I was driving along the frewway here , where normaly I have good power , can easily do 120 KM/HR and still have 1/4 of pedal left.Today I was barely doing 100 , and the pedal was to the floor.Also looking behind me a saw a little bit of smoke coming out behind me.I didn't look at anything yet , but does this sound like the head gaskets?The gaskets were new when I put them in the engine , but I don't think my fan is kicking in.I have a guage on it to show how much its putting out for voltage , and the last 2 days or so hasn't registered meaning it was not on.Either my fusible link blew on me after I wired the fan to my back battery , or the DCC controler is not working any more.

Anyway , if the fan didn't kick in on a drive that isn't very long , maybe 3 miles or so , would that blow the head gaskets?It was also fairly cool out when I did the driving , so I thought the fan just wasn't up to temp to kick in.

I'm hoping the head gaskets didn't go , they can be a pain as you have to take the rockers off to put them back in properly without cutting them.

FYI, the fan really doesn't do much at highway speeds. I wouldn't think 3 miles would damage it, especially being cast iron heads. While the cast iron heads can still warp, it's not as likely as aluminum head. If it was the 2.6, I might be worried.

I'd probably do a compression check on it and see what it comes up with. You should get a fairly even compression all the way around. Also, it should all be roughly 150 psi, IIRC.

Richard <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Not to mention taking off the alternator, compressor, heater pipe, various brackets, intake, distributor. Then adjusting the lifter preload. Good times! Did I miss anything? Good luck, I hope it's something else (running rich maybe?).

Well , I checked the rad and the oil , both look fine , no odd colors to them , still look like new in both.I took the plugs out , a couple were a little carboned more than the others , and some had a little brownish/white on them and otherwise looked ok.I tried a compression test , but I have a cheap thing that you push into the hole , and as soon as it hit a little pressure it spit it out.So , all I could get was around 90 before it spit it out.Would probably work better with someone holding int in <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I also took the opportunity to change the plug wires to a better brand , but still 8MM , these should work better with my MSD ignition.Starts and runs like a top.Looks like normal exhaust coming out the back , no odd smells or anything.It seemed to be only when I had it floored that I saw the little smoke coming out.I did put some new gasket things in my headers , but I think they are crap , I have another set I will put in and see if that helps any , they are the copper ones.

Other than that , thats all I know right now.Would roller rockers cause it if they need to be tightened a little more?I did it till they stopped jiggling , but maybe they can use a hair more tightening down.

Ok , did a compression test today with a proper tester.ALl are within specs although 5 and 6 are just a hair lower than the others.Its still starting and running like a top.Haven't had a chance to take it for a spin yet to see if its still got no power.I also fixed my electric fan while I was out there.It wasn't turning on due to a bad fusible link.It turns on now , so thats a good thing.I have no idea how to tell if a lifter or something is sticking , or even a valve.2 of the plugs did have a little black on them , the others didn't , so I take it to mean that 2 cylinders are burning a little rich?

Ok , there is something definately wrong.I was driving and can barely keep at 50 KM/HR (about 32 miles) and I have a bit of an exhaust leak , so I hear it popping every so often.I know where the leak is , I guess I just didn't tighten the clamp down enough just before the muffler.

Anyway , it runs great , just no power at all.It almost sounds like something in the tranny is making noises also , but not sure if that would affect driving power at all.My mechanic did replace the front seals for me and reinstall the tranny and he didn't mention anything wrong in there , plus I have been driving it since.So I'm kind of stumped as to this sudden lack of power.

it kind of sounds like on an engine with a distributor that the advance mechanism isn't working, like when a advance weight spring is broken, or the vacuum advance is defective or disconnected..
anyway, have you put a timing light on it to see what happens when you increase the rpm's?

and/or if you have distributorless ignition, have you checked that out?


//bc

Well , barely made it home.Something is definately wrong.It seems to be fine in neutral or park , but once I put it in R or D or even 3 2 or1 , it sounds like something is loose inside the tranny.Maybe thats why I am not getting any power in drive at all.I will talk to my mechanic tomorow and see what he says.This is a tranny that was rebuilt and only has 9000 miles on it.My other one was toast at 326,000 KM.The truck should not be doing something like this after just having the tranny done.I think I've only driven it maybe 4 times since the tranny was swapped over ,maybe 5.

I agree with trooperbc, idling fine and cutting out during load usually is an ignition related problem. I know the discharge ignitions can be hard on distributor caps, you might check the cap and wires too!

Jay

I think the problem is solved <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Found out that one of the dials on the MSD box was turned on when it shouldn't have been.Also , the reason I wasn't getting over 50 was I was running off 5 cylinders , maybe even 4 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> I ended up crossing the 3 and 5 plug wires somehow when I put them back on.No idea how as I did the wires one at a time.Unless I did it when I took all the plugs out to do the compression test.Anyway , so far I have power to get over 50 again , not sure about the freeway speeds just yet.Will test that later.