glc I would like to go in on Monday and show my costumer service rep what you just typed in. Were do you get your information so I can show him he is full of it?

 

Unless he has the EXTRA Heavy Duty Towing Package, (I may have this name wrong), I'm pretty sure the Max Gross Vehicle Weight on his truck is in the 7200# range, glc. If his running weight on that thing is 7100# he has very little leeway.

My truck, with the bed cap, weighs 6450#, so I don't have a lot of cargo capacity left over either.

Edit: I see you're inferring the "MAX" Tow Package from the 11,000# figure. You may be correct - and that WOULD increase his GVW rating too.

I'll stick with my earlier opinion though that the thermostat is not at fault. I think the dealership has no clue what they're doing.

If I missed something, feel free to correct me.

- Jack

 

the gvwr in my truck door sticker shows 8200 lbs, the front gvwr is 4050 and the rear gvwr is 4800 pounds. My total truck weight when I put in on the scale was 7480 lbs and the trailer weight was 6320 lbs total 13800 lbs. Am I wrong and was the salesman miss leading to make a sale? It sure doesn't seem like even with the tow package these truck are meant to tow any thing bigger than a pop up or a row boat

 

Bollerk - the salesman didn't exactly mislead you, he just didn't give you ALL the facts.

Your truck can certainly PULL 11,000# - but, you have to consider what the trailer tongue weight adds to your tow vehicle weight. To be towed safely (to minimize trailer sway) the tongue weight on a trailer should be between 10-15% of the total trailer weight. This means your trailer tongue weight will be between 632-947# and ALL of that weight is added to the tow vehicle's weight.

So, when you attach your trailer to your truck, it suddenly sees at least 8112-8427# on its axles. And, this does not include the additional weight of the Weight Distributing Hitch (WDH) I hope you are using (probably close to 100#) and any additional cargo or people you are carrying. The optimum tongue weight is about 12%, so you are probably close to 8232# without a WDH, extra cargo or passengers.

In short, you are overloaded. Ford publishes these weight limits, but the only one they really like to talk about is the "pulled weight".

An F-250 should have a higher GVWR. Using the figures I just gave you, make sure its suspension is up to the task.

Again though, the overheating problem is entirely separate and your truck SHOULD be able to PULL your trailer without overheating. I think the problem is in the fueling when your truck is under load, and that points to a correction needed to the programming in the ECM.

One more opinion: Salesmen are not necessarily the brightest or best informed lot you are going to find at a dealership. He simply may have not known better.

- Jack

 

If you have 8200 GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating), you have the max tow package. If your loaded truck weighed 7480, that means the TONGUE weight of the trailer should not exceed 8200 - 7480, which is 720. With the average tongue weight being 12% of the trailer weight, that means you are within limits with a trailer weighing 6000. Your 6320 trailer is good to go as long as the tongue weight doesn't exceed 720, which is still over 8% of the trailer weight. Anything between 8% and 15% is considered safe. The 11000 max tow rating is for a truck with NO cargo or passengers, just a driver.

Your CSR is confusing max tow rating with GCWR (gross combined weight rating).

Front and rear "GVWR" is not GVWR, it's GAWR (gross axle weight rating).

 

Thanks for the advice, I had no passengers in the truck when I was towing it up hill. The truck feels good while I am towing (does sway or anything ) I am at the trucks weight limit but I should be able to tow without overheating. I bought a new truck but have any of you talk to a lemon law lawyer about this and is there a case. (I really hate bring lawyers into anything ) I feel from what I was told and the extra money I have spent it would be nice if ford bought back the truck , not for full price (I spent around 42,000). I only have 60,000 miles on it and I'm thinking 27,000. Do I have any merit in my thought.

 

If an 8200 GVWR HD payload F150 can't tow a #6400 TT without overheating on the grades, then something is wrong with it..

My Max Tow has a #7700 GVWR and I only tow a #5000 TT and it does it with ease and has never gotten hot at all. Trans temp has never gotten over 210* on a long hot pull over a 5-6% grade over 10 miles. It's gotten to 220* once before, but that was going up a switch back grade with speeds only around 25 mph and it was in the low 90's outside and I also had the AC on...

Dunno what to tell you bollerk.... Sounds like you either have a POS truck, or a POS dealer....

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Jack I agree with you about the salesman I don't think at the time he was aware of what he was saying. When I went into ford to see what kind of deal they would work out with me ( since the gave me the wrong info when I bought the truck) the salesman new then. Anyway with so many people overheating going up hill I wonder if there is a way to put a little pressure on ford to help us figure this out. When I took my ford in even the head mechanic was telling me that a 3.5L motor could not take that kind of weight for very long before it just wore out. Anyway thanks for letting me bitch.

 

I think you might try talking to the Customer Service Area Representative for Ford in your area. I don't know that it will get you anywhere but it won't hurt to try.

And, if the truck USED to pull that weight without the "overheat" problem, I think it should be able to do so now too. I still think this is some programming adjustment that can be made to the ACM or, a change to one of the sensors other than the CHT. Again, I DON'T see this as a genuine overheat - it's just a "load reduction" reaction in response to some other condition that is sensed.

- Jack

 

A thought - Ford recommends premium fuel when towing with an Ecoboost. Were you using premium?

 

Thanks for the responses but I was not able to find any solution to the onset of overheating after years of towing the same load along the same route without any problems. I've really enjoyed the truck in spite of the ecoboost problems so went ahead and bought a new 2016 F150 with the V8 and tow package. Have not towed with it yet but it should handle my 5500 pound trailer easily. I hope.

 

That might actually be the issue, if you have the factory coolant in there it might be getting close to the end of its lifespan and not doing as good of job as it should.

Good luck with the new truck.

 

 

All,

I have had the over heat issue since the truck was new in 2012. I installed the Full Race engine oil cooler in September. I tow a 7,000lb boat from Phoenix to Lake Powell 6 times a year. The truck always ran really hot.... i backed off at 240 pulling the grades or it would derate at slightly above that. With the engine oil cooler I saw the below temperature changes.

At cruise at 110 outside on flat to rolling freeway:
Before 190 to 230
After 195 to 207

Towing up 6% o 8%
Before 248 and would derate
After 227 was as high as i could get it pulling Black Canyon, and Camp Verde, actually had to slow down because i was testing it a little to much! Also the recovery back to 190ish was in just a few minutes.

Here's the bottom line. I'm in the trucking industry and was talking to one of their engineers about my overheating issue over a dinner and his first comment was "don't forget how hot turbos run and they're oil cooled" The twin turbos on the Ecoboost can run over 1,000 degrees on a hard pull and they are lubricated and partially cooled with the engine oil. After my engine got fully heated up after numerous pulls it overheated really fast on the next pull. So my truck which is a 2012 max tow package doesn't have the cooling capacity to manage the hot weather plus some tough towing.

The Full Race oil cooler is spendy ($700+) but it claimed to have the brackets and everything needed. upon arrival there wasn't any directions, just parts. i sent them an email and they replied quickly with some directions that one of their guys typed up in the email. So no written directions which you really need but a big thumbs up to their customer service. There are other coolers for about $300 less but you'll have to figure out a bracket. The bracket is about 18" long piece of angle iron with 4 holes drilled in it.... but It mounted nicely behind the front bumper. It uses an oil filter adapter, so you unscrew your oil filter, install the adapter with the fitting supplied. be sure to locktite the fitting or it may unscrew with the filter the next time you change the oil. Then the hoses mount to the adapter and run up to the cooler. I had 4 hours into it because there weren't any instructions. With instructions maybe 2 at the most.

I hope this helps all of you over heaters and can't say enough about how it solved the high temps.