Lemon? 7.3 Tremor first towing.. Disappointing to say the least. Will not rev over 3000 RPMs or downshift

W

WildHair

Tremor Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
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Location
Idaho
Current Ride
2020 F350 Tremor
Spend a good part of the day adjusting the Weight distribution hitch on the 2020 F350 Tremor to our trailer. First tow experience was very disappointing to say the least. I have a 15 minute commute to and from work each day, thus , truck is not driven aggressively. Trailer as it sits it probably just under 7500lbs. Truck would not accelerate at all. Took almost 3 miles to get to 65mph at WOT in tow haul mode. Truck would not exceed 3000 RPMs or downshift. Pulled into a rest stop. Turned the truck off, waited a few minutes and took off again in regular mode. Same thing, run up to 3000 RPM's and upshift. would not downshift. Even tried ,manual mode, would not down shift unless the gear would accept 3000 RPMs. Took the trailer back top storage. From dead stop WOT with no trailer truck would not exceed 3000 RPMs. Truck has just over 4000 miles on it. Any ideas what is going on ? Though max hp was at 5500 RPMs. Got a camping trip planned this weekend, sure glad I've been busy and not sold the 2001 GMC. It may have to make another trip. Been so looking forward to towing the the new truck.
 
Hopefully it isn’t too serious but my 7.3 is in the shop right now for electrical issues. Dealer replaced body control module but then ended up finding a bad spot in the main wire harness for the truck. Contacted Ford and apparently they know of bad harnesses out there or have had issues like mine. My truck has 4500 miles on it and ran great up till now.
 
Yeah, take to the dealer. Something isn't right
 
TxTremor said:
Hopefully it isn’t too serious but my 7.3 is in the shop right now for electrical issues. Dealer replaced body control module but then ended up finding a bad spot in the main wire harness for the truck. Contacted Ford and apparently they know of bad harnesses out there or have had issues like mine. My truck has 4500 miles on it and ran great up till now.
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They found a "short" in a control module on my 2021 7.3L also with 4,500 miles. They haven't told me which module but it does seem like the body control module based on the errors I was receiving.
 
TxTremor said:
Hopefully it isn’t too serious but my 7.3 is in the shop right now for electrical issues. Dealer replaced body control module but then ended up finding a bad spot in the main wire harness for the truck. Contacted Ford and apparently they know of bad harnesses out there or have had issues like mine. My truck has 4500 miles on it and ran great up till now.
Click to expand...
Bummer on the electrical issues. Hope they get you back on the road soon.
 
Sorry, sounds like its broken. It should pull 7500 lbs like its not there. Good luck and let us know what they find.
 
Just wondering how you went 4000+ miles without pushing the RPM above 3000. Even driving it pretty easy, the truck likes to rev past that. And I hit 1000 miles Friday- finally broken in according to the book. I had a lot of fun this weekend... truck absolutely loves to rev! ?
 
WJK1 said:
Just wondering how you went 4000+ miles without pushing the RPM above 3000. Even driving it pretty easy, the truck likes to rev past that. And I hit 1000 miles Friday- finally broken in according to the book. I had a lot of fun this weekend... truck absolutely loves to rev! ?
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It really should love to rev. It's an overbore design (that usually goes against the grain of a torque first motor found in trucks, see 460 or 390, also over bore but originallymeant for trucks... although the 460 also shares roots with the Boss 429, but I digress), that lends itself to revving. I really believe that they designed this motor ultimately for racing. We'll see.
 
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Any chance the truck never got taken out of transport mode? When I first test drove mine it was acting similar to what you describe and I told them to check it out, yep... transport mode was still on which reduces power alot.
 
Keep us informed, WildHair. Hopefully it is a relatively simple issue.
 
WildHair said:
Spend a good part of the day adjusting the Weight distribution hitch on the 2020 F350 Tremor to our trailer. First tow experience was very disappointing to say the least. I have a 15 minute commute to and from work each day, thus , truck is not driven aggressively. Trailer as it sits it probably just under 7500lbs. Truck would not accelerate at all. Took almost 3 miles to get to 65mph at WOT in tow haul mode. Truck would not exceed 3000 RPMs or downshift. Pulled into a rest stop. Turned the truck off, waited a few minutes and took off again in regular mode. Same thing, run up to 3000 RPM's and upshift. would not downshift. Even tried ,manual mode, would not down shift unless the gear would accept 3000 RPMs. Took the trailer back top storage. From dead stop WOT with no trailer truck would not exceed 3000 RPMs. Truck has just over 4000 miles on it. Any ideas what is going on ? Though max hp was at 5500 RPMs. Got a camping trip planned this weekend, sure glad I've been busy and not sold the 2001 GMC. It may have to make another trip. Been so looking forward to towing the the new truck.
Click to expand...
Thank you all for your responses. Called the dealer this morning, booked out two weeks, described my issue and asked if they could at least flash the ECU. They said drop it off and they will at least run it for codes. Dropped the truck off this morning, got at call mid afternoon. I could only speak to the service writer for a couple of minutes. He described the truck limited itself to 3000 RPMs to protect itself aka limp mode as a wire connection (on a pump or solenoid) worked itself loose or was never reattached at the 2500 mile interval when I had a oil cooler assembly leak and a crack in the oil pan repaired. Which the truck was in the shop at 1500 miles for a oil leak which as diagnosed as a loose drain plug. How the pan got cracked, I have no clue as the truck was never been off pavement (yet) and babied. Regardless, I pick the truck up after hours and it's running great... We'll see how it does towing tomorrow evening. Thank you all again for responding.
 
Hopefully you're good to go!!!!! ??? These trucks are very reliable so you should be golden!

Its tough times as parts are hard to get and the service business is backing up. Many problems across the board, cars, boats motorcycles........ Gotta keep them trucks out of the Autobody shops too. Heard of a few with fender benders that can't get parts in a reasonable amount of time.
 
TxTremor said:
Hopefully it isn’t too serious but my 7.3 is in the shop right now for electrical issues. Dealer replaced body control module but then ended up finding a bad spot in the main wire harness for the truck. Contacted Ford and apparently they know of bad harnesses out there or have had issues like mine. My truck has 4500 miles on it and ran great up till now.
Click to expand...
having similar issues in my 2021 6.7 4k miles....Going in next week!
 
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