Here's the list of woes for my '95 F150 Eddie Bauer 4X4 5.8 auto. 31" tires (if that matters) and 106,000 miles. I'm a newbie to the site, please help me out before I take sledge hammer to this truck. This is the sixth F150 I've owned since I was 17 (first car) and the only one that has given me problems.

1. Trans (E40D?) does not like to downshift. It will usually go 2-1 3-2 4-3 but never 4-2 or 3-1 After a long distance on the highway, it won't shift out of OD (4)either. Manual downshifting is the only way. Trans doesn't slip or shutter, upshifts are fine but soft. Trans doesn't seem to get excessively hot either.

2. Misfire or hesitation. Started out mild at light throttle, and after a 300 mi. trip hesitation is now extreme at slow speeds. It's actually developed into more of a bog. Becomes less apparent at open throttle in higher gears.

3. I checked the timing which was supposed to be 10 degress BTC. I marked the pointer and the 10 BTC on the balancer. The mark never even came close to the pointer with the distributer advanced or retard to a point of stall. Yes, the RPM's seemed correct and I removed the TFI jumper.

The bottom lines is that this truck had tons of power 6,000 miles ago and now runs like crap. When I say tons of power, I mean especially when compared to any 5.0 I've had or my 5.7 Tahoe. I changed the cap, rotor, wires, and plugs with no difference. I became tired of cleaning the IAC so I changed it. Well worth the 38.00.

 

When was the last time you serviced the tranny. It sounds like the culprit for 1. and possibly 2.

For 3. which plug wire did you use to time the engine? Did you disconnect the vacuum line to the distributer to prevent mechanical advance? Sorry but these are the obvious symptoms, if you did it all correctly, once I saw a harmonic balance slip (inner and outer) and so the marks for timing have moved too.

Good luck......