My 94, F-150, 4x4, 5.0 auto EOD4, is a DOG, and gets about 10 miles to the gallon. At cruising speed up hill, I have to use a lot of pedal to maintain speed. I'm not sure what gearing it has. When it is in overdrive, up a hill, the converter wants to stay locked and I have to step on it some to get it to kick down. What is the problem with this thing? Could my catalytic converter be restricted? Any quick inexpensive fixes to address performance? Otherwise, it runs very well. BTW, is the A/C in this truck r134 or r12?

 

The AC should be R134...theres a sticker on the radiator support.

This could be caused by 1000s of things. How many miles are on the engine? It could simply just be tired after all these years.

What I would do is check compression and oil pressures. Any haynes or chilton's manual will explain how to do these procedures. They will tell you the current condition of your engine, whether it's worn out or still in good shape. Usually what happens is the rings/cylinder walls wear and cause a loss of compression. This loss of compression causes a loss of power, and will result in the burning of oil as well. If your engine burns oil between changes...it's not a good sign of a healthy motor.

If your compression and/or oil pressure are low (usually they're both if the engine is worn/tired)...no tune-ups or maintenance will solve the problem so you'd just be wasting money.

 

My brother's truck did the same thing after he put bigger tires on it. He fixed it by changing the rear-end gearing.

 

I failed to say it only has 94000 mi. on it and doesn't burn oil. I'm the third owner (the second owner was an 80 yr. old man with two other Ford trucks) and the carfax report I conducted on it prior to purchasing it did not reveal any odometer fraud. The overall condition of it is consistent with a low-mile vehicle.

 

How long have you had the truck? Being that it was an old guy who owned it, it could be carboned up, especially if he never left town with it. I'd try cutting the cat out, that should help, and there isn't an 02 sensor behind it, so your check engine light won't come on. It still could be worn depending on how the old man drove the truck (did it get up to temp., always in town, etc.) It's only a 302, so you don't have a real powerhouse to begin with; maybe 175hp, give or take a few.

Trevor

 

Similar to above - I have a 95 F-150, 4x4, 5.0 unsure of tranny and rear. I just picked up a travel trailer 23' - dry weight is about 4700 -GVWR is 6500. According to charts my truck should be able to handle it - however - while coming home it was very unpleasant climbing grades. As I pushed the pedal it would down shift briefly . This would happen several times but I could never get up the speed I needed - only about 30-35 mph on the climb. At one point it no longer down shifted - only dragged along. After reaching the top and heading down for the next climb I could not accelerate - it sort of coasted at its own speed and gained no momentum for the next hill. I switched on the flashers and felt an immediate loss of power so I switched the flashers off and it picked up again. The vehicle has 175,000 miles and no apparent leaks. Any ideas on increasing power? Change rear end and differential?

 

I wouldn't think you have to change the gears, there probly 3.55 or 3.73. This may be a dumb question, but were you pulling with the cruise on? They just bog down climbing a hill if you do. (At least our 93 F-350 would) That's a lot of miles, so the engine is probly getting tired. Does the truck still have the catalytic converter? If so, cut it out. It won't affect the check engine light since I don't think there is a 02 sensor behind the cats. I'll have to think some more on this, hope these help,

Trevor

 

Were you towing in overdrive? If so you were probably overheating your tranny. Also, with a 302 pulling that much weight, your not gonna have much power pulling in the hills. Lastly, if your truck has 175000 miles on it, then it is probably down on power to begin with. If your going to be pulling that much weight regularly, then I would put in a fresh motor, change your tranny fluid, add a tranny cooler, and go up to 3:73 or 4:11 gears. Or pick up another truck with a 351 and 3.73 gears. Either way, add an aux. tranny cooler, as it will save your tranny from overheating.

 

Get a diesel

 

never use overdrive when towing a trailer ,even on level ground, or climbing hills without a trailer - and if put bigger tires on you need a gear change ,and you also should not use overdrive -it's a huge honkin gear on a little tiny gear - not a good thing -personally they should have never put o/d on vehicles , it's only purpose was to conserve fuel and protect the enviroment - and stick it to our wallets - i'm all for protecting the enviroment but i also have a family to feed.LOL to further your performance problem it'could be , motor could be carboned up ( older driver syndrome)LOL, also take it in and have the tranny flushed , vehicles that don't get used can develop hardening of fluids especially trans fluid and can cuase failure or poor performance such as -not auto-downshifting etc. also o/d should never be used in the city - highway only 100km/hr or 70 mph if your in the usa

 

Thanks tdickie; rrust.

I've owned the truck for just over a year and I also don't put many miles on it. Unfortunately, in Maryland, we have emmissions testing every 2 years so I don't believe removing the cat is an option. Also, thanks for advising me on the O/D to be used over 70 mph, I was under the impression that it was 45 mph cruising.

How do I get rid of any possible build up in carbon??

 

Gotta dissagree with this. Most overdrives won't engage until 45-50 mph. If your not towing, then by all means use the o/d when your crusing at 55, thats what it is designed for. In the new trucks, the manuals says its ok to tow in o/d as long as the tranny is not "hunting" between 3rd and o/d. But in the older trucks, they advised against any towing in o/d.

When in doubt whip it out...the owners manual of course and read what it says regarding towing. If you don't have one, I'm sure someone on this board has one and can post the text.

 

Yeah, gotta disagree with the overdrive comment too. I get what you're saying, but my experience has been that whenever I'm crusing at anything over 40mph, and by that meaning that I won't be downshifting any time soon, OD is a good idea.
I mean, why waste gas by cruising at 2500-3000 rpm in third gear when you could be in OD and save a buck or two?
Now in the city, I wholeheartedly agree with you. One thing I've noticed is that Ford trannies seem to hunt for 3rd or 4th gear more often than any other tranny that I've had experience with, so I usually just turn OD off, specially during traffic.

But hey, just my inflation adjusted $.06

 

first i want to point out that i should have said use o/d at 100km/hr or 60 mph not 70 mph sorry i 'm 5mph higher than the other guy .LOL as far as the carbon goes it depends how bad it is - worst case is pulling the heads but that's usualy a severe case , i have pulled carbon rocks 2 inches round and chunks the size of my hand from intake manifolds . you can try combustion chamber cleaner but use it when the motor is hot and take it out for a boot down the highway ( comes in a spray can or liquid- spray preferred) things like - not using your o/d at low speeds and reducing the rpms too low help to prevent it ( low rpms =cold motor =carbon ) sort of falls in line with that older driver syndrome i mentioned earlier . at the same token you don't want to be driving at excessively high rpms either - there's nothing wromg with 2500 rpm it's not a diesel ,you could never spend as much in gas driving like that -than you could in the repair shop because your tranny packed it in from heat or the motor gave up trying to push that big o/d gear - before overdrive, cars alway's drove at 2500 plus rpm on the highway -sure the argument could be made they got less mpg , but i know alot of 60's and 70's cars that still run strong on the origonal motors and i know of alot of newer engines that pack it in in a few years because they clogged up from trying to save on fuel .

 

Automatic overdrive will not work unless it is supposed to. If you think you can design a better transmission than Ford, do it.

I second the advice to read the book.