Mike Levine towed 9,000 lbs in AZ on absolute for gas, 85 to 87. That was his mistake. He said he had no idea what it was supposed to take for fuel. Mike had no problems with overheating, but the outside temp was probably cooler as it was in April.

http://blogs.cars.com/files/mileage-chart.pdf

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2011/04...rt-1.html#more

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Hi everyone and sorry I didn't respond back in August after returning from our trip. I wanted to let everyone know that once I returned, I did take my truck back to the dealership to have them check for codes. There were no codes detected from when the truck overheated!! It's important to note that when I use the term "overheated", it didn't overheat in the old sense in that we were stranded with no water in the radiator, bad thermostat, busted hose, etc. It overheated in the sense that the engine temperature rose significantly and got close to red in the first run of that climb and then reached red in the second run after the rest stop and I got the message that the computer was reducing power to prevent overheating. I had to slow down to a crawl and the 2010 5.4L left me behind and went right up the climb...again, my brother-n-law said his temp gauge never moved. As I slowed down, the engine temperature quickly returned to normal, so we were never stranded...it scared me big time when it happened because I was thinking we were going to be stranded. Now I understand that in those extreme conditions, you need to pay close attention to the engine temp and reduce power when needed to cool the turbos. Toward the end of the trip, we faced another climb coming out of New Mexico entering Texas and as long as I slowed down significantly and down shifted to third, and even second (at roughly 3000 to 3500 rpms), I had no problems. I already have 27,000 miles on my truch (heavy driving with my job...no pulling) and I have not had any issues....it still runs like a dream. Good luck to all...

 

maybe i missed it but what he towing? was it comparable? A difference in 1000lbs can be big difference. Also not so sure I would tow a 9k travel trailer with a 1/2ton, those things can be sails and really make any truck for their money,

 

This whole bit about the truck not storing any codes bothers me... when there was an issue "even a message indicating an issue" bothers me more... Case in point, my coworker had a problem with his brand new 5.0 f150. On cold mornings the truck would stop responding to throttle input and idle rough... he had to coast to the side of the road. Stop the engine and restart "sometimes this could happen 3 times in 11 miles to work. He said the Wrench icon came on the display each time. He took the truck to Ford and everytime they told him there was no code stored.. seemed to doubt his story. He left them the truck for 4 days and they finally told him they had to replace the throttle body.... Still no code but the problem happened to the tech...Since that time no other problem... Funny part is have the EB and he wanted to stay away from "potential" problems
It can happen to anyone!

 

Yep, and to any engine. When I bought my 2005, 5.4 back in 2005, it went in to fail safe mode with me and had to have the throttle body replaced at 1600 miles. Never another problem.

 

How did they know to replace the TB? I find it very hard to believe there were no stored codes in history. I wouldn't take my truck back to that dealership if I was him.

 

Finally after it did this about ten times and he left it at the dealers for a few days and they test drove it every monring when it was real cold they "said" they were able to "duplicate" the issue. They changed the TB and he said he has had no problem like that since they did the TB... It does seem like it could have caused a very bad situation if he were to loose power like that in the middle of pulling out into traffic or other situations.. but he got lucky each time and he said his but only sucked seat covers a few times

 

I found that hard to take myself... I hate when they look you straight in the face and lie!

 

I guess we are all going to have to get our own scan tool and see if indeed there is a code or no prior to going to the dealer, just for back up and truth test LOL.

 

Get the OBDII Plug in and Torque app for Android phones and you have a code reader plus a bunch of other stuff...

https://market.android.com/details?i...=search_result

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/ELM327-OBD2-O...#ht_4016wt_974

 

The cheap code readers are nice and can help you out problem is they dont quite have the functions that the 3000 machine that the dealer has.

 

Borso, you got to love it, anything to keep the stealerships honest. LOL

 

Just a thought... Could a 10% ethanol blend be the culprit in high temperature over heating problems? Or possibly a higher blend that no gas station would admit to.
Vapor locking use to be a big issue in older vehicles and was more of a problem with ethanol.
Is it possible to take an engine running 1300 Degrees on a hot day with a little ethanol blend gasoline, a fuel system so high tech that it is suppose help cool the engine by the direct injection to the pistons, and a little pre ignition of the fuel and possibly create this type of problem?

I know around here the some of the gas stations state in small print "All of the fuel at this location contain ethanol". Even though they offer 87,89, and 91 grade.

 

It can happen and it does happen all of the time unfortunately.