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Rolled N to Nashville Tenn 2 weeks ago today out of San Antonio. Spend a week in Nashville hangin out at eh NRA Convention and Show.
The Good: This new 860 lb torque engine delivers and does so in spades. I was rolling heavy with 5000+ lbs of camper in the bed of the truck. I traded in my '11 F 350 equipped the same same except my '15 has the KR interior, the '11 hauled the camper for a lot of miles over 4 years. There is NO COMPARISON!!! Downshifting was a rarity, set the cruise on 65, 75 and 85 and the truck rolls in the left lane. Unlike me the truck comes alive over 65 mph. Need to jump up on the Katy freeway in Houston or the freeway in Nashville during rush hour, no problemo, just get out of my way as he launches up the on ramp turn signal blinking as I search for openings to the far right lane.
Sidebar: Truck is equipped with Rancho RS9000 adjustable shocks, Stable Loads and a Hellwig Big azz sway bar. Rest is OEM. Truck handles like a rocket ship on rails, no swaying or leaning as you take tight corners and sweepers. LOVE IT and if you are hauling heavy in the bed they are a wise investment.
The Bad: MPG is poor at best compared to my 11. I would run high 12's in mpg with same camper loaded. I grabbed data for the entire trip and seperate data for the trip home.
Trip A: 2279 mi 95% + highway 10.7 mpg
Trip B (Nashville to San Antonio): 1147 mi 95% + highway, 10.6 mp
Instant read on the dash started out at 13.3 mpg and slowly ticked off mpg till it hit 11.4 mpg
Gross mi on truck, 3941 total since new.
The Ugly I: At 2100 mi gross got msg that DEF was below 500 mi left. Stopped a Wal Mart and added 2.5 gals. Later that day I get msg its under 1/2 full, I add another 2.5 gals...WTH, went thru 5 gal of DEF in less than 2500 total miles on truck!!!
The Ugly II: Truck started pulling HARD to the right under firm stops. Checked front air pressure both at 81 lbs hot.
Drop off truck at Ford Dealer (Town & Country Ford, Nashville) for the above, they keep it 2 days.
Can't fix stupid: Pick up truck and I am told.
"MPG is normal"
"DEF use is normal"
Truck pulling to the right is NORMAL under load. "Heavy load in bed causes front wheels to come off ground when braking, which causes the truck to pull to the right" (yes that is a quote). In addition, since they did not work on the truck, I was charged for the rental car, which was supposed to have been paid for by FOMOCO (this was noted on the rental paperwork: "rental to be paid for by FOMOCO")
Note in pic below how the truck sits level with the camper full loaded.
I know this is apples to oranges as mine is a 250 SRW and I wasn't loaded, when fairly new, I had a couple of episodes of the truck pulling hard to the left under hard braking, I've also read on another forum of a guy having the same issues IIRC the dealership finally changed his front calipers. I haven't had the issue in awhile, but I did have the dealership look it over, they said it looked normal, but to get it back in if it happened again. Their quote was that It WAS NOT NORMAL for the truck to do that, but didn't have an explanation as to why it done it.
You're correct though, "you can't fix stupid"! What was the other one....? "Here's your sign"!.....
Nice post 17. My def usage has been confusing to me as well, on two occasions I will top off the def tank, get a warning message for def below 500 mile range, add 2.5 gal, but it won't take more than 2 gal. The def level sensors must be wacky. I'm waiting for it to happen again so I can document it, it will come clear eventually I hope.
I know the truck seems like it wakes up above 65mph but if you'll grant me, the engine really wakes up in the 2,000-2,600rpm range. Whether you're in 4, 5, or 6th gear, it pulls like a train right there. I'm a huge fan of driving in M almost all the time. I hate the way the tcm handles it's job, I feel it's set up all for economy and emissions, NOT set up for drive ability. If you care to spend some time in M and really use it as you would a true manual, it's so much better....
I still can't believe the dealership told you that was "normal" under load...what do they think a customer that purchases a 1 ton dually is going to do with it?
And for the past 100 years or so, all the engineers thought that weight transferred FORWARD under braking...
THIS engineer sure did...When they said the wheels were coming off the ground, I just said give my keys, at that point I would not have even let them work on it...
So I guess the reason why the nose of the truck drops when braking is because the lighter front wheels can't come up (even though they try), and that causes the nose to drop down.
04-17-2015, 09:54 PM
