So as I’ve been fixing my 1983 F150 302,and whike I was driving recently, I noticed that while it idles PERFECTLY, it feels like it is sluggish in power. It bogs down pretty bad when I try to really accelerate, to be able to drive I have to feather the pedal slowly as I pick up speed. Any idea what might be going on? Any help appreciated!!

 

It sounds like maybe a restricted exhaust. Maybe a bad catalytic converter. Exhaust can't get out and builds up back pressure. Also mice or rodents have been known to build a nest in the tail pie if its been sitting. A vacuum guage on the engine can confirm that or open exhaust before the cat. I would look at the air filter also. Good luck. Tim

 

No, stuck valves is not a likely cause for this symptom. A stuck valve would cause an obvious misfire; two would be nearly undrivable. And V8s rarely suffer from stuck valves - it's far more common on 4.9Ls.

What's the truck's history? Miles, maintenance, damage, repairs... All that & more needs to be in your signature. Have you ever done compression or vacuum tests recently? Ever checked timing chain slack? Or set the base ignition timing? Read these & follow the links in their captions:

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that makes more sense then my mechanic telling me I might have a burnt valve. I have to but a new air cleaner on it anyway, so that should help. And my exhaust has so much rust on it (it IS an 83 after all) so maybe I should go and replace all that finally as well

 

so, I had it in the shop to get all the old air hoses cleared out of there. I didn’t need a lot of the vacuum stuff, seeing as how the old girl doesn’t need an emissions each year. She also got a new carb (2bbl) and I replaced the spark plugs and wires myself. It was running fine when he finished up all that work, then said out of nowhere he could hear a pinging noise, and the truck all of a sudden had a noticeable loss of power