Some anticipated problems with my $500 E-150
 

Hello all! Long time lurker due to an old 77 truck but first time owning something worth posting about!

I bought a 1994 Ford Econoline from Craigslist about 2 weeks ago. (I'm pretty sure it's an E150, the previous owner completely de-badged it. The only Ford logo on it is on the steering wheel). It has 270k original miles with the 5.0 302 and E40D I'm pretty sure. The engine sounds great at idle with the exception of a belt squeak I'm pretty sure the idler pulley is the culprit.

The transmission is seriously going. The truck drives great other then it refuses to downshift. Unless you do it yourself or slow down it will not downshift. Going WOT all you get is a horrible bassy noise coming from the intake. When the van is downshifted manually, it hauls some serious ass. Although the WOT is accompanied by a sulfur smell, sort of like fireworks. No smoke unless it's been sitting for more then a day, then all you get is a puff of blue smoke on start up. No smoke under heavy acceleration that I can see.

Another main problem I'm having is the temperature. The previous owner installed a brand new radiator, a really nice 3 row one. A new water pump (not sure if he actually did I can't see it.) Along with new hoses. The van heats up normally, but the weirdest thing happens. When it's over 100 degrees outside in heavy traffic, the gauge stays right in the middle or on the first part of the M in NORMAL. Now here's where it gets weird, I just drove it ~150 miles to my new home with all my stuff in the back. Left at 10PM where the temps were around 80. The gauge stayed on the LAST peg of the M in NORMAL. The hottest it got was between the M and A. It doesn't seem to run hot when its blazing hot outside, but if it's cool, it'll run hot. I don't get it.

Also this van has perfectly functioning A/C but when I turn it on I have to cycle it between floor and MAX A/C at least 5 times before it will blow cold air from the dash. Also when the HVAC is on the temp and oil psi gauge jump up about a letter each. Super strange. I hope to hear from y'all!

don't trust the gauge
buy a cheap infrared thermometer and see what really is going on
prolly nothing

define hot

Sounds a lot like my van which also has just under 270k miles on it. I would not run it WOT. It's an old vehicle and needs to be treated gently. I drive mine like there's an egg between the accelerator pedal and floor. That's probably why my transmission still works fine just "kicks" sometimes when downshifting.