Hi Folk's, I have a 2012 Ecoboost with 70,000 miles. I pull a Warrior FS2300 Superlight toy hauler with it and it does it fairly easy (around 8,000 to 8,500). My truck is max tow 8200, rated to tow 11,100 lbs. I switched from a 1999 F250 7.3 with 385,000 miles and starting to spend a bit too much time in the shop. The first 45,000 miles towing with the eco were a dream. Really a dream. A slight amount more sway but I could now pull grades at 55 without even working a sweat. Then for some reason I was going over the siskiyous to Oregon and the dash lit up with reduced power warning and both trans/coolant temps were near peak. I pulled off and definitely could smell and feel the heat. Flushed coolant and trans fluids while in Coos Bay. Since then I've had to drop into 3rd and let it crawl up hills between 35-40 mph 1700-2000 rpm. It still brings the gauge up to around 3/4 to max or so but comes down as soon as it levels off. I have been looking through a lot of forums over the years since seeing people with similar situations but no real data as far as a fix yet. So I guess I'll keep the question of whether someone has solved the issue going. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Also the truck has developed an exhaust leak at the manifolds so it will be going in for repair soon for that. Obviously the little 3.5 is not really up to the task of handling what they boasted about lol. I don't really have a lead foot either. Absolutely love the truck other than that. Just need to limp it a few more years to save for a diesel.

 

You aren't the only one.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/v6...-up-hills.html

 

With how much you are towing and hauling (both weight and amount of miles), you are in the diesel territory.

1/2 ton trucks are good for the occasional heavy tow, or small lightweight trailer more continually.

3/4 or 1 ton diesels are great for towing continually heavy loads.

The newer diesels are a far cry from what that 7.3l is. Don't get me wrong, the 7.3l is a great engine, but times have changed.

 

Thanks for the response guys. Yeah I was a little skeptical but was assured that half ton trucks were developed enough to tow light toy haulers when I purchased the truck. I mean 11,100 lbs rated and only towing a max of 8,500. That's a far cry from being overloaded. Yes I have always ran 91 octane mostly Chevron gas in it since I bought it. The quest I am on is to find out what went wrong. Myself and a number of others didn't experience the overheating issues until a certain point and then it was constant. To me that says something went wrong. That something happened right around 45,000 miles and it would be nice to correct it. The fixes I have tried so far are diagnostics (more than once with no codes), new spark plugs (motorcraft) with updated gaps, valve cleaning procedure (chemical rather than mechanical). I don't want to throw a new radiator or any unnecessary parts at the truck simply because it worked fine with factory parts for the first 45,000 and I know it's capable of doing it again.