How to Drive Uphill and downhill

My E150 is older, but the button on the end of the gear shift is simply labeled "Overdrive". The word "Off" is illuminated when 4th gear is inhibited.

If it is a big hill, I will hit the button while I am still at the bottom so that the engine does not have to lug down so far before the downshift.

Going up hill you do not want to try and go at 75 mph, you need to manually down shift in order to prevent the "automatic" transmission from hunting, that is going up shifting and down shifting constantly, this only heats the transmission fluid and in time a transmission failure, you want a nice steady uphill speed, every now and then the engine will seem to roar, that is only the viscous fan clutch engaging to cool the radiator, that is normal.

On the way down you also need to down shift to a steady down hill speed with the engine doing the braking, at the top of the hill and before you start down the hill set the transmission in 3rd or even 2nd manually, it is better to do it early rather than burning the brakes trying to control the speed.

Remember that speed equals heat the faster up hill the hotter the engine works, on the way down it is normally the brakes that get barbequed, it is better to go a little slower than break down.

And your E-350 V-10 engine does not have an exhaust brake system none do, that option is not available.

navegator

Phil,

Is there much extra fuel cost for running in Tow/Haul mode? (Mine is to old to have it.)

CoNi (the OP),

Your 2015 Ford E350 has a "Tow/Haul" button on the end of it's gear shift lever.

When going uphill or downhill, push in this button to put your transmission INTO Tow/Haul mode. Going uphill your transmission will then be kept in better gears for the uphill climb. Going downhill, it will drop down to a lower gear each time you tap the brake with your foot - no need to change the gears manually using the shift lever.

Just as a side comment: I drive our Class C motorhome almost all the time, now, with it's Tow/Haul mode ENGAGED. It drives a lot better overall in all conditions with Tow/Haul mode turned on.

Unless you have a tow-mode option on your coach, going down hill you will gain more and more speed. The transmission will shift up, allowing it to go even faster.

If you have a tow-mode option, tow-mode will hold the transmission in its current gear without having to manually down-shift.

If your rig has exhaust break, the rig will automatically break (with the engine) and combined with tow-mode, hold the speed steady, and may even force itself to down-shift on its own without ever having to touch the brakes.

However, if you have neither of these, then you have to manually down shift to hold the vehicle in it's current gear. It will increase speed and could potentially run over it's engine RPM's. (red line).