Downshifting fix for hills

The guys at Ford programmed the cruise control to do its best. If your previous rig was a Ford 460 or the equivalent Chevy, you might be disturbed by the high RPM of the V-10. Don't panic - it's a modern engine design that is intended to run at much higher RPM than you're accustomed to

Whatever RPM the engine runs at is what the designers intended. Don't sweat it. The V-10 is good for about 8000 rpm on over-run going downhill without doing any damage. A good friend of mine was involved in the design of that engine and he'd been working with racing motorcycle engines that had peak torque at 12,000 rpm and peak power at 18,000. I think the V-10 is as bullet proof as any engine out there.

I use cruise all the time, however if in hilly areas I'll use the tow haul while using cruise.

Use your tow haul in hilly terrain and the cruise will work better. I had a 2010 , 2012 and now 2015. They are all good engines and the cruise would work to maintain speed on a hill which means it will shift down when needed. I have begun to use my tow haul more frequently and love it on hilly terrain and on windy days.

The ford v-10 will also downshift to slow you going downhill.
I found this to be a little unnerving when I went topick up my motorhome in January 300 kms away.thankfully the roads we not icy.

RLS7201 wrote:

kingsransom wrote:
I have a 2013 35 foot gas Fleetwood Bounder with a V10 Ford engine. While in cruise control, even a small hill or overpass will cause the trany to downshift to a lower gear, causing the engine to rev high. Any ideas to help fix this? Thanks!!!

When you get tired of listing to those that don't understand your problem, go to the link listed below for a cure. You're not the only one that doesn't like Fords shift pattern.

5 Star Tune

Richard

Glad I only had to read a page and a half before coming up with the right answer.
You need a "chip". Actually a reprogrammer these days, from five star or (dammit, why can't I remember those other guys... I even had their programmer for my 2000 pace arrow...)

Anyway, programmers exist that will tune your RV to your liking. These are small companies, and you can call them and explain exactly what "your liking" is, and they can and will custom tune a chip for you. While the power gains on the new 3 valve engines are not as great as the 2 valver I used to have, they certainly can tame that transmission.

For the naysayers (if it could be better Ford woulda made it that way...) F53 is a one size fits all delivery truck chassis, to make it the way we want it would require yet another 50k mile EPA test $$$$. Or even "us hot rodders" have been bending engines to our will for fifty years, why stop now?

The reason these cruise controls do as they do is, they try to keep the speed constant and they will floor the throttle to try and do so.
The answer as has been said is to turn it off, and you put the throttle where YOU want it to be. You spend no money on anything.

There are several things that I have found that help this downshifting problem not mentioned yet. When I first bought my MH 10 years ago it downshifted at the slightest hill. Headers,a FF muffler and CA intake cured that problem. After several trips out west and to Alaska larger mountains would cause a lot of downshifting. I had an old vacuum gauge in my garage that I installed and it made a world of difference not only in shift points but in a slight mpg gain. When I see a hill coming I increase my speed before the hill once the MH is climbing and RPM's begin to drop I let off of the gas and maintain 2 psi of vacuum on the gauge this will keep the MH from downshifting. Off course on very long steep hills where you need more power I let it downshift.

Blackdiamond wrote:

old guy wrote:
to this day I can never understand why people want to go up a hill as fast as they do on the flats. take it out of cruise and give it a little more gas to help maintain speed.

To this day I never understand why people wouldn't want to go up a hill as fast as going on flat ground.

Let it rev and just go.....there is a company the has chip solutions called 5 Star Tuning.

A real hill is fine. The OP is talking about some small rise or overpass where the transmission downshifts for the 4 seconds it takes to go over. Then upshifts on the backside. Just an annoyance not to mention extra wear on the transmission.

I know what OP is talking about. He's not talking about setting cruise climbing a mountain. Here in MD there are spots on 70 nowhere near the mountains - even toward Columbia that have hills that are just steep enough to prompt a downshift to one, sometimes 2 gears. The only solution I found is let the motor wind up or turn off the cruise. I am sure the V-10 can handle it but it's LOUD and sounds like it will fly apart. I turn off the cruise and take the hill manually. Usually only drops about 3-5 MPH. The problem, as someone has mentioned before, is that the mph drops slightly at the bottom of the hill and then cruise has to work harder to catch back up to the programmed speed. I have heard 5 star helps, but I'd be curious to know how much. Realistically you are in an RV pulling a car. How much do you expect cruise and the engine to do with or without 5 star? It's not going to behave like a car. You have to determine how much you want to ask from your engine and tranny. I prefer to take it a little easier.

5 star tune is your answer - google it. I haven't done it on mine yet, but I will.