Hi all,
It's been a couple years since I posted here. Not much need to trouble shoot after I sold my F250 plow truck and had a Ram for a few years.
3 months ago I traded my 04 Ram 1500 QC 4x4 on a 2012 F150 SuperCrew 5.0 4X4 6.5 Bed...right off the showroom floor.
In the past 8,000 miles I've noticed chugging, missing at cold starts of 0-20 degree mornings.
Yesterday I pulled a empty stock trailer 300 miles and I was extremely disappointed. The trailer is about 2500# empty and the truck was empty except for 4 people.
My Hemi, with 160,000 miles on it towed this stock trailer loaded with 3 horses and gear plus a 700# atv in the back for a total of about 8000# with very little problem and getting 12mpg. I had more problems yesterday with 2500#. I had to keep my foot in the gas all day and got less than 10mpg.

I hope I should be able to expect more from my new truck. I can't imagine the problems I would have had yesterday with 3 horses in the trailer. 6000# would have been tough. I expect more out of a $45000 truck!!!

What should I expect????

Thanks

Sorry if that sounded like a rant. I will be calling my dealer on Monday.

ScottyB
in WI

 

The cold start issue could be caused by Ford's design to warm up the cats quickly (thanks EPA). Most have said if you let it idle for a minute before driving, it is fine.
As for towing, what's your axle ratio in this truck compared to your Hemi?

 

What axle ratio are you running? Towing even 3-4k with the tallest possible rear axle ratio will labor with the 5.0L. Also are you using tow/haul mode or locking out the higher gears?

I have towed 6k with my 2wd SuperCab 5.0L and I have 3.55 rear end. The truck tows that with no sweat as long as I lock out 5 & 6 the gear when necessary and use tow/ haul mode. I kind of wish I sprung for a 5.0 with 3.73 but it was hard to find and somewhat rare.

EcoBoost cost sooooo much more money back in 2011 when I needed a truck. Another difference is that the 5.0L while IMO vastly improved over the 5.4 is a very "high" strung mill, it wants to rev- out and be worked a bit when towing. As a guy who sold Dodge back in 2006 and have more seat time than I care to admit with the 5.7 Hemi, that motor was and up until the new 8-speed trans a good mid- range motor where the 5.4 was a great low- end motor with stump pulling torque down low.

The Benifit to the 5.0L tuning is great on road feel and economy when driving around empty or for commuting ( I get 22 mpgs ) all day long "empty" even when I have a payload in the bed, of which I useually do 90% of the time the truck feels great moving it, but I do find I have to give it a litte more revs between 2,3 & 4th gears when pulling a grade to get into peak torque ranges with this engine, I don't think it's a negative though that you don't get stump ripping torque from the 5.0 at a low 2k rpm like the EcoBoost, it's just tuned entirely different.

My towing milage with the V8 is nothing to write home about, useually around 12-13 but I tow with this truck so little 2-4 times a year it's not like the difference from a truck that gets say 15-16 mpgs towing is enough to break the bank.