Hello FTE!

I am back from vacation With that out of the way my trip to Myrtle Beach, SC was adventurous going down and coming back up. While on my trip, I paid attention to the shifting of the 6R140 trans in my truck to better understand and somewhat confirm to some on the forums. As some may know, I came from an F150 5.4 2v V8/4R70W combo. When I decided to go with a 2011 F250 this was a step up on power and performance. Nothing like a V10 or Diesel but still a noticeable upgrade.

Going down to Myrtle Beach

My wife, daughter and I met up with my parents at 630AM on Friday morning. We estimated an arrival time of 800 PM making planned stops for fuel and lunch. Our first stop was going to be somewhere in Northern Maryland to fuel my parents motorhome. They have a 1989 Chevy Class C 24 foot model with a 350 V8. We got separated by a mile or so on the drive down but a quick phone call got us back on track. When we got into Maryland, our fuel stops got confused once again. I wound up getting fuel on one of the island rest stops while my parents got fuel at the Flying J at Exit 100 on I95. When they were fueling up, the motorhome failed to restart. Myself was getting back on the road, and when we got the phone call, my wife and I stopped at exit 93 to wait and find out.

While waiting for an update, my wife and I pulled into the truck stop there and weighed the truck. With the trailer in tow and camping related items in the bed, we weighed in at 14,880. 5880 for the trailer axles and 9000 for the truck. Very respectable in my eyes. The F250 was performing perfectly. The engine was running well. The trans was doing the same. After 20 minutes goes by we call my parents again. The tone of their voice was not positive. I made a bee line to where they were stuck.

When we got there, sure enough the starter quit on them. Within another 30 minutes, a tow service showed up and they said well we cannot tow it or start it. After an hour, another service shows up for a tow to a local service center who can make the repairs needed. While all this is going on, my wife contacts the campground for a recommendation on a local RV rental place and sets something up. My dad and I work on loading up the trailer and truck with their trip stuff as well as anything else they will need for the rental. My mother is keeping my daughter and the dog happy.

By 1 PM we are back on the road and heading down 95 for hopefully a better start of the vacation. I am very fortunate to having the ability to purchase this truck. My wife and I found a way to make it work and realized the future potential of this vehicle in trailer upgrades to cargo/people carrying. My parents are very happy we are able to take them down and help keeping the trip going. With a full load of people and more cargo on board, the truck is still running happy. I am very happy since the power is there when needed unlike the 5.4 which was no slouch in the F150 I had. It too was peppy when unloaded. However, I noticed when keeping it in Drive or even Tow Haul modes. I am not a fan of how the transmission is reacting to road. It seemed the little thing would make the trans downshift from 6 to 3 for no real reason other than to make noise. In T/H mode it would some times drop into 2nd which praticially redlines the truck at 5500 RPM @ highway speeds! Yikes! For me, the happy medium is running in Manual with downshifts going up inclines.

Unfortunately, it took us nearly 6 hours to get through Virginia. 3 of them were sitting in traffic outside of DC and between Quanitico. We had to get fuel at an exit in the southern part of NC. Bad mistake at 11 PM. I think if my dad and I were not as observant as we were, the truck might not have been here or even ourselves. It was a real sketchy situation. We finally rolled in to our destination around 1 15AM Saturday morning.


Heading North.

We left on Saturday morning around 800AM hoping to be home by 10PM. The F250 ran real smooth. Just a real joy to drive. She pulled the trailer without issue. She kept us cool in the 95 degree heat. She carried us comfortably home to the service garage where my parents motorhome laid up in Maryland.

About 45 minutes into the ride and finally getting back into New Jersey, we noticed the motor home smoking a little bit. We radioed my father who was driving the MH home. He said smokes a little bit when it first starts up and once in awhile when he gets on the gas. Since he was aware, we maintained a safe following distance behind. Approximately 15 miles on the turnpike, he radios that he is pulling over something is amiss. We check everything out and proceed. Then all of the sudden the motorhome starts billowing smoke. He gets it to the shoulder and gets out of the MH. He comes over for my flashlight in the truck. He goes. It started flaking out electrically then motor quit. It's 8 PM and we are still 2 hours from home.

The tow service finally arrives 3 hours later with a wrecker large enough to tow it off the road. My parents have mixed feelings for good reason. There were alot of memories made in that motor home. My father noted the first engine trouble was at 13K with an in service of only 8 years. When the MH quit it was 26K. As my father put it, that Chevy would not give up trying to kill me no matter how well I treated it. Strangely enough, I think my dad shed a tear while we were transferring the stuff from the motorhome to the trailer while waiting for the towing service. For the next 2 hours after the motorhome was hauled off to the service's yard, the F250 run without issue to their house. My father gave us the keys to the Windstar for us to take home for the rest of the night. We pulled into thier house at 145 AM Sunday morning. We got to our home a little after 2AM.


The things I noted on the way down. Manual mode seems to be the way to go on long highway runs. For off and on ramps, Drive (No t/h mode) is the way to go. However, it becomes a slight burden to keeping shifting specially with limited space. I felt it in a sense worn out keeping an eye on everything making sure we were maintaining speed and the proper gear for that speed. At least I didn't have to worry about drive line temps. It was perfect. The highest the trans got was 200 and stayed pretty much 192-196 the whole time. I would have rather kept it in Drive or even a more effective Tow Haul. My opinion is Ford really needs to gather more real life data on these things. Pulling 10K on a test track in a circle is really not realistic as towing is different sizes.

Tow Haul mode from what I can remember was awesome in the 2005 F350 6.0 truck I used years ago. I remember hooking up the trailer with a bobcat on it and it would go without a problem. That tow haul experience made me want a super duty when looking for a larger truck. I felt Tow Haul was too touchy and I tried using it several times during the trip. As soon as it would want to get into 2 at 60 MPH, I was not interested in it anymore. I would have to take it out of T/H mode and get it back into Drive just to get the trans to shift. I would eventually bring it back to M mode.

As for the engine. The 6.2 doesn't feel like a slouch. I felt it had descent power but not on the lower end where it counts. I started getting better performance at around the mid 2,000 RPM range at the cost of gas mileage. There were some points in which I just kept it in 5th and let the motor sing at 2400 RPM. After this trip and if I was unhappy camper about the overall performance of the vehicle, I would seriously have to think about getting the truck paid off quicker and looking into down sizing to an Ecoboosted F150. I don't know if Ford will offer an "upgrade" power offering like they did when the 6.7s first came out. A simple reprogramming and bam more HP and TQ. If they offer a EBed mid 4.XL or 5.XL for the SD, it would have my interest. Diesel like power without the inherited costs.

Mileage. If I didn't have the almost 8 hours of practically idling to run the AC, it would have been a hair under 10 MPG. In my eyes, that is beautiful since my F150 5.4 would barely get 9MPG and that was going to Florida last year. That is with the same trailer and just my wife and I in the truck. My parents took my daughter down in their vehicle, the Windstar.

I know the Social Ford reps are listening but Ford should get more data from the every day people. The input from a guy like DW66 or the causal camper such as myself can help the drive line teams get a better program out there for people to use. It is clear that the aftermarket is trying to offer a solution that is an alternative to the OEM offerings. I personally do not want to have think about my next truck as the competition's vehicle because I felt the Ford's Heavy Duty line up didn't have what it takes.

The trip has thought me new things and shown me others' opinions on this particular engine trans combo. I can understand where some see it as a downgrade from coming from a V10 or diesel power plants especially in the power bands. Coming up from a smaller block V8, it is an upgrade. As for the transmission, I can see where a forum member thinks it is quirky when it comes to shifting. I tend to agree that manual is not an appropriate response. It works though. I too want to drop it into D and go.

I will end with this. Everyone in the vehicle praised the Ford. It did the job without fail. My wife stated the crew cab was perfect choice in which it's versatility showed its colors. It salvaged what could have been a really awful time for my parents. That's all I have to say for now.

BTW, I am not trying to start a flame war I am just posting my experiences. Hopefully, they will assist others in their research or even just say, " wow this guy is on the money with the same thinking I have."

 

sounds like a good report, glad you enjoy the new truck and too bad the programming is messed up. Through some pictures of it up too

 

Nice report FordmanNJ. I am glad everyone is safe and back home. What is the status on the MH? How was the weather in Myrtle Beach? I will PM you in a couple of days about the trans.

 

Thanks. I have some pictures on my camera. I just have not had time to download them to the computer for resizing and posting. The truck was at the dealership awhile ago for hard shifts but the trans guy said it was due to cold oil. It had the TSB done a while ago by the last owner and it was by the dealer I purchased it from. I didn't have any input for the T/H mode since this was the first real long tow I have done with the truck. I will probably have to schedule a service visit when works slows up a bit. It's nice to come off vacation to a very busy schedule.

Thanks. We are waiting for the a diagnostic report from the towing service. My father thinks it is engine related due to smoking we reported on the ride home. The weather in Myrtle Beach was excellent. It was pretty much sunny and hot every day. We did have some low humidity in the early to mid part of the week. The was a passing Thunderstorm on Friday around mid day. Otherwise great vacation weather.

 

4.30 gears would have helped with the 5 to 3 and 2 down shifts. The 4.30 gears in my 2valve 5.4 F350 was a night and day difference after the swap

 

I have the 4:30's and my trans does the same thing

 

IMHO, I think what you ran into was just a matter of too much load/drag on the engine and the systems said DOWNSHIFT to keep it in the powerband

I have the deezle and also like to run in manual when on the mostly flat interstates with small hills as it uses the turbo to climb the small hills and doesn't do the shifty dance as much...

Now I will use tow haul to help stop thus saving my brake pads

but tooling along @ 1600 to 1800 rpms is right in the best torque range for my combo...

good luck and happy rv'ing...

 

Once it is sure the truck is mechanically sound. An SCT tuner from 5 Star will greatly improve the crappy shifting and add a bit of power even on 87 fuel.

The constant shifting is what you get with an engine that does not make adequate hp and tq at lower rpms. However the shift and TQ lockup strategies take a lot of the blame. They set them up from the factory to try and get optimal mpg. So they have them shift into OD as quickly as possible to keep rpm down to improve mpg. Thus unless you make peak torque at 1600 rpm the truck is going to shift when you hit even a small hill. The 3.73 gears sure do not help but IMO the double OD and no 1:1 on the 6R140 was a bad idea for gassers.

It will get worse and I doubt get any better. There are 8 to 10 speed transmissions in the near future and government fleet mpg requirements keep getting more strict. So you will end up with a trans that shifts up and down all the time and lugs the engine for mpg. I don't expect the 6.2l to be around that much longer though.

 

Good to hear you salvaged your trip. My wife would have killed myself or my inlaws.....................................

Even with the 6.7, the trans gets itself into 6th too much for my taste. It's programmed for fuel economy and being in 6th all the time necessitates downshifts. I'm from the northeast too, and the pace is fast up here and I've always got somewhere to be and drive like it. Almost all the time on backroads now I just click minus once and lock it out of 6th.

I like the tow haul shift points (up), but the downshifting on downgrades and spinning the engine to 3500 is absolutely abnoxious.

 

I thought about having a shop perform the gear change. However what is making think again is DW66 has 4.30s but on a DRW platform. The 4.30s on a SRW platform may be a much different experience with this engine trans combo.


In DW66's write up on the 6.2 forums, I mentioned the fact I feel this truck might have been designed around the 6.7 first and the 6.2 (future gas options) second. Not everyone needs a diesel but they could use the heavier truck.



I used the both Drive and Drive T/H out of the gate at toll booths and on ramps. You comment is pretty much on the money. Great for getting going but sucks on the downshift. As for going crazy on my family, my wife might have thought it but she would know our now regular daycare would have to become paid DC again.



I thought about going 5 star on the truck while on my trip to SC. I looked them up and the shop was only about 90 minutes from the campground we were staying at. What is stopping me is the ESP on the truck. I purchased one due to the fact it was an early job 1 truck plus there was a history of the TSB work. The dealer I deal with stated if they find aftermarket programing during the warranty repair they will deny the work. At least they were up front about it. They could have said "yeah sure no problem." When a problem arises, we are going to pull a 180 deny your claim anyway.

The truck itself is a beast. It towed my trailer fine by all means. I too find the trans quirky in the shifting pattern department. However, the 6.2 engine in my truck seems to be a pretty good one. It gets descent gas mileage, has descent power from what I can tell as I never compared it to any other F250 in the same set up. It was a step up from the older F150 I was using for the job.