I have a new 2004 F250 with the 5.4L and a six-speed manual transmission. More than occassionaly, when I shift gears, the engine revs up and very slowly starts come come back down. For example, if I am at 2500 rpm when I shift, as soon as I push the clutch and take my foot off of the gas, you'd think the rpm would start to come down, but it stays at 2500 for a few seconds, then very slowly comes down to 1500 but no lower; unless I come to a complete stop for more than one second then it returns to idle. The dealership replaced the main processor in the truck, no change, and they can't find the problem. Ford of Canada refuses to acknowledge the problem. They simply say they haven't received enough complaints to look into it. Any ideas???

 

In your 2nd sentence, you say it rev's up, then in your 3rd sentence you say it stays the same; at it's last rpm level before changing gears. Which is it? My truck does the same as what you state in your 3rd sentence, which I think is actually very convenient and will save some clutch wear over time. I shift gears between 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm though. (Maybe my 5.4L powerstroke is more powerful... My truck makes a lot of torque at 1000 rpm and above without ever lugging the engine.) Each gear change drops the engine speed 500 RPMs. (except L to 1st and 1st to 2nd) I try to keep cruising RPMs between 1500-1750 rpms, so when I want to go faster I get the engine speed to, for example, 2000 rpm's before upshifting. When I take my foot off the gas and disengage the clutch, the rpm will stay at 2000 rpms for a little while and then by the time I have disengaged the clutch and changed gears, it drops to around the desired 1500 rpms. I have to give it very little gas while I release the clutch. Consequently, the output shaft (and rear wheels divided by 3.73) speed match the flywheel (and engine) speed very closely. That makes for very little clutch slippage (and wear) and a very smooth engagement. (Better than a 4R100 and way better than a 4R70W.) If the rpm died off right away and went down to 800 rpms, I would have to give it a lot of gas to get back up to 1500 rpms which would make the shifts less smooth as I probably would give it too much gas and end up 500 rpm too high of my 1500 rpm target. My truck does go down to 1000 rpm when in neutral and the truck is moving and then it drops to 800 rpm when the speedometer reads 0 MPH . (BTW, I have a 2003 5.4L 6-speed 3.73LS) So is this a problem or a convenience? I guess it's all in how you drive your truck.

 

I would say it is a problem as I've test driven another new F250 that doesn't do it. As I said in both sentences, it comes down very slowly from 2500, such that when you let the clutch up, it jerks the engine down to the required rpm. I agree the truck has great low end torque, but sometimes you need to get the engine rpms up. Also, when slowing the engine doesn't come down to 1000, it only comes down to 1500 (with the clutch pedal in) and will not come down to 800 until you are completely stops for a second or two. That's too high. It kind of eliminates any engine braking when the engine rpm doesn't come down when you take your foot off the gas.

 

5.4L powerstroke? i have never heard of that

 

Sure, he's gotta a 5.4 PS - just look in his gallery...

savage250,
My V10 does about the same thing, but it does not increase in RPM's, it just sort of lingers there. I don't know for sure, but it has something to do with the PCM reading the MPH.

There was a thread here about "No Engine Brakes" that might answer some questions - Do a search and see.

 

The 1500 rpm idle is definitly strange. A few months ago, someone else complained about the very same thing. I don't remember if he had a 2003 or 2004 though. Someone else even complained that their 2003 6-speed had no engine braking. I asked what computer firmware release he had but he never replied. I have FMW1 by the way and my truck works properly (1000 rpm at idle when the truck is moving and 800 rpm idle when stopped). Is it possible for your dealer to download it in his WDS and load it on your truck? If they swapped computers and they were both at the same firmware release, I can see why it would have no effect. You know, I noticed that when I am in neutral and I gun the engine, it takes about a second for the change in RPM to register on the tach. In other words I hear the engine changing RPM about 1/2 to 1 second before I see the tach move. I just came from lunch and I tried the shifting at 2500 rpm and the only way I can make my engine "jerk down" is by changing gears rapdily and letting the clutch out very very fast, like almost popping it. I went from 3rd at 2500 rpm and switched to 4th, the engine did jerk a little but it only went down to 2000 rpm from 2500 rpm. This is very difficult to do on my truck because my transmission has a very slow shifter, 10 times worse than my 99 with the 5-speed. Maybe that's why they programmed the PCM to remain at the same RPM for a little while, to make up for the slow shifting nature of the S6-650. Are you skipping gears or going sequentially or is your transmission much better than mine? My 2003 is the only truck with a 6-speed I have ever driven. I drove my father's 1977 F250 with a 400M/NP435 4-speed and his current F250 with a 351W/ZF S542 5-speed in addition to my 1999 F250 with a 5.4L/ZF S547 5-speed, but I don't remember if any of them did that. My friend who has a 2000 F250 with the 7.3L powerstroke and 6-speed says my truck drives exactly like his. Maybe you could just try to have the dealer go back to an earlier firmware like FMW1 or something.

 

A member here , V10DOUBLETOW, made me those stickers. This "joke" came about because all my friends and co-workers couldn't believe how dumb I am that I bought an F250 with a scooter engine in it. (They ALL have 7.3L PowerStroke Diesels, you know, a real engine, a MANNNNNNN'S engine.) So I told them I liked the price of my PowerStroke Gasoline better. My truck is paid off... Not theirs. (And I get the same gas mileage they do.)

 

I'll see if I can find out what firmware version it is. Is there any way for me to find out without going to the dealer? Ya, the other one I drove behaved like all of manual transmission full size pickups I've driven. I just wish Ford of Canada would take more of an interest and listen me and the dealership.

 

Yes, there's a little tag on your driver's side door near the top hinge. They might have covered it up with another firmware sticker if the new computer had a different release but the sticker will be there. it'll be a combination of 4 letters and numbers like FMW1 or FUN1.

 

Is there any way to find out what the computer code on the door means? Or what firmware version it is, or what's different between it and previous ones? The one I have is BUX1, and I found some ECB1, and I'd like to know the difference. Thanks

 

There doesn't seem to be any meaning to the codes. My 2003 f250 is FMW1 while my 1994 was FUN1. Could be anything but they are application specific. FMW1 will only work with a 5.4L/6-speed while the FUN1 will only work with a 4.9L/E4OD.

 

Hi all! My first post. Been doing a lot of reading about the 6.0L Powerstroke and all the negative comments on this site and several other sites. Will stop there and not go further concerning negative comments.

Positive note: Just purchased a 2004 F250 FX4 short bed 6.0L Powerstroke with A/T and love the vehicle.

Now, for what its worth:

My 1998 Escort 5-speed would do the same thing at times when shifting gears. The engine would rev up for several seconds then drop down everytime the clutch pedal was pushed to the floor to shift gears. Sometimes when coming to a stop the engine idle speed would hang at 1500rpm and at times would slowly increase with no throttle input from me. I traced the problem to the engine coolant temperature sensor circuit. Specifically on the 1998 Escort the coolant temp sensor wires run from the sensor through a harness connector mounted on the right strut tower then to the PCM.

If the above problems occured (especially the high idle once stopped) I would wiggle the wires at the strut tower harness connector. As soon as I wiggled the wires the high idle would drop and the engine speed increase during shifting would disappear. I attribute the problem to either slightly dissimilar metals between the male and female connector pins setting up a corrosive substance not conducive to good electrical conductivity and/or very light female connector pin tension not grabbing the male connector pin tighly enough thereby once again setting up a conductivity issue between the two pins.

I vowed to myself I would rewire this circuit when I had a chance. 192,000+ miles later I am still wiggling the connector wires when the problem occurs.
NOTE: Sometimes I would have to unplug and reconnect the strut tower connector to solve the problem. This causes physical sliding contact between the male and female pins thereby burnishing the pins and returning good electrical contact.

For what its worth