Slight surging/rough when cold? Anyone else?

oursomedayisnow

Tremor Buff
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Location
Carson City, Nevada
Military
Army Airborne
Current Ride
2020 F350 Tremor 7.3
Current Ride #2
Looking for the next one…again
1800 miles, and now experiencing a new symptom when cold. It’s not horrible, but it’s not like it was when we first picked it up. Just off idle, pulling away from a standstill it’s not smooth anymore? Anyone else having this, otherwise it’s running great on a recent trip of 1600 miles Avg 13.3 mpg
 
More details??? 6.7? 7.3?
engine rough?
transmission ????
 
There was a video about some bad plug wires on the 7.3, but he had a cel
 
7.3 Godzilla
Stubbing a bit off idle when cold
Trans seems fine?
 
Have no experience with the 7.3l, however the 6.2l in my E350 does something similar as you describe. When cold and first put it into gear throttle is not smooth, kind of surges if you ask me. It last a couple of minutes then all is well. My wife had a '15 Explorer Sport, which did the exact same thing also (Owned for 6 years with this issue, never got any worse/better). The weird part is if you let either warm up for a couple of minutes, it does not do it. I would not be to concerned if it goes way right away. Next time in for service see if there is any updates or TSBs.
 
This happens to me all the time.... I have no base line to compare it to, my last truck was F150. I’m pondering if it’s just that way or if something is wrong.... some of you know I had a transmission leak, it’s no longer leaking but I feel like it just is not shifting right. It’s jerky and or some times almost stalling, it’s like it doesn’t know what gear to be in. Let’s say you step on and accelerate to 50ish, and you let off and coast up to 60... it sits in 4th or 5th gear for like 5 seconds and then drops into 8th gear, it’s certainly not smooth. The other situation I’ve had is accelerating from a dead stop under slow acceleration and it just falls on its face and feels like the truck is stalling and just jumps into 4th gear and you are going like 10-15mph. My truck is 7.3, 2800 miles on it. Anybody having the same thing?
 
This happens to me all the time.... I have no base line to compare it to, my last truck was F150. I’m pondering if it’s just that way or if something is wrong.... some of you know I had a transmission leak, it’s no longer leaking but I feel like it just is not shifting right. It’s jerky and or some times almost stalling, it’s like it doesn’t know what gear to be in. Let’s say you step on and accelerate to 50ish, and you let off and coast up to 60... it sits in 4th or 5th gear for like 5 seconds and then drops into 8th gear, it’s certainly not smooth. The other situation I’ve had is accelerating from a dead stop under slow acceleration and it just falls on its face and feels like the truck is stalling and just jumps into 4th gear and you are going like 10-15mph. My truck is 7.3, 2800 miles on it. Anybody having the same thing?
That sounds way worse than ours, I'd take that in ASAP. I think for ours, I'll wait for the aftermarket like Banks to catch up with gas pedal interface, to smooth it out, unless there is a SB from Ford
 
This happens to me all the time.... I have no base line to compare it to, my last truck was F150. I’m pondering if it’s just that way or if something is wrong.... some of you know I had a transmission leak, it’s no longer leaking but I feel like it just is not shifting right. It’s jerky and or some times almost stalling, it’s like it doesn’t know what gear to be in. Let’s say you step on and accelerate to 50ish, and you let off and coast up to 60... it sits in 4th or 5th gear for like 5 seconds and then drops into 8th gear, it’s certainly not smooth. The other situation I’ve had is accelerating from a dead stop under slow acceleration and it just falls on its face and feels like the truck is stalling and just jumps into 4th gear and you are going like 10-15mph. My truck is 7.3, 2800 miles on it. Anybody having the same thing?
I have the same symptons from low speed. I dont see this mentioned much here. It’s either confined to a few of our trucks or its “acceptable” to others.
 
Update: took it to the dealer, they said no problems with the engine after putting it on their diagnostics, he thinks it’s more of a tranny thing, but no programming updates yet. It does seem to be better once i put a 2100 lb camper on the back
 
Not sure what you're trying to explain as far as the symptoms. I haven't noticed the transmission having hunting issues either. Are you starting the truck and driving off ASAP? I have remote start and frequently use that and let it sit a few minutes before taking off. At least I wait 30 seconds from starting, I'm so used to doing that anyway from all of my other turbo'd cars so it's habit.
 
This happens to me all the time.... I have no base line to compare it to, my last truck was F150. I’m pondering if it’s just that way or if something is wrong.... some of you know I had a transmission leak, it’s no longer leaking but I feel like it just is not shifting right. It’s jerky and or some times almost stalling, it’s like it doesn’t know what gear to be in. Let’s say you step on and accelerate to 50ish, and you let off and coast up to 60... it sits in 4th or 5th gear for like 5 seconds and then drops into 8th gear, it’s certainly not smooth. The other situation I’ve had is accelerating from a dead stop under slow acceleration and it just falls on its face and feels like the truck is stalling and just jumps into 4th gear and you are going like 10-15mph. My truck is 7.3, 2800 miles on it. Anybody having the same thing?
This is normal 10R140 behavior. The occasional lag around 4th gear happens particularly at very mild engine speeds and when cold. 10R90s do it too. If you would unplug your battery for 30min to reset the learnt behavior, then drive it to relearn it to your foot behavior, you should be fine.
The shifting up into 7/8/9th gear when coasting at high speeds is also absolutely normal, it’s just a fuel efficiency thing and it’s programmed into the tranny to try to get into those higher gears. I saw somewhere around here a chart that gave out the exact shift points at varying speeds.

EDIT: By the way the lag occurs because the 10R90s and 10R140s are generally programmed to jump gears, I.e. the normal pattern is 1,3,5,7,8,9,10. Now when tranny is cold and you’re at consistent slow speeds somewhere between 10 and 28 mph, you’re forcing the tranny away from that behavior into 2nd, 4th, 6th gears to preserve fuel.
 
Maybe i’m not explaining it well here...lol I’ve owned 43 vehicles over my 64 years and have never felt this. Sometimes it’s just a strange stumble like it’s starving for fuel. Other times at a stop light when i pull away it will start to move and it just goes flat for about 1 second (like it’s trying to figure out what to do) which does not seem like a long time but at an intersection it is! I drive what i’d consider between grandma and race, or normal. Funny thing is it does not do this all the time, and it’s been better the past 3 days with a camper on the back in tow/haul, drove about 800 miles and no issues which we still have 300 miles to get home. We’ll see. Thanks for your comments!
 
This is normal 10R140 behavior. The occasional lag around 4th gear happens particularly at very mild engine speeds and when cold. 10R90s do it too. If you would unplug your battery for 30min to reset the learnt behavior, then drive it to relearn it to your foot behavior, you should be fine.
The shifting up into 7/8/9th gear when coasting at high speeds is also absolutely normal, it’s just a fuel efficiency thing and it’s programmed into the tranny to try to get into those higher gears. I saw somewhere around here a chart that gave out the exact shift points at varying speeds.

EDIT: By the way the lag occurs because the 10R90s and 10R140s are generally programmed to jump gears, I.e. the normal pattern is 1,3,5,7,8,9,10. Now when tranny is cold and you’re at consistent slow speeds somewhere between 10 and 28 mph, you’re forcing the tranny away from that behavior into 2nd, 4th, 6th gears to preserve fuel.
Thanks, i’ll check the 4th gear thing, see if it shifts that fast with no camper in the bed. The tranny is fantastic with our camper, shifts correctly through all 10 gears. When going up a 6-7% grade this week, i’ll manually shift a few gears so it holds around 2300-2500RPM and it pulls grades beautifully, same on downgrades, it works like it should. Thanks for the info
 
Maybe i’m not explaining it well here...lol I’ve owned 43 vehicles over my 64 years and have never felt this. Sometimes it’s just a strange stumble like it’s starving for fuel. Other times at a stop light when i pull away it will start to move and it just goes flat for about 1 second (like it’s trying to figure out what to do) which does not seem like a long time but at an intersection it is! I drive what i’d consider between grandma and race, or normal. Funny thing is it does not do this all the time, and it’s been better the past 3 days with a camper on the back in tow/haul, drove about 800 miles and no issues which we still have 300 miles to get home. We’ll see. Thanks for your comments!
Yes - I hear you. The behavior you describe of the 10R transmissions is indeed a bit odd. I also don't get that in my other vehicles, my Raptors and this Tremor were the first 3 vehicles where i had this behavior when the tranny is cold/not under load and at slow speeds (i.e. red lights, stop lights, neighborhood driving below 25mph). BUT I had this behavior in every 10R I've owned (3x) and every 10R I test drove (probably upwards of 10), including the raptors at Raptor Assault, and several F-series trucks at various dealers. So I do not think that this is a mechanical issue. I think this is a software/programming thing. It's not "wrong" per se, it's just "odd" solution to the problem of having 10 gears and trying to maintain a) fuel and b) torque within certain limits. That's also why some of the tranny tunes you can get out there (speaking for the 10R90 now) actually correct this behavior because they handle the torque differently.
All I'm saying is: Don't worry about it. If it occurs often because you frequently hit that high-torque-to-low torque-shift-point at slow speed (which occurs most frequently with 2nd, 4th and 6th gears, upshifting causes the lag, downshifting causes the brutal 5th gear bang people sometimes speak of) try to adjust your foot behavior and see if disconnecting the battery and re-learning the tranny will help.

At this point, I don't have these issues at all anymore because of how I drive (consciously) when I'm at those speeds/torques. BUT I can easily reproduce this behavior any time if the vehicle is cold.
 
Yes - I hear you. The behavior you describe of the 10R transmissions is indeed a bit odd. I also don't get that in my other vehicles, my Raptors and this Tremor were the first 3 vehicles where i had this behavior when the tranny is cold/not under load and at slow speeds (i.e. red lights, stop lights, neighborhood driving below 25mph). BUT I had this behavior in every 10R I've owned (3x) and every 10R I test drove (probably upwards of 10), including the raptors at Raptor Assault, and several F-series trucks at various dealers. So I do not think that this is a mechanical issue. I think this is a software/programming thing. It's not "wrong" per se, it's just "odd" solution to the problem of having 10 gears and trying to maintain a) fuel and b) torque within certain limits. That's also why some of the tranny tunes you can get out there (speaking for the 10R90 now) actually correct this behavior because they handle the torque differently.
All I'm saying is: Don't worry about it. If it occurs often because you frequently hit that high-torque-to-low torque-shift-point at slow speed (which occurs most frequently with 2nd, 4th and 6th gears, upshifting causes the lag, downshifting causes the brutal 5th gear bang people sometimes speak of) try to adjust your foot behavior and see if disconnecting the battery and re-learning the tranny will help.

At this point, I don't have these issues at all anymore because of how I drive (consciously) when I'm at those speeds/torques. BUT I can easily reproduce this behavior any time if the vehicle is cold.
This makes sense, the truck learning your habits so if you deviate due to a situation or just subconsciously the truck will have to "figure out" your new input which is a deviation. Ive seen it occasionally with my truck. It is odd.
 
That sounds way worse than ours, I'd take that in ASAP. I think for ours, I'll wait for the aftermarket like Banks to catch up with gas pedal interface, to smooth it out, unless there is a SB from Ford
I have this issue and then some! dealer could not find the issue. It "dead pedal" while leaving the dealership that day! Its really frustrating to have a new truck run like crap
 
1800 miles, and now experiencing a new symptom when cold. It’s not horrible, but it’s not like it was when we first picked it up. Just off idle, pulling away from a standstill it’s not smooth anymore? Anyone else having this, otherwise it’s running great on a recent trip of 1600 miles Avg 13.3 mpg
yes same issue with mine took to dealer they say they think it is a injector,now i dont have my truck untill wendsday mine only has 3000 miles on it
 
1800 miles, and now experiencing a new symptom when cold. It’s not horrible, but it’s not like it was when we first picked it up. Just off idle, pulling away from a standstill it’s not smooth anymore? Anyone else having this, otherwise it’s running great on a recent trip of 1600 miles Avg 13.3 mpg
I am encountering a similar issue with my new (Aug 15) 2020 F350 SRW Lariat 6.7L Diesel truck with 10 speed tranny.

It has an intermittent surging issues that feels like there is either a power surge or loss in a repeating pattern of off off off on off off off on. This causes a surging or pulsing feeling while driving the truck. It occurs in all driving conditions such as parked (with tranny in park and in neutral) at all driving speeds and gears although it is more noticeable at 30 mph then 60 mph. The tach does not show any changes in the revs while this is occurring.

I have had it in to the dealership multiple times with currently no resolution. At first they didn't witness the surging and so they couldn't diagnose anything and I had the sense that they thought I was a flake. I then was able to bring it to the dealer while it was doing the intermittent surging and the shop foreman was able to witness it first hand and hook the computer up to the truck to read it. Since then I have had it in several times for further diagnosis and they have been able to repeat the surging and record the parameters. The Dealer has been in contact with Ford Engineering and they are saying they don't know what is going on. I expressed my frustration over this to the Dealer and they feel my pain. Just after Christmas 2020 the Dealer had me bring the truck in to replace the turbo. The very next day after I got the truck back it did its surging thing again so that wasn't the issue clearly. The Dealer has now indicated they have another similar truck doing the exact same thing. I have another appt booked for next Tuesday, Jan 26 2021 as Ford Engineering is now wanting further diagnostics.

On another note, I have a second issue that has recently come up. I was driving along at highway speed about 1.5 hours into a 6 hour ride when it threw 3 codes all relating to the ABS system. The codes were for the hill descend, hill start and precollision alert systems. At this time I was having issues with the windshield washing fluid ejection system (Dealer later fixed a pinched supply line on warranty) and figured that perhaps a dirty windshield was at fault and so I pulled over and washed the windshield (especially the area behind the rearview mirror) with snow while the truck was running. Codes were still active when I returned to the cab. I turned off the truck and waited a bit then restarted - no codes so I continued to my destination without further issue figuring the dirty windshield was the issue.
A week later it threw the same three codes so I brought it in to the Dealer who tried to diagnosis it but they couldn't repeat the codes. I was able to give them details of the codes from the Ford App and I didn't clear the codes from the system. Again the Dealer got into contact with Ford Engineering who says that everything is operating normally as far as they can see. I am waiting to see if it does it again and will try to bring it to the Dealer while the codes are active.

Now at wits end and very frustrated, I called Ford Customer Service and lodged my complaint on these two issues and now they have opened a Case Number. I made sure to let Ford know that the Dealer has been doing everything they can do and is very sympathetic and understanding about this and I don't blame them at all.

Please let me know if you guys think I should do anything else to get this resolved. Also, I want others to know about these issues

Will see where this goes and update this thread more in the future.
 
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