Hi folks. Started having an issue with my '92 E-350 box truck. I noticed a slight hesitation while driving which I thought was a miss from perhaps a plug wire jumping or something. It didn't do it all the time, just occasionally for a few seconds then would clear up. I looked for a bad wire at night but couldn't find anything so I said hell with it and changed plugs and wires, cap and all.

That didn't fix the problem. Progressively the problem has gotten worse. Then I started hearing a pinging, almost tapping noise as the truck was stumbling. Now I've noticed that the motor seems to be running fine as it does it which has led me to think it may be in the trans.

A little background on the trans. About 6 months ago the van started randomly conking itself out coming to a stop after a few minutes of driving. It seemed the trans was bogging the motor down as if it were locked together. If I put the truck in neutral coming to a stop it wouldn't do it. I went ahead and had my uncles shop flush the trans and he put some sort of synthetic fluid in it.

Since then the van has never done the cutting off thing again. All seemed well. Then this started. It does it from take off through all the gears even in OD. It almost feels as if someone is rapidly hitting the brakes. I thought maybe malfunctioning brakes however soon as I'm not pressing the accelerator it doesn't do it.

Today I had about 4000 lbs of wood in truck and it was a horrible trip. The truck would barely get up to speed. I unloaded the wood and on the way home it only seemed to do it going up hills so it seems any load on the truck makes it happen.

Does it seem I'm in the right area thinking transmission?? Being it happens in every gear would a torque converter seem to be a possibility. When I was having the cutting off problem I was told it sounded like the converter wasn't unlocking but the flush seemed to fix that issue.

I haven't pulled the pan to see if there's any surprises in it and I did the diagnostic check and there wasn't any problems found. Any other manual diagnostic checks you guys could think of would be helpful before I go dumping a bunch of money in this truck, which I need to make said money so.... You guys know the drill. Thanks a bunch.

 

No, I don't think it's the transmission. You're describing an engine miss.