I have a 1991 f150 with a 5.0. It's a 4x4 with an auto tranny. It has many problems and they keep getting worse. Just a small list of problems are as follows:

- Bad oil leak at rear of engine.
- tranny shifts hard and doesn't always downshift, but still works decent.
- Gas tank started leaking about 2 months ago, and the truck has sat ever since, i don't have time to fix it at the moment, and i have a more gas economic vehicle to drive now.
- It's got dual cat back exhaust that i installed myself, looks great, but very quiet and the pipes are coated with soot.
- It's got a coolant leak somewhere, you can smell it.
- oil leaking from the engine gets on the y pipe and burns like crazy when driven, and can leave a big smoke cloud.
- it's got it's rust issues, the spare tire crossmember was rusted out on one end so i took it out.
- It sure doesn't have as much power as it should, but i'm not expecting much out of it either.

So on and so forth.... I'm thinking of pulling the engine eventually and doing a rebuild, and removing the non necessary components, like the a/c that doesn't work...putting some high flow cats with headers on. new distributor, plugs, wires...so on. I know my dad isn't gona let me, but i want to. I don't want it to sit there with all the problems, if i can actually do something about it. I can get help from my friends if i need it, which i'm sure i will.

I just want to get your opinions on doing this, or what i should do. I just ran it about a week ago just to get it in the garage so i could seal the tank, but i didn't have enough sealant, so it's still leaking, but i parked it on empty anyway.

I know i can do the work, i have the skills, but my dad probably won't let me. I would need to get an engine lift and stand, but that doesn't cost too much, but as far as other tools, i think i have all i need.

 

I'd also like to add to the list of problems... The passenger side auto hub kept unlocking it self and grinding constantly causing the wheel to heat up alot. So i took it apart and pulled the spring out so it would stay locked. Not much of a fix but it's temporary so i could at least take it down the road if i had to.

 

Wow, thats not too bad...

Last year I let my 92 slip into too deep of a hole so to speek, and had some similar problems.

Went with the easy stuff first like a fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotar, cleaned throttle body, air filter, and set the timing. Amazing the difference it made, brought back my screamin demon 302..

I also had a real bad oil leak at the back of the engine, so I first ghetto engineered one of those exhaust patch blankets to where it was dripping on the y-pipe to kill the exhaust cloud, but then set to work to fix it right. Steam cleaned the whole mess, then put in UV leak detector dye. Within a day I determined it was just a loose oil pan. Whooo hoo.

When I got my 88 this summer, it had similar problems as well. Changed rad, hoses, alt, belt, shocks, master cylinder, brakes all around, vac system, R134a AC conversion, fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotar, and the big deal was the gas tank. At first I was just going to replace the skid plate, but as I was pulling it down, gas started running everywhere. Here the skid plate fused to the tank. So I just ended up replacing the whole dang plate, tank, sender, and pump to make it right.

Moral is... How much money do you want to throw into it? Evaluate that to figure out if you should sell and work on something a little better off.

Adrianspeeder

 

Completely rebuilt motor, $3000. Gas tank, $500 (?), Manual hubs, $200, Tranny rebuild, $1200.

New 4wd F150, $6000 down, $600 per month.

I'll keep my '96 running and looking dang good, and I will love doing it.

 

Anyone have any similar problems? How can i fix some of these? The most important one right now is the gas tank leak, then comes the auto hub, and then the oil leak. I can deal with the rest on my own.

 

< 100.00 for Warn manual hubs, throw that auto hub junk away!
were is the leak? junk yard gas tank in good shape is cheaper than new.
adrianspeeder had a god way to find the oil leak.

Randy

 

Well i got to looking at it a bit more. The oil leak is coming out the rear driverside part of the oilpan, and i bet it's loose on that side cuz one bolt is all oily. But i also found that a gasket is hanging down where the crankshaft comes out. It looks like it isn't suposed to be hanging down like that so i'm guessing that's where all the oil is coming from. I didn't bother trying to start it because i'd waist more gas to the ground than to the engine actually running. The front gas tank doesn't work so i'm gona pull it out cuz i don't need it. How much would a good rear tank from a junk yard cost?