Sorry in advance for the length, but it should help to have the whole story. I have a 2007 F150 SCREW, 12K Miles, 4X4 5.4L, 3.73's, AF1 3" intake, MF SISO exhaust & tow a 2000lb 20ft boat/trailer combo regularly for bass tournaments. Until this weekend I haven't had any problems, but after the 2 hour drive home I disconnected the boat & left it idling for 10 minutes or so while I checked out a new boat at our shop. When I got back in & turned on the outside air vent (Not A/C) on coldest setting, it blew blazing hot air & smelled horribly like burning rubber/plastic. Immediately checked engine temp gauge & it was dead center. Opened the hood & extremely hot in the compartment & the passenger's side fender was extremely hot to the touch all the way through to the OUTSIDE. You couldn't keep your hand on it. Driver's side was warm, but not that hot. No boiling, purging or venting that we could see. Drove home & once cold air flowed through, the vent cooled off & smell went away. Next day, got in the truck & noticed oily spray on the outside windshield (wasn't there before or when I drove home). Couldn't tell by looking in the engine compartment where it came from. Drove it down the freeway today & the torque converter was locking/unlocking over & over again like I was pumping the gas pedal all the way down the freeway. Took it to the dealer & of course they can't recreate & say they can't find anything & the computer controls the converter & it's supposed to do that to save mileage etc. Thanks guys. Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! The service managers have no idea & rely on the mechanics who have no clue unless the computer tells them what it is or if it does it to them at the time.

 

A lot of the tech articles I have seen recommend against long idle periods due to catalyst heat buildup. There is one under the right ( and left) floor. Does your truck have exhaust upgrades? Maybe that is involved. How is your oil level and appearance? Smell the trans oil for burn stink too.

OR, make sure you know what causes the lock unlock and make a tech ir writer ride in the truck while you demonstrate the problem.

 

Yup - that's one point - about the cats.

Another is, remember there is no real airflow across the cooler when stationary; you dumped a ton of heat into the tranny during the tow, then immediately let it sit. No real airflow in the engine compartment either for that matter - idling is all-'round not a good thing to do - heat soak after shut-down, though can't really be avoided.

Do you tow with the O/D off? Don't, if the tranny is downshifting/unlocking frequently.

If you even suspect you 'cooked' that fluid, get it changed immediately - it doesn't recover an all ssorts of bad things happen running cooked fluid.

Consider an aftermarket cooler - preferably a stacked plate 'active' one, with it's own t'stat-controlled fan.

Running unlocked generates a lot of heat by itself due to fluid shearing - and the stock shifting algorithm leaves a lot to be desired in terms of shifting in general. Adding a tuner may be of benefit - the extra torque and crisper shifting certainly would not hurt one bit. Also - install a tranny temp gauge so you won't need to guess the temps.


Oil spray? dunno on that one - you'd think the source would be obvious. Check tranny fluid level lately?

The stock engine coolant idiot gauge is a joke - you could be blowing coolant out like Ol' Faithful and the dang thing will STILL read 'normal' lol.

No dragging brakes?

My only other observation is that a stock F150 configured like yours should normally not have any issue (barring the above specifics) towing 2,000 lbs. Unless it's also got a HUGE surface area - which multiplies effort at speed much more than the weight would suggest. So it may well be you have a mechanical problem somewhere - try other dealers for alternate opinions?

Above is just a layman's IMHO perspective, okay? Corrections welcome LOL!

Good luck.


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Since the dealer could not repeat the problem, is it safe to assume you've been unable to repeat the problem since this incident also?? That load is nothing for that truck, so I'd be hard pressed to believe it got hot enough to create problems. 10 minutes is not what I'd call a long idle either. Being a brand new truck like that, and if everything MGD listed above checks out, I personally would try and re-create the senario for the dealer to get it covered.

 

Thanks for the input guys. It happened last weekend & the dealer's had it since then, so I haven't tried to recreate it yet. We have another tournament in the same place this weekend, so we'll see if it happens again. I had an identical '04 with the same mods + troyer tune & towed a Toyota Corolla on a heavy car trailer from Arlington, VA to Sacramento, CA with zero problems & nothing even close to this, and it had 55K miles on it. It seems like it has to be something in this trans.
I love Ford trucks & have had 4 others. My family are all Chevy/GMC guys, so I'd hate to cross over to the dark side if this thing needs all those mods to tow a one ton boat/trailer without melting the transmission.
Thanks again for the input & I'll give an update after the tournament this weekend.

 

Wooooaaahhhhh...lets not get carried away now buddy. You may have a bad tranny in this truck, but you don't need to swap over to pull it, nor stack on the mods!! Everyone gets a bad apple once in a while. Don't let it get you down