2nd gen acting like it wants to die

[97rustbucket]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if any of you would be able to help me. I have a 97' 5.2L, that i've owned for about 3 years now. There's roughly 125,000 miles on the truck, and has been running perfectly fine until about 2 months ago.

I started losing power, leaking coolant everywhere, and some mysterious oil disappearance. Of course, my first thought was the plenum.
So, did some research - yes there was oil in my intake - so bought a new plenum gasket, intake manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets (had a pretty bad leak), replaced my cap & rotor, spark plugs & wires. Then I started her back up!


.. only to find out that my truck is still misfiring (previously cylinder 1, now is a random misfire code). It has also acquired a nasty back fire, and rumbles when idling (kinda bogs). Also overheats at idle, but returns to normal running temp when I'm going about 50-55mph.

Any ideas on what could be wrong?
The water pump, thermostat, radiator and all the radiator hoses are brand new. So, I don't think thats the problem..
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[auskip07]

Headgasket but do a compression test on #1 to find out

 

[dapepper9]

I wouldn't suspect headgasket yet.
1. Are you still burning oil?
2. Are you still losing coolant?
3. Overheat at idle could be attributed to fan clutch not engaging until higher engine speed.
4. Spark plugs and wires:
a. What kind of plus did you install?
b. How did you route the wires? There's a TSB for wire routing.
5. Try unplugging the 02 sensor, if your idle gets better you have a bad 02