I have a 85 pickup with about 165k miles on it. It has some trouble going up hills in fourth or fifth gear on the freeway. I have changed the spark plugs and wires, and the fuel filter. Compression check is not way out of normal. What are some other reasons for not having any power? Not sure if it is related, but my truck also burns oil.

 

22r or 22re?
What size tires?

 

it is a 22re with 31" tires.

 

It may sound dumb, are yoluj sure you have the right plugs and tjhier gapped properly? I have found the gap makes a huge diff.

 

Sounds like your piston rings are worn. With oil escaping past the rings, your loosing some of the power created in the cylinder. Your approaching 200,000, I'd guess time for a rebuild. It could also be as simple as a catalytic converter or muffler plugging as those will also cause power loss. With the burning oil problem, I'm still going to have to go with rings, she's tired.

 

wore out motor. these trucks dont have alot of grunt in 4th or 5th gear any way. but burning oil? i agree with rick

 

That's what I was afraid of. Maybe I should try and sell it to someone who wants to turn it into more of an offroad rig instead of a daily driver?

 

Instead of starting a new thread i thought i'd jump on this one if it's alright. I'm having the same problem with my truck. took it out this weekend and as the day went on it lost power. it still has plenty of low end power but now it won't pull past 3000 rpm under a load. it revs fine in nutral but going down the road 3000 rpm is all it will give me, any ideas. the plugs are fine and it's not burning oil. oh and its an 88 22re with only 80000 on it. thanks.

 

Your problem sounds alot like a restricted exhaust, check the cat make sure there is no rattle coming from it and that it flows freely, maybe remove the O2 sensor and drive it around the block and see if it changes.

 

that's what i was thinking too but it hasn't put off that rotten egg sulfer smell and the converter is only about a year old

 

well it wasn't the exhaust. found the fuel filter to be full of gunk. thanks for the tip Mr. Woods