F-150 question

[TPCDrafting]

My work truck is a late '90's (not sure) F-150 3-door with an auto.
Couple issues it has:
1. It's basically the community truck, everyone uses it when needed, but most have their own truck. I drive it more than anyone at this point. (read: it has been rode hard and put away wet)
2. The brakes absolutly suck.
3. I think there is a vacuum leak, if I turn on the heat/ac/vent, it works great till I push on the gas pedal, then I can hear the fan running, but it sounds like a gate is sucked shut and I don't get any air out the vents.

So are the brakes vacuum assist on these? Or are the two major problems not related?

Lastly, it's majorly under powered. I don't know if it needs a tune up with only 70k on the clock or if it's just the way it is. If this is all the power it should make, I can't possibly understand why this is the best selling truck in the country.

 

[TooMuchBoost]

4. The 3 door truck does horrible in 60/40 offset crashes as well.

For years it never made sense to me why the 3rd door was on the right side until I thought about gov't and insurance institute testing. They always wreck the vehicle on the left side when doing a 30 or 40 mph 60/40 offset head-on crash and evaluate the 'driver'. Had the door been on the left with that design there wouldn't be a driver to examine.

 

[pafixitman]

For years it never made sense to me why the 3rd door was on the right side until I thought about gov't and insurance institute testing.

Curb side. They don't want people jumping out into the street. For the longest time vans only had curb side doors.

Granted every freakin' sedan has a street side door, but heck we don't need logic.

 

[adrianspeeder]

I can still remember the day dad picked up his 97. It's been a great problem free truck, but I still like the 96's and pre's better. It is run everyday, works hard, towed hard (before the PSD came along) and the list of fixes is very short.

97's and 98's have the third door on the pass side. 99's and up have them on both sides. There are three engine choices in the F150s starting with the 4.2L V6 which absolutly sucks power wise in front of an automatic. Then theres the 4.6L SOHC V8 which is OK in front of a slushbox, and a real SCREAMER backed with a five speed (just ask me!). Then theres the popular and powerful 5.4L which is unfortunatly only available with an automatic, or else we would have one.

What engine is it?

Comin up on 90some thousand pretty hard miles, and still on the stock rear drums and pads. Front pads were changed and the front rotors were machined at 65k. Course ours is a stick so we downshift a lot saving the brakes.

Vac leak would explain your HVAC problem.

Adrianspeeder

 

[TPCDrafting]

Adrian, thanks for the help. I think it's the 4.2L

 

[adrianspeeder]

Well that explains the power issue. The 4.2s ain't too bad with a M5OD, but the 4R70w just sucks what little power it has right out of it.

Prolly 90% of the F150s are 4.6 and 5.4 V8s.

Adrianspeeder

 

[Twin_diesels]

Ok, I just happened across this post. I'm curious, what can you do to up the power on a 4.6 Liter V-8. I have put on a better exhaust, and K&N Air Filter/air intake setup. I guess power isnt as much of an issue as upping gas mileage. I'm hitting 15 -16 MPG.

 

[adrianspeeder]

You arn't gonna hit 17-18 on a good day without an M5OD.

Adrianspeeder