Ford F-150 (2009-2014) :: Truck Not Picking The Optimal Gear?
Mar 13, 2012
So on my way home from work, there is a dual lane, pretty long steady incline (fairly steep). The speed limit is 50, so I set my cruise to 50 going up. I noticed that the truck will not downshift but stay in 6th gear all the way up at around 1,200 rpm. It seemed a little low on the rpm's for how steep the hill is, so one day (about a week ago) I decided to use the "-" button of the select trans switch to make it go into 5th. RPM's go to ~ 2,000, and I immediately saw an increase in the green bar indicating the instant fuel mileage. I've repeated it every day since with the same result. So I get better mpg's manually shifting into 5th gear in that specific situation.
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My 2012 F150 has developed an odd issue.... It doesn't seem to want to always take off in first gear. I've had it happen several times where the truck would take off in a high gear but yesterday was the worst yet....I was towing my boat and the truck attempted to take off in 5th gear....I threw it in neutral and back in drive and it was fine, what's causing it.
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So today I had a scenario where I had to pull out from a blind corner onto busy street. By the time I pulled out I realized an SUV was coming down the street fairly quickly. My immediate instinct knowing I have 360hp on tap was to put the hammer down.
I basically planted my right foot to the floor and held it there. The truck was already rolling out of the lot and turning into the street at approximately 5-7 mph. This resulted in the truck shifting hard from rolling in 2nd gear, down to 1st. I never drive this way so what I'm asking next is if this is normal or not. As I held my foot to the floor through 2nd & 3rd gears the truck seemed to blip the throttle at 4k then up-shifted from 1st to 2nd gear.
I have a stock Ford Raptor exhaust on my truck with the resonator deleted and when the truck blipped the throttle just prior to the up shift, the exhaust "popped" like a race car with an open exhaust downshifting from speed into an apex. Yes it sounded cool, but it was obviously cutting fuel or throttle for some reason.
So here is the weird part, out of curiosity I tried a few different scenarios just to see if something was wrong with my truck. *Note if I just mash the gas from a dead stop there is no fuel cut going from 1st - 2nd gears at WOT. The fuel cut only happens when I'm leaving out and getting on the gas from a turn.
If I turn off the traction control or advance trac and stability program then there is no fuel cut or 4k rpm, the truck just runs out to the 5600 or so redline seamlessly. Im just wondering if the traction control or torque management is really that sensitive or aggressive? I mean it was 70 degrees out and the road dry, plus I was already at a speed 45-50?? mph where a loss of traction would not be an issue so what gives?
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I've been using my GX to haul the family about 500 miles round trip between our primary home and our lake house. I've done the trip about 5 times now, the route has many elevation changes (hills) and it keeps becoming more apparent that the GX is not downshifting when I would like it.
1) At first, I was stomping down on the gas pedal, entering the uphill stretches, to force a downshift, most of the time it needs to seek all the way to third before it gains enough torque to maintain fast highway speeds (70-80). However, this stomp method results in gunning the engine and then letting off the pedal, not exactly the smoothest process and hard to stay in the power band around 3rd and 4th gears.
2) I finally figured out how to push the shifter to the left and manually shift between the gears myself. However, I have found the downshift from 5 to 4 rarely happens in a timely manner. I shift it over to 4, the light goes out on D but takes a long time to light up on 4, and it stays in 5th gear. I have to downshift all the way to third to get a response out of it, which is immediate.
3) Once I started manually downshifting to 3rd it made a GIANT different in performance of the vehicle over hills. 3rd and 4th gear have plenty of power to move the vehicle along without stomping on the gas pedal and provides a much smoother ride.
Noticed the poor performance of the transmission shift program. I know the 05+ have slightly more power , but this doesn't strike me as a power issue, just that the truck isn't downshifting for optimal performance.
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Started a while back and comes and goes. Only commonality I have found is the truck needs to be warmed up for it to happen and usually after a few hours of driving. The downshift from 5th or 6th into fourth, at times, produces anywhere from a light to violent clunk, feels like a typical tranny slip. It will do it while in cruise and it will do it if I don't have the cruise on. Can't figure out if it is going to be a tune issue or hardware.
It does it only downshifting into 4th from 5th or 6th, no other downshifting is a problem and usually the 6th to 4th produces the worst results. At highway speeds that is usually a shift from around 2Krpm to just over 3K rpm (6th to 4th) if it is from 5th it is about 2500 to 3K. Start from a stop and go WOT and there are no issues.
Having it in Tow/Haul or not makes no difference as far as I can tell. IT can do it on one hill and the next time be just fine or do it 2-3 hills in a row. After this last trip it will do it at 9K feet or at 60 feet elevation, didn't make a difference there either.
Another issue that may be hurting the computer is the truck originally came with the 235 tires, it now has 285's and the rear is only 3.31. I plan on going with 265's and maybe still a gear change to 3.73's in the future. I usually only notice this on long trips, first was a 1500mile hauling an ATV, second was last week during a 2500 mile empty. Although I have had it do it a few times locally. I figure those bigger tires can't be good especially with that high of a rear for the management system.
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I want to lower my 2014 FX2 supercrew 2/4. Can't seem to find any drop spindles for it. What are you using to drop your trucks. I don't want to change the driving or handling of the truck any more than necessary.
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My truck doesn't blow hot air no more, just ice cold, for sure no fun with -15 c the temp. gauge shows that the engine is warm, blower motor works, got coolant replaced last summer...
F150 2009 xlt 5.4L....
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So my truck hit 1,000 miles. I decided to change the oil to get the factory oil out and remove any material that may be in there from the break in. I know the motor hasn't fully broken in. My question is what is the purpose of that shroud under the front of the truck? It seems like it can almost get caught on parking bumpers. It also makes it very difficult to get under there and change the oil. I had to go from the side. Need to remove it? It seems to be held by 2 good size bolts by the frame.
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I'm having a problem with my 2010 F150 4x4. I'm a mail carrier and when I'm stopped at mail boxes my truck flutters and and acts like it's not getting gas or not getting fire. If I give it gas it goes on. It may do this 1 time a day or 100 times a day. My check engine light has come on and then after awhile it will go off. The Ford dealership thinks it is an oil pressure problem but the oil pressure gauge doesn't drop when this happens.
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My wife and mom went to the dealership today to get remote start installed on their F-150's (bad decision not to do it from the factory). Both trucks had it installed, and it starts the truck fine, but the problem is as soon as they put the key in the ignition to turn it to "Run", the truck shuts off and they have to restart it. The tech says thats "Normal", and it's because of the "My Key" feature.
Neither of the trucks have had any of the keys set up to be "My Keys", all are exactly how they are from the factory. Something doesn't seem right....
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I have pulled a pop up with my truck before with no problem. I bought a boat on Friday and pulled it too and from the lake ( 2.5 hours each way). The boat is 21 feet and weighs 3000 pounds empty, no gas. The trailer is a bumper pull. I was pulling no more then 4,000. Under 50 mph everything felt fine. At times when going over 50 the truck was shaking. It would happen and then stop. It does not seem to be coming from the engine.
It would happen up hill and down hill. I was thinking it was just the vibration from the boat, can a load that size make the whole truck shake?? Also the truck made a horrible clunk after backing the boat down the ramp and pulling it back up. It happened when I took the truck out of park into drive. This can be something other then the transmission???
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So today was the hottest day I've encountered, since purchasing my '13, FX4, EcoBoost. It was 91 degrees out, which I know isn't THAT hot for some parts of the country.
That said, it's the first time since I've owned my '13, EcoBoost that I needed to use A/C all day. One thing I noticed is that the A/C fans are EXTREMELY loud.
The noise outside seems louder than an early 6.0 Powerstroke idling, or say even the 7.3 PSD. Sounds like a 747 taking off.
Is this normal or is something wrong with my truck? If I turn the A/C off, the super loud fan turns off, and the low speed fan for what I assume is the radiator keeps on, but is barely heard.
I don't remember the A/C fan being that loud on my previous truck '11, 5.0, XLT, but it had more equipment, and the engine wasn't as quiet as my EcoBoost now, which is almost silent.
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We have a 2009 F150 XLT 4.6 3V. Starts fine for several days then all of the sudden it won't crank. It turns over normally but will not start. Then after 10 - 15 minutes of trying it starts. Does fine for a day or two then it happens again. It is not throwing any codes. We have replaced the spark plugs, crank shaft sensor, and checked all the fuses.
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I have a '09 Ford F-150 Lariat, 5.4 with a lighting difficulty. Previous had it in for service for exterior lighting that was intermittent and uncontrolled. A door module was replaced and reprogramming performed by the dealer. Worked OK for awhile, but today I noticed that brake lights were on while the truck was parked.
Checked all that I could think of then pressed the caution light button, activating the front/rear caution lights. Turned the caution button off. Brake lights went off. About an hour later, noticed the brake lights were on again. Tried different things to deactivate the brake lights, but to no avail - brake lights stayed on. Have disconnected the battery - this is where it sits at the moment.
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2009 F-150 Lariat 4x4 with 5.4L.
My truck will rev no more than three times then idle for about 10 seconds. Then rev 3 times then idle for about 10 seconds. It keeps doing this. For weeks. Idles about 500, revs to 1500. The dealer had it in the shop for 3 days and found nothing wrong with it. I have a video but it won't let me upload it. I don't know what I can do since the DEALERSHIP doesn't even know what to do. Doesn't throw a code.
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Today while towing a 10ft trailer with a golf cart my truck seemed kind of under powered.It has the 5.0 with 3.73 rear end.When I got to where I was going I looked under my truck and there were spots all over the rear end and axle and frame that looked like oil or transmission fluid. I cannot find any noticeable leaks. The air temp today was 100 and the transmission gauge stayed around 200.
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I have a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT. I did take the fuses out of the glovebox and installed them. So trailer lights and blinkers work fine. I just purchased a small teardrop tailer. My problem is that the trailer lights are always on when plugged into the truck.They are on even when lights are off and key is out.
I am assuming that the problem is with the wiring of the trailer harness but I wanted to ask here first in case the problem might be with the truck. I have never had a trailer so I am unsure if the 7 prong plug is always hot. Obviously it is on my truck. Is this way it should be?
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Truck idles a little too fast? I don't even have to press on the accelerator to back-up and out of my driveway, and it's a little bit uphill. (2012 Screw, 4X4 Ecoboost, 3.73) It goes into the shop in the morning for the modification to the intercooer (I think?) and a reflash of the computer.
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I have a 2011 5.0 screw with 3.73 gears. Today my wife has the truck to haul stuff for her craft show. She calls and says the truck keeps stalling, like she had to keep restarting the truck 3-4 times to back up 10 feet. The dealership we bought it from is going to pick it up and give us another truck to use while they figure it out.
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I recently bought a 09 F150 Screw short box. I just hooked it up to my camper for the first time and was measuring height on the corners of the truck to check my WD hitch. I noticed that the driver's side was higher than the passenger's side in the back of my truck. I checked again without the camper on some level ground and found the same thing - approximately 1 1/4" difference at the wheel wells and about 3/4" at the frame. I can't believe that this would be normal, so trying to figure out what happened here - maybe it got rear-ended?
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Bought a brand new f150 45 days ago.The truck shakes at 5mph and at 40/50 mph. Have had it to the dealer 4 times. Twice they changed a tire and balanced the rest. The truck also doesn't shift properly which they say is normal. It is a supercab with an 8 ft bed,told it is characteristic of this vehicle and they refuse to do anything further to it.
Filed a complaint with Ford Motor and he contacted the dealership,the service manager told them that it does shake and that it runs better than some and not as good as others. REALLY!!! So the resolution is that they gave us a premium extended warranty,with no fix. The problems are classic drivetrain problems and they won't even look at it. I don't know what to do next. I can't even trade it in without taking an 8000.00 hit.
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