3.5 EB Engine Braking?

[Mickeyfan0805]

For those of you with a 3.5 Ecoboost and a 10spd, how do you manage the transmission on long downhill grades? Do you find that the tow/haul mode does enough engine braking on its own, or do you shift to manual and control the gears along the way?

[bjkb1f]

I have an '18 with the 3.5 EB and 10 sp. I feel like mine is braking too much. The first few times I ended up switching to normal drive mode to stop it, but then figured the truck knows what it is doing and I let it do it's thing. The first time it ever happened, it scared my wife, who had no idea what was happening.

[Mickeyfan0805]

Groover wrote:

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:

ScottG wrote:

BenK wrote:
Curious...how does the engine rev limiter function when engine braking ?

My assumption is that it will shift all the way down to the lowest hear, right ?

The puter will keep shifting up to keep it from over-revving.

OK - help a newbie out here. In my old 'burb I would simply put it in 2nd or 3rd gear to get the control I wanted and work my way down the grade. Now that I'm shifting to the f150, I'm trying to understand how this works with the newer tech.

So, how does the engine know what speed you are trying to maintain? In other words, how does it know to provide engine braking to keep me at 60 or 45? This is all new to me, but I'd like to understand BEFORE I'm traveling down a grade and trying to figure it out!

Thanks for indulging me.

If you are on cruise control it simply tries to maintain the set speed. Otherwise, it will not exceed the speed at which you took your foot off of the gas pedal. If you touch the brakes it gets more aggressive.

That's what I imagined. Thanks, all, for the input!

[Groover]

Mickeyfan0805 wrote:

ScottG wrote:

BenK wrote:
Curious...how does the engine rev limiter function when engine braking ?

My assumption is that it will shift all the way down to the lowest hear, right ?

The puter will keep shifting up to keep it from over-revving.

OK - help a newbie out here. In my old 'burb I would simply put it in 2nd or 3rd gear to get the control I wanted and work my way down the grade. Now that I'm shifting to the f150, I'm trying to understand how this works with the newer tech.

So, how does the engine know what speed you are trying to maintain? In other words, how does it know to provide engine braking to keep me at 60 or 45? This is all new to me, but I'd like to understand BEFORE I'm traveling down a grade and trying to figure it out!

Thanks for indulging me.

If you are on cruise control it simply tries to maintain the set speed. Otherwise, it will not exceed the speed at which you took your foot off of the gas pedal. If you touch the brakes it gets more aggressive.

[LERD]

2013 EB with 6speed here. I'm towing a 5er at about 8300lbs. Here in Ohio, it's relatively flat. But with the hills in Pa. and the mountains of W. Virginia and Virginia I have no problems with engine braking, which actually surprises me some. I leave the tow/haul on, turn the cruise off and decellerate to just under 60, and let it ride. Stab the brakes maybe 2-3 times and then I'm done. The rockies might be a slightly different scenerio, but I doubt that much. Still a working man so I'm sure when I'm able to get that far west, I'll have a bigger TV.

[Mickeyfan0805]

ScottG wrote:

BenK wrote:
Curious...how does the engine rev limiter function when engine braking ?

My assumption is that it will shift all the way down to the lowest hear, right ?

The puter will keep shifting up to keep it from over-revving.

OK - help a newbie out here. In my old 'burb I would simply put it in 2nd or 3rd gear to get the control I wanted and work my way down the grade. Now that I'm shifting to the f150, I'm trying to understand how this works with the newer tech.

So, how does the engine know what speed you are trying to maintain? In other words, how does it know to provide engine braking to keep me at 60 or 45? This is all new to me, but I'd like to understand BEFORE I'm traveling down a grade and trying to figure it out!

Thanks for indulging me.

[ScottG]

BenK wrote:
Curious...how does the engine rev limiter function when engine braking ?

My assumption is that it will shift all the way down to the lowest hear, right ?

The puter will keep shifting up to keep it from over-revving.

[BenK]

Curious...how does the engine rev limiter function when engine braking ?

My assumption is that it will shift all the way down to the lowest hear, right ?

[mordecai81]

6 speed eco here. I manually downshift and let it scream. I like to be in control of the gears. The engine can handle high RPMs, I've never heard of one failing due to that.

[librty02]

Absolutely love the engine breaking on both of my 3.5 ecos...put er in tow/haul and let er go that's what it is for...forget manual shifting that's what the tow haul is for if I wanted to manual shift anything I would purchase a truck that had a clutch...who cares if she's revving at 5k RPM she can do that all day long...after 50k towing on my 11 and 20k towing now on my 18 I have never ever even thought about using the manual shift while towing the only time I have used that was in severe snow conditions not towing. But this is my opinion and my 2 cents...

[Groover]

On my 2016 model with a 6 speed I find the engine braking to be very aggressive. It is good when towing at max capacity but can be obnoxious when at half capacity (5,000lbs) or less. I often prefer to let my truck pick up a few mph when going down a hill to save that energy for later and put the shifter into manual on downhill grades to tone it down a bit, even when heavy. For stops or near stops it works very well. I wish Ford let me control how closely the cruise control stays at the set speed.

[troubledwaters]

I have the 3.5 ecoboost and the 10 spd transmission. I think the engine braking works great. I have no qualms with it whatsoever. Just let the vehicle do its thing. I see no reason to try and be smarter than the computer that is monitoring sevral dozen variables in nano seconds. Just try it

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 I, I also have an Ecoboost with a 6 speed trans. I knew when I bought it that it would not have the engine braking that my 5.4L Navigator has. I may be traveling at 65 MPH including up hill. But that 65 MPH starting point will bring you to 70 MPH (automatic) down shift points which are too fast for me going down hill. So as I get near the top of the hill, I will slow my truck down to 60 MPH or a little less. Too fast down hill, on curves, next to big rigs is a common disaster. Also if I get it under 60 MPH I can manually get it to down shift into second gear. Yes it will be screaming but so far has not caused any problems. Going down hill especially too fast can be dangerous and trying to slow things down can over heat the brakes.

Just a thought; Maybe mounting an air compressor on the engine could give it a bit more engine braking. ( air horns, or air bags, or a tire tank?)

[BarabooBob]

I have a 3.5EB with a 6 speed. I don't use tow/haul on downhills for the same reason as Mitch. I don't want my engine running at 5000 rpms either. I downshift and let the engine do what it can and then I slow when necessary byusing my brakes just like he mentioned.
The EB has great power going up hills but going down hills it is still a 3.5 liter engine and there is only so much motor braking available. Last September I went up and down (of course I went down or I would still be up there) the Beartooth Highway, Hiway 14A in the Bighorns, and Hiway 139 between Rangely and Loma, CO to name a few. Using my (our) technique worked great on these grades.

[Lwiddis]

I like tow/haul braking in my current TV and all those I’ve driven. I seek passes and I too have had no issues.