5K Trip, 5.4L V8 & Auto Trans

[crewzer]

Greetings, All!

I just returned from a 3 week, 5,286 mile trip to OK, TX, NM and KY.

Our truck is a black-over -silver Y2K F250 4X2 crew cab short bed XLT with the 260 HP 5.4L V8, 4R100 auto transmission, 4.10 limited slip rear and the trailer tow package. We transported five people most of the way, carried 5 bikes and other supplies and gear in the bed (~7,250 lbs), and towed our Coleman Mesa folding trailer with a canoe and a kayak lashed on top (~3,250 lbs).

Destinations included the National Cowboy Museum in OK City; Charles Goodnight’s grave in Goodnight, and Palo Duro State Park in TX; Capulin Volcano, Sugarite Canyon State Park, Albuquerque, Alamogordo, White Sands, Cloudcroft and Carlsbad Carverns in NM; Austin, TX; and Mammoth Cave plus the Corvette Factory and Museum in KY.

Overall, I’d have to say I’m pretty happy with how well the truck performed. Although I still find the AC system to be meager at best, nothing failed on the trip. I put in a fresh fill of Mobil 1 5W-30 motor oil before we left, and we may have used a cup of oil on the trip. The engine ran flawlessly, and we cruised the interstates effortlessly at 65 mph in the flats (OD) and 60 in the mountains (3rd gear) realizing an average of 12.8 mpg for the trip.

The 4R100 transmission gave us no trouble on this trip, although the cooling fan I added to the oil-to-air transmission cooler saw plenty of use.

see http://forums.ford-diesel.com:8080/u...ML/001900.html

The fan’s electronic controller monitors the temperature at the hot corner of the cooler and varies the fan speed accordingly, starting at ~140 degrees F and with full on set at ~160. With the fan running at full speed, it just sounds like a normally running fan. However, the fan whines when running at less than full speed, the result of the duty-cycling output of the controller sensing temps below 160. I heard the fan whining regularly and often, but it rarely ran at full speed, so it seems like the transmission oil temps were well managed (my truck also has the oil-to-water immersion cooler).

The most severe test was the 16 mile, 7% grade in New Mexico on US 82 East from Alamogordo (~95 degrees F ambient) to Cloudcroft (~80 degrees). This climb involved a lot of 30~45 mph in 2nd gear, though usually with the torque converter locked, and the trans cooling fan was humming away at full speed at the top (~8,800 ft elev at Apache campground). I don’t have a trans temp gauge yet, so I can’t report actual numbers, but everything got, ah, warm, shall we say? Curious thing, though: the engine temp gauge seemed to never budge…

It also doesn’t take long for the trans cooling fan to come on when backing the trailer into a camping spot. Knowing that trans cooling while in reverse is a potential problem, this is exactly the result I was hoping for.

All in all, it was a great trip and I’m quite happy with the truck’s overall performance.

Cheers!

Crewzer

Y2K F250 SD 4X2 CC SB XLT 5.4LV8 AT 4.10LS TT Black/Silver


[This message has been edited by crewzer (edited 09-05-2000).]

[Tim_wants_a_Silverado]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by crewzer:
I don’t have a trans temp gauge yet, so I can’t report actual numbers, but everything got, ah, warm, shall we say? Curious thing, though: the engine temp gauge seemed to never budge…<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Does not suprise me at all. You could totally fry your tranny and never see the gauge budge. I have done this in other trucks.

[cphilip]

Nice report crewzer. Sure wish you could have related some tranny temps with it. Glad to see you have that fan up and running.

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2000 F-250SD SC XLT, Oxford White, med grey cloth, Captains chairs, Excursion center console, 5.4L (260hp) 4R100 Auto, Towing Pkg, ISSPRO Tranny temp guage, Herculiner, Westin step bars, Perma Cool tranny cooler fan. My Photo's

[Grizwald]

Must've just missed you by a week or so crewzer, we pulled into the Silver campground in Cloudcroft(1st left before Saddle/Apache) the afternoon of the 28th, spent the previous week in Ruidoso before moving down to Silver that Monday. This was our longest pull in the V10 yet, about 12 hrs trip one way. Managed 6-11 mpg towing @7000 lb TT, somehow the 6 mpg came when my wife was driving from Brownfield Tx to Roswell, NM. The 11 mpg came coming down from Cloudcroft to Hobbs, NM. My tranny temps got as high as 180-190 several times, but my tranny cooler fan never came on until I was backing the trailer into the carport on Sunday , 109 F day here that day in Texas. ps. I have a 180 F thermostat controlling my fans.
We left Cloudcroft last Saturday, was getting mighty noisy with the holiday weekend crowd arrving, decided to let them have it.
What part of Virginia is Vienna located in?I've got a brother living in Waldorf, Md, So I've spent some time in the DC/Arlington area.

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'99 superduty SC V10 4x4 AT

[crewzer]

Whoa -- pretty close -- We were in Apache campground on August 15-17! Great location - 8799 ft elev, according to my GPS - and beautiful weather. Busy but quiet during our visit.

Vienna is about 15 miles west of downtown Washington DC, adjacent to Tysons Corner outside the 495 Beltway. I know Waldorf a bit - shop at Nick's every now and then.

For those of you interested, I've corrected the trans cooler fan saga hotlink in my original post (courtesy of mulepick).

[This message has been edited by crewzer (edited 09-06-2000).]

[Sgt Rock]

I was stationed at Holloman for 7 years and went "up the mountain" to Cloudcroft regularly. I pulled a 3,500 lb camper with my S-10 Blazer in 3rd gear (auto xmsn) and never slowed down below 55 mph the whole way up except for some of the sharper curves. I cannot believe a "Superduty" truck can only muster 2nd gear and 30-45 mph. That's pretty sad.

[crewzer]

I didn't describe the Cloudcroft climb conditions very well.

We we're in (what seemed to be) a long line of all sorts of vehicles climbing up the hill on a hot day, and we were driving (creeping) along with the pack, neither leading nor straggling. Part of the climb near the tunnel was reduced to one lane; no one was going very fast that day.

What a beautiful area, though!

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crewzer -- Y2K F250 SD 4X2 CC SB XLT 5.4LV8 AT 4.10LS TTPkg Black/Silver

[This message has been edited by crewzer (edited 09-21-2000).]

[Sgt Rock]

That makes me feel much better. I figured your truck could fly up that mountain with the load you described. It's probably best that you went up slow though, as you could look around at the absolutly stunning scenery. I loved every minute I was out there and would go back in a minute.