Towing Results With & Without Superchip
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
HI Greg,
Yes, as long as it will stay in Overdrive, it's OK to tow in O/D in the newer (roughly 96 & up) automatics according to FoMoCo. They say with the manual transmissions not to tow at all, ever, in Overdrive, but in the automatics to go ahead and do it, to get better fuel mileage. If it downshifts out of Overdrive as you start up a grade, it will stay in the lower gear until it reaches the crest of the hill usually, and then go back up into Overdrive.
With a 4.6 in a Super Crew, one of the heaviest F-150 configurations with the smaller V-8, and towing that kind of weight in addition, it's may be best to go ahead and switch off Overdrive when you know it's going to drop down anyway, such as going up a grade, but that is up to you. With your configuration, I would probably leave Overdrive on when your driving on basically flat terrain, and then switch off when you know it's going to downshift perhaps, that could be one technique to use, this is up to you of course, use your own judgement based on how the vehicle "feels" to you as you're driving.
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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 10-19-2000).]
Yes, as long as it will stay in Overdrive, it's OK to tow in O/D in the newer (roughly 96 & up) automatics according to FoMoCo. They say with the manual transmissions not to tow at all, ever, in Overdrive, but in the automatics to go ahead and do it, to get better fuel mileage. If it downshifts out of Overdrive as you start up a grade, it will stay in the lower gear until it reaches the crest of the hill usually, and then go back up into Overdrive.
With a 4.6 in a Super Crew, one of the heaviest F-150 configurations with the smaller V-8, and towing that kind of weight in addition, it's may be best to go ahead and switch off Overdrive when you know it's going to drop down anyway, such as going up a grade, but that is up to you. With your configuration, I would probably leave Overdrive on when your driving on basically flat terrain, and then switch off when you know it's going to downshift perhaps, that could be one technique to use, this is up to you of course, use your own judgement based on how the vehicle "feels" to you as you're driving.
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 10-19-2000).]
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Tadashi,
It's funny how the results can vary so much in the same brand, like your comments about Chevron. I don't care for it here in Virginia, but our California customers love their results with Chevron out there, we've heard this many times.
Mobil can be a good fuel, and in some areas, not so good. What you have to do is just try different brands to see what is working best in your geographical area, basically.
Texaco, Amoco, and Citgo in most places tend to be pretty good, those are our 3 favorties in that order. Even so, we've had reports back that in one area or another somebody didn't like Citgo, for example, so you can get just about any result, but we stick with those 3 brands and do well with them.
One of the best informal indicators of energy content is your fuel mileage, so tracking mileage with every tank consistently and accurately is one of the things you can do, as the higher energy fuels tend to deliver better fuel mileage, of course. It will take at least 2-3 tanks to make a good comparison, and 3-5 tanks on each brand is even better.
Never heard of "Voss", sounds like an "off-brand" to me. You can sometimes get lucky with the offbrands and get a good fuel, but you never really know and we avoid them, and stick with those other 3 brands.
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 10-19-2000).]
It's funny how the results can vary so much in the same brand, like your comments about Chevron. I don't care for it here in Virginia, but our California customers love their results with Chevron out there, we've heard this many times.
Mobil can be a good fuel, and in some areas, not so good. What you have to do is just try different brands to see what is working best in your geographical area, basically.
Texaco, Amoco, and Citgo in most places tend to be pretty good, those are our 3 favorties in that order. Even so, we've had reports back that in one area or another somebody didn't like Citgo, for example, so you can get just about any result, but we stick with those 3 brands and do well with them.
One of the best informal indicators of energy content is your fuel mileage, so tracking mileage with every tank consistently and accurately is one of the things you can do, as the higher energy fuels tend to deliver better fuel mileage, of course. It will take at least 2-3 tanks to make a good comparison, and 3-5 tanks on each brand is even better.
Never heard of "Voss", sounds like an "off-brand" to me. You can sometimes get lucky with the offbrands and get a good fuel, but you never really know and we avoid them, and stick with those other 3 brands.
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
First National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
[This message has been edited by Superchips_Distributor (edited 10-19-2000).]