock pullies back on, this motor doesn't rev high enough to need underdrives(peak HP at 3500rpm).

 

Okay thanks bout the codes, might get me one.
I dunno, figured 4 speeds, auto w/ OD but alright, that plate is missing though!
Lastly Douggies are my nickname for the abdolutley worthless Douglas (Walmart owned) tires the truck came with. Sorry, haha

 

If you have an overdrive button on the dash then it is an E4OD, if no OD button then AOD.
Also you could count the transmission oil pan bolts, 14 would be AOD, 20 would be E4OD.

 

Okay yeah I don't have a button.