After major repairs the truck will not go over 45 and barely accelerates?

2006 FORD F-250
70,000 MILES • 5.4L • 4WD
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RAGINGHERMIT
Hi, I have the truck listed above with the 5.4L Triton gas engine. After recent repairs (serpentine belt, tensioner, timing cover, head gasket, and spark plugs), the truck is having issues. It runs and idles fine at first, but after driving for about 15–20 minutes especially around 35–40 MPH or going uphill — it starts to lose power. The wrench light and check engine light come on, and the engine begins to surge or rev without accelerating properly. It won’t go over 40–45 MPH and feels like the transmission is stuck or slipping, with the truck shaking under load. If I pump the brake and tap the gas, it will temporarily respond. Several codes popped up, most of which point to the throttle position sensor, which I’m planning to replace. Could this be a failing electronic throttle body or accelerator pedal sensor, or is there another issue that could be triggering limp mode with these symptoms?
May 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM
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STEVE W.
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 15,172 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
What are the codes that are coming up? There are a few things that could cause those symptoms.
May 17, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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RAGINGHERMIT
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Hey guys sorry for the delay. I ended up bringing the car back to the garage that "fixed" it and made them rip off the front of the engine nad redo the timing chain, they rereplaced the timeing chain, cover and retuned it and that got us closer to where it was. Its driveable now but heres here things are. The check engine light is still on, we pulled the codes and there were about a dozen of them. When he drives it stalls once in a while but when driving uphill, even a small incline, it struggles and often stalls after he gets to the top. Before he would pin the gas pedal and hardly move at least now it gets up the hill. I am going to re pull the codes with him this weekend and I can share all of them if it helps?
Aug 28, 2025 at 12:08 PM
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STEVE W.
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
  • 15,172 POSTS
  • ASE Certified Mechanic
The codes would at least give us a starting point. The description could be anything from a failing throttle body, failing fuel pump or pump control module or something else. With the codes we might have tests you can do to narrow the problem down. Do you have a scan tool or just a code reader?
Aug 28, 2025 at 11:25 PM
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