I'm hoping someone here can help me out with this issue I am having with my Chevy truck.

It's a 2003 1500 4-door 4.8L V8 - ~62,000 miles. I'm the 2nd owner.

The problem I run into lately has to do with what seems to be an acceleration and/or transmission issues, and it seems to be getting worse. At first the problem was if I gave it my lead foot and went between gears - say 2 going into 3, it would bog down, lose acceleration, and there would seem to be a loud clanking sound - best described as a marble bouncing around inside of an empty Folgers coffee can -. If I let off the gas and slowly accelerated, it would pull through the gears no problem and I'd be fine. But now it seems that even slightly gassing it or going between gears is causing issues.

Does anyone have any input AT ALL?

 

I think your cat has come apart..your probably hearing a chunk of the liner clanking around,and that would certainly make her bog as well

 

replace your air filter and fuel filter when you get the exhaust fixed and that will help with performance (I have a lead foot too!). If I had to guess I would say that the fuel filter hasn't been changed yet.

 

Gave it a little more attention after work and here's my reply.

It's not the fuel filter or the air filter, those were swapped out very recently. When I open up the air intake at the air filter and cover up the outgoing hole, it doesn't take much to cover that flow up - it doesn't feel like much air is going through.

It also sounds like the timing is just off or something of that nature. Looked at all the plugs and they appear to be in working order.

Into a GM dealer to check the codes tomorrow.

 

I still say its the cat

 

Got a diagnostic today and it came up with two things.

The rough idle most likely due to a bad or dirty mass air intake sensor. The engine issues were originally related to chamber 4 and moreso chamber 6 missing. It went into a "oh ****" mode and prevented any acceleration - this stopped the pinging in the engine. It is then deemed it is most likely the intake manifold gasket which needs to be replaced.