How much up hill acceleration??

[KiteVan]

Hello all, new here. Just bought flex fuel 2020 TC xlt. When I test drove the Van it was on mostly flat and moderate hills. It drove fine in those conditions. I however live in an area with many moderate to steep hills. I find the van has a real hard time maintaining anything above 30mph going up hill. It either reves at 2000rpm or races to 3500 not at whole lot i between. Is this normal for the TCs?  I have never had issues with my much older and smaller horses powered cars doing the same hills.  The van is not loaded with gear or people just me most times. 
 

I guess my questions are,  how does your TC handle uphills. Is it sluggish? Should I worry about the transmission or torque converter? Or is this just the adaptive learning still doing it’s thing?

[windguy]

@KiteVan - welcome to the forum and congrats on your new TC. You're going to have fun with it.

 

I have a 2015 TC Cargo so can't address your question since we have a different engine and trans, but no issues with uphill power with my van. 

Perhaps someone with a 2020 or newer model can provide a meaningful post to help you.

You could also bring your van to a dealer to diagnose as part of your warranty coverage (bumper to bumper or drivetrain)

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

You should expect any trans. to downshift going uphill, and 3500 RPM isn't catastrophically high. If you're keeping up with traffic on the highway, lots of vehicles would cruise right around there.

 

So, if what you're saying is that in order to maintain speed up a steep hill, your van revs to 3500, I would say that's fine. If, conversely, you're saying that your van cannot go >30mph uphill, then yes, unless it's the side of a mountain, something is terribly wrong.

 

Take it back to the dealer, and explain what's going on. Ask if there are any programming corrections for your trans. I'm seeing a couple different bulletins for the same transmission, same year, albeit explicitly for the Ford Edge.

[Fifty150]

23 hours ago, KiteVan said:

a real hard time maintaining anything above 30mph going up hill. It either reves at 2000rpm or races to 3500 not at whole lot i between

 

 

 

Modern transmissions have transmission control module with an "adaptive" learning process.  It's trying to find the right gear, to match to the engine RPM in relation to your foot on the accelerator pedal (which has a sensor).  With some of the models, the "adaptive" memory can be cleared of prior inputs.  For whatever reason, clearing the memory and allowing the transmission control module to "learn" everything from zero data, seems to fix a lot of transmission complaints.  

[G B L]

The 2.0 has 162 Hp at 6500 Rpm and 144 lbft of torque at 4500 Rpm and If you have an XL you can Option in a 2.5 engine that has 169Hp at 6000 Rpm and 171 lbft of torque  at 4500 Rpm.

Mine has the 2.5 and if you want to keep up your speed on hills 4500 to 5000 rpms is not unusual.  The 2.0 engine will want to rev at least that high.. This is a small engine and it does not get lively until you hit at least 3500 Rpm.

If you hook a trailer to it it will be turning  up a lot.

 

[KiteVan]

Thanks for all the information guys.  I hope its just me getting use to driving the van.  I am not an aggressive driver by any means. In fact my bumper sticker says "just pass Im slow".  It sounds a lot like what Lostintransit said.  When the van has some momentum it will stay pretty smooth.  Its only an issue on low to moderate speeds on steep hills.  The shifting becomes jerky.  I just had the adaptive learning wiped.  The van did objectively drive better, but the issue reappeared soon after like 48-72 hr later.  I don't want to have to pay to have computer wiped every couple of days.  It just seems weird to me that a newish 2020 van would have to work so much harder then my super beater 1998 Toyota tracel.  

Anyhow going to test drive a 2020 transit to compare. Will definitely take on steeper hills.  Let hope its just me getting use to the transit.  

[KiteVan]

So here is progress report and some curious questions about transmission fluid change frequency.  First the progress I did test drive a 2020 TC with the same specs as mine both at a dealership and a friends.  I did so just incase the adaptive drive cycle was set specific to my friends way of driving.  There was a big difference in how smooth the other two vans shifted on then hills.  Everything else seemed about the same.  I called the ford service department that wiped the PCM the first time and they are going to actually drive and reinspect the van.  That seems weird thought they should have done that if first time to verify instead of just going off trouble shooting list.  We shall see what they say after their workup.  

 

Now the question about transmission fluid change frequency.  Ive read a lot of post here about changing the transmission fluid.  Most the post seem to pertain to the 6 speed 6F35.  I wonder if you guys would recommend that for the 8 speed.  The recommendations on the owners manual sounds questionable to me.   For the 2020 TC with 8speed trans the recommended transmission fluid change milage is 100,000 but if you look on the next page it says if you have a roof box or pull a trailer with any frequency the recommended change milage is 30,000.  That is a 70,000 mile difference.  I can see that if you are hauling heavy trailer all the time but a roof box?   Sure aerodynamic drag is exponential but that still has to be a one heavy roof box to affect the transmission that much.  What do you guy think about that huge discrepancy in recommendations?  

[Fifty150]

In regards to the ATF service, I've talked to the techs at a local dealership, and the service advisor.   I had my doubts with the service advisor.  I figured he was just trying to sell me service.  But the techs all seem to be in agreement.  They all say 30,000 miles.  It's a "severe service" recommendation.  We all have different drive styles.  Some of us fall into the "regular drive cycle", and that fluid may last.  Some of us may very well fall into the "severe" cycle, and may not even know it.  Stop and go driving.  Idling in bumper to bumper traffic.  Hill climbs.  Loads.  Actual commercial style driving, where you go from service call to service call, and the van drives around all day. 

 

The point is that you can't hurt the van by keeping the fluid fresh.  If it really concerns you, get your used transmission fluid analyzed.  Send it to a lab.  Then you will have a better of idea of what to do, based on the lab reports.  There is an intelligent oil life monitor for the motor oil.  There isn't an automatic transmission fluid life monitor.  

 

With regards to your van going uphill - I can only tell you that my van has a different engine and transmission, but goes uphill fine.  It could be you.  Maybe it's the way you drive.  Try accelerating into the hill climb.  Maybe if you step into the pedal a little to increase the engine RPM, the van's transmission will find the right gear more efficiently.  

[mrtn]

1 hour ago, KiteVan said:

I wonder if you guys would recommend that for the 8 speed.

 

The transmission manufacturer (Aisin) recommends 50K miles for severe service (lots of stop and go, trailer pulling, hills etc.) You can change it more frequently if you like.

 

Use transmission specific low-viscosity oil only: 31256774/31256775.

 

[Fifty150]

3 hours ago, KiteVan said:

Now the question about transmission fluid change frequency.  Ive read a lot of post here about changing the transmission fluid.  Most the post seem to pertain to the 6 speed 6F35.  I wonder if you guys would recommend that for the 8 speed.

 

On 10/8/2022 at 10:12 PM, KiteVan said:

flex fuel 2020 TC xlt

 

There is already a TSB for the 8F35 for harsh shifting and erratic shifting.  

 

8F35 Transmission: Reprogram The PCM And Perform The Adaptive Learning Drive Cycle

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10168743-0001.pdf

 

That was for transmissions built in 2019.  There will probably be a bulletin of some sort for your 2020 model.  I'm pretty sure that within the next few years, they will have some sort of update or procedure for that transmission.

 

How many miles do you have on your van?  Do you already have 30,000, 40,000, or 50,000 miles?  The van has a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty, and a 5 year powertrain warranty.  I would let Ford do whatever they think is best while the vehicle is under warranty.  As it's not in their best interest to have to replace a transmission.

 

Do a little reading on the transmission.  https://gearsmagazine.com/magazine/diagnosing-the-erratic-shifting-fords-8f35-57/  has pretty good information.

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Fifty150