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lookin for some help

jayblack

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I have spent a day or so browsing the forums and trying to come up with some ideas as to what might be wrong with my truck. Hoping that someone else might be able to throw out some advice as well.

I have a '94 B4000 V6 4x4 with about 170k miles on it.

I just bought it in the summer and since the day I got it I have been having issues ... but getting them solved one by one.

Here is my current situation:

1. Getting 11-12mpg - no more than 200 miles per tank.
2. Getting a nasty rattle under load or hard acceleration
3. Have VERY little power. I can mash the peddle and the RPMS will jump but the truck won't go anywhere especially over 40MPH. When trying to climb a moderate hill, the peddle will be mashed and RPMS steady at close to 4k and I will not move up 1MPH.
4. Get a CEL when accelerating hard or going up hill every time.
5. The exhaust fumes seems very "strong"

What I have tried:

1. Seafoam in both the brake booster line and gas tank.
2. Replaced air filter.
3. Replaced fuel filter.

Planning on replacing plugs/wires tomorrow.

I am not holding my breath that the plugs/wires will fix the issue and I am really starting to run out of ideas. Could it be an 02 sensor? Fuel Pressure Regulator?

If anyone can throw me some advice, a newbie would be forever grateful!!
 



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a lot of miles on a older vehicle. how often was the engine "tuned" before you had it? What about your trani? Check all Fluid levels and make a judgment. you might need a new transmission. but like i said. get your engine fine tuned, and have your transmission looked at. unlike todays vehicles, your problem might be a little easier becuase, everything nowadays are ELECTRICAL!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!! electronics drive me nuts and force me to study harder :( haha. Good luck man, let me know how things go :)
 






as for rpm's jumping with no accel...check trans fluid level and condition of fluid. fluid low-fill accordingly. nasty fluid-drain and fill. if its real bad a flush might be needed.

CEL and bad gas mileage possibly MAF sensor as computer might not send enough or to much for the fuel/air ratio
 






I have spent a day or so browsing the forums and trying to come up with some ideas as to what might be wrong with my truck. Hoping that someone else might be able to throw out some advice as well.

I have a '94 B4000 V6 4x4 with about 170k miles on it.

I just bought it in the summer and since the day I got it I have been having issues ... but getting them solved one by one.

Here is my current situation:

1. Getting 11-12mpg - no more than 200 miles per tank.
2. Getting a nasty rattle under load or hard acceleration
3. Have VERY little power. I can mash the peddle and the RPMS will jump but the truck won't go anywhere especially over 40MPH. When trying to climb a moderate hill, the peddle will be mashed and RPMS steady at close to 4k and I will not move up 1MPH.
4. Get a CEL when accelerating hard or going up hill every time.
5. The exhaust fumes seems very "strong"

What I have tried:

1. Seafoam in both the brake booster line and gas tank.
2. Replaced air filter.
3. Replaced fuel filter.

Planning on replacing plugs/wires tomorrow.

I am not holding my breath that the plugs/wires will fix the issue and I am really starting to run out of ideas. Could it be an 02 sensor? Fuel Pressure Regulator?

If anyone can throw me some advice, a newbie would be forever grateful!!

Your number 2 you might want to check your weight of your foot. If you floor it every light and so on you wont get very good milage. And clean ur MAF, change ur plugs, wires will help.
 






@brandon - no idea how often it was tuned prior to owning it. he said he took good care of it but who knows. its funny that you mention the tranny because it is very sensitive. it works fine in the spring/summer months but as soon as the temp gets a little colder it needs to warm up to almost normal before it will shift into 2nd gear. i immediately got a flush when i first noticed this (2 months ago) but that didnt help the situation.

@ranger - i got a flush just 2 months ago and levels look fine. would you recommend popping out the MAF and taking a look at it?

@explorer - ya i dont mash the pedal at every light ... far from it. my wife gives me **** because i baby it everywhere we go haha. it does need to be mashed going up a hill or you will quickly be doing 20mph.
 






What kind of transmission? I'm assuming automatic, but my dad had that exact same truck and his was a manual.

Air filter?

Rear diff fluid? Might be like sludge in there.

Dragging brakes? After driving for awhile, immediately get out and feel the center of the wheels and smell for the smell of hot brakes.
 






@ranger - i got a flush just 2 months ago and levels look fine. would you recommend popping out the MAF and taking a look at it? .

cant hurt to look for any obvious damage or if its really dirty and will take 5-10 minutes. well worth it to take a peak
 






It could be the O2 or the FPR. A bad FPR will kill MPG and make the exhaust rich.

Thing is with out testing anything it's only a guess. Each of those items is like 80bux. If you're wrong you have to spend more.
So start with learning to pull codes here

For that same 80$ you can get buy a code reader on amazon for 25$, a digital multi-meter (free at HFR8 with a coupon to 20$ at Oreilly's) and a Fuel Pressure tester at HFR8 for 19$. that's 64$ and now you can test anytime you want. What a deal. Use the paper clip method and it's even cheaper.

But a warning; if you pull codes and get one for *MAf out of range* and one for *no HEGO switching* (O2 sensor) don't rush out and buy those two because a bad FPR will make it throw those codes when nothing's wrong with those two sensors. Since it's unlikely both would fail at once that's a clue to loolk/test further. Thats when you put the FP tester on it.

Pull the codes and post them here for help in determining what they mean.

As far as your tranny sounds like someone sold *well maintained* problem. I hope not. But at 170K that tranny had a good life. A bad tranny slipping like that can't be getting good mileage.
 






jayblack

Occam's Razor
Part of your problem is likely a no brainer.
Go buy a premium set of spark plugs, double platinum or iridium, and change your plugs.
(brandondox "get your engine fine tuned")
(93explorer317 "change ur plugs, wires will help")
Your rattling will likely immediately decrease or dissappear.
And power will likely increase dramatically.
Then start looking at other, more comlex and expensive, issues (if necessary).
Good Luck.

CraigK
PS: As you may damage old wires removing the old plugs, I'd have on hand and replace the wires at the same time. There are good threads/info on changing plugs on this site.
 






before you replace anything, let's do some troubleshooting first, I hate when shadetrees and DIYers start telling people to replace parts when they have no idea what is wrong.

OK, rattle under harsh acceleration. Crawl under your truck and check to see if all of your exhaust hangers are still there, if nothing is hanging down and if there is anywhere your exhaust is contacting the body or a heatshield or something like that. Don't forget to check motor mounts while you are down there. You can bang on your catalytic converter REAL hard with your hand and see if you hear rattling, but, if other tests don't yield results, you may want to stop by an exhaust shop to have it checked.

Next, follow the only other good suggestion in this thread and pull your codes like shaggymane suggested. Reading Codes is the first thing that should have been suggested. Seriously, how many of you people just go out and spend $300 and an afternoon of labor replacing probably good parts just to eliminate a few outside possibilities.

After you have done that, if you don't have an answer yet, you can pull and visually inspect your plugs. Make sure you pull on the boot and not the wire to remove the plug wires. If they look odd, post pics. You can tell what half of all engine problems are by what the plug looks like. If you have access to a multimeter, you can test resistance on your plug wires.

When you pull the plugs, you should also rent a compression tester and test compression in each cylinder. While you are there, rent a fuel pressure gauge too.
 






just wanted to give an update ... we decided to replace the plugs and wires ... and found out that AFTER we had done it that the previous owner had the wires connected to the wrong plugs. nonetheless the truck runs like a top now ... no rattle under acceleration ... lots of power too!!!

i figured this would fix the poor MPG and CEL but it hasnt. it still throws a CEL under hard acceleration and up an incline. still getting about 13mpg.

i grabbed a cheap code reader so I am going to give that a shot and see what it says.

just this weekend my fan motor stopped and it was one of the coldest nights on record here. going to check the fuse and then go from there.
 






that code reader wont work if its OBDII which im assuming it is because 95 and older are not OBDII...thats why some emission places will only do 96 and newer because they only have OBDII software.
 












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