2023 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD road trip w/ issues

[Maverick504]

Howdy y’all,

A month ago, I decided to really test my 2023 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD w/ tow package by driving from New Orleans to Albuquerque. There I would pick up a camper trailer and head to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park as well as the Petrified Forest to do some hiking and camping. This would have me crossing the continental divide twice with a load pushing between 3,000 and 3,500lbs.

The trip went great, but I had a few issues occur to the truck and wanted everyone’s opinion.

Everything was running perfectly when I left Chaco Canyon, headed towards Farmington, NM where I would then enter Navajo territory on Hwy 491 before getting back on I-40 and heading towards Holbrook, AZ. Around Shiprock, I could feel my truck starting to struggle with the load. It felt as if the transmission was slipping. A few miles later, my transmission light came on.

I decided at this point to pull over and let the truck rest for 15-20min while we grabbed lunch. I checked my fluids as well as my FordPass app, hoping to find the issue with NO luck. The FordPass app failed to indicate that the transmission light on my dash was even activated. I decided to continue the journey and we drove to Holbrook, transmission light on and not doing more than 55mph with the trucks transmission acting up as I had little to no other choice.

We unloaded the camper from the truck and the transmission light was still on, though the trucks transmission seemed to stop slipping without the load. We loaded back up the next day and drove to Gallup where I was able to have the truck looked at by the local Ford dealership. During the drive, the truck still struggled a bit.

We pulled into the dealership that Saturday morning and began to unhitch the camper once again. This time, as soon as I restarted my truck to drive into the service center bay, the transmission light magically disappeared. Concerned and a bit irritated at this point, I had them run diagnostics on the truck and they found nothing wrong with the truck. There was no code, no history of issues reported by the truck, etc.

We hooked the truck back to the trailer and had no issues crossing the continental divide for the second time on the trip on the way back to Albuquerque. No transmission light nor slippage.

Does anyone know or have an idea of what happened???? I haven’t had any issues since the trip, but should I be concerned?

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[Maverickman74]

Looks good. Not sure about your trans issue. Could it be part of the "learning" of the transmission. Was it a headwind issue increasing load. I dont really know. I havent towed very far with my Tremor but I have towed near that weight without issue. Others have towed more. I seem to remember a guy hauling another car and was decently overweight and he had heat issues.

 

[BluegrassNbass]

Probably not....Ecoboost are perfect and have no issues.

 

[Dad]

I'm wondering if your tranny fluid was getting too hot or if the truck was wrong in reading its temperature.

 

[Maverick504]

I'm wondering if your tranny fluid was getting too hot or if the truck was wrong in reading its temperature.

I wondered about this being the issue too, but the tow package comes with an auxiliary auto transmission oil cooler upgrade as well as a radiator upgrade that should compensate for that. I think it might have more to do with higher elevations, which ford warns of reduced performance.

 

[Dad]

I wondered about this being the issue too, but the tow package comes with an auxiliary auto transmission oil cooler upgrade as well as a radiator upgrade that should compensate for that. I think it might have more to do with higher elevations, which ford warns of reduced performance.

That would make sense, especially if Ford forewarned.

 

[Hammer]

I wondered about this being the issue too, but the tow package comes with an auxiliary auto transmission oil cooler upgrade as well as a radiator upgrade that should compensate for that. I think it might have more to do with higher elevations, which ford warns of reduced performance.

were you using higher octane gas ? That is the Ford recommendation when towing.

 

[Jah.]

Maybe a temporary blockage in trans fluid line that open back up on its own ?

 

[Tim d]

Howdy y’all,

A month ago, I decided to really test my 2023 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD w/ tow package by driving from New Orleans to Albuquerque. There I would pick up a camper trailer and head to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park as well as the Petrified Forest to do some hiking and camping. This would have me crossing the continental divide twice with a load pushing between 3,000 and 3,500lbs.

The trip went great, but I had a few issues occur to the truck and wanted everyone’s opinion.

Everything was running perfectly when I left Chaco Canyon, headed towards Farmington, NM where I would then enter Navajo territory on Hwy 491 before getting back on I-40 and heading towards Holbrook, AZ. Around Shiprock, I could feel my truck starting to struggle with the load. It felt as if the transmission was slipping. A few miles later, my transmission light came on.

I decided at this point to pull over and let the truck rest for 15-20min while we grabbed lunch. I checked my fluids as well as my FordPass app, hoping to find the issue with NO luck. The FordPass app failed to indicate that the transmission light on my dash was even activated. I decided to continue the journey and we drove to Holbrook, transmission light on and not doing more than 55mph with the trucks transmission acting up as I had little to no other choice.

We unloaded the camper from the truck and the transmission light was still on, though the trucks transmission seemed to stop slipping without the load. We loaded back up the next day and drove to Gallup where I was able to have the truck looked at by the local Ford dealership. During the drive, the truck still struggled a bit.

We pulled into the dealership that Saturday morning and began to unhitch the camper once again. This time, as soon as I restarted my truck to drive into the service center bay, the transmission light magically disappeared. Concerned and a bit irritated at this point, I had them run diagnostics on the truck and they found nothing wrong with the truck. There was no code, no history of issues reported by the truck, etc.

We hooked the truck back to the trailer and had no issues crossing the continental divide for the second time on the trip on the way back to Albuquerque. No transmission light nor slippage.

Does anyone know or have an idea of what happened???? I haven’t had any issues since the trip, but should I be concerned?

Sounds like a great trip to see the county! Can I ask how many miles was on your truck when you started the trip?

 

[Mavapa]

Are you sure about the weight of your rig? I can’t tell which model you have, but I think the UVW of those trailers starts at a little under 3000 pounds for the smallest and goes up over 3500 as the trailers get longer. It would be easy to push 4000 pounds with a full load. Maybe a combination of near-maximum rated weight, high ambient temperature and wind?

 

[Dfergys]

Howdy y’all,

A month ago, I decided to really test my 2023 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD w/ tow package by driving from New Orleans to Albuquerque. There I would pick up a camper trailer and head to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park as well as the Petrified Forest to do some hiking and camping. This would have me crossing the continental divide twice with a load pushing between 3,000 and 3,500lbs.

The trip went great, but I had a few issues occur to the truck and wanted everyone’s opinion.

Everything was running perfectly when I left Chaco Canyon, headed towards Farmington, NM where I would then enter Navajo territory on Hwy 491 before getting back on I-40 and heading towards Holbrook, AZ. Around Shiprock, I could feel my truck starting to struggle with the load. It felt as if the transmission was slipping. A few miles later, my transmission light came on.

I decided at this point to pull over and let the truck rest for 15-20min while we grabbed lunch. I checked my fluids as well as my FordPass app, hoping to find the issue with NO luck. The FordPass app failed to indicate that the transmission light on my dash was even activated. I decided to continue the journey and we drove to Holbrook, transmission light on and not doing more than 55mph with the trucks transmission acting up as I had little to no other choice.

We unloaded the camper from the truck and the transmission light was still on, though the trucks transmission seemed to stop slipping without the load. We loaded back up the next day and drove to Gallup where I was able to have the truck looked at by the local Ford dealership. During the drive, the truck still struggled a bit.

We pulled into the dealership that Saturday morning and began to unhitch the camper once again. This time, as soon as I restarted my truck to drive into the service center bay, the transmission light magically disappeared. Concerned and a bit irritated at this point, I had them run diagnostics on the truck and they found nothing wrong with the truck. There was no code, no history of issues reported by the truck, etc.

We hooked the truck back to the trailer and had no issues crossing the continental divide for the second time on the trip on the way back to Albuquerque. No transmission light nor slippage.

Does anyone know or have an idea of what happened???? I haven’t had any issues since the trip, but should I be concerned?

AWD ?

 

[Akuma72387]

Can't say for sure most of the ideas I had reading the story have been said. I can say that my 22 XLT FX4 4K has towed well over the max quite a few times with no issue and I live in a very Hilly area in Maine. I know it's the opposite side and end of the country so I haven't really towed in any 100+ weather to comment on whether they will over heat with the extended protections of upgrade cooling.

This also could have been an isolated incident where the system detected a slip for whatever reason and after a few "Cycles" of driving it since it didn't detect it cleared. I have had that happen with past vehicles once or twice be it water in gas that made the computer mad or the like.

 

[jsus]

Are you sure about the weight of your rig? I can’t tell which model you have, but I think the UVW of those trailers starts at a little under 3000 pounds for the smallest and goes up over 3500 as the trailers get longer. It would be easy to push 4000 pounds with a full load. Maybe a combination of near-maximum rated weight, high ambient temperature and wind?

Looks similar to this model listing a UVW of 3594 lb:

https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/wolf-pup/16BHSW/7863

 

[Ranch]

Looks similar to this model listing a UVW of 3594 lb:

https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/wolf-pup/16BHSW/7863

I've been looking at the Wolf Pup. You add 216 lbs for 26 gallons of water and you're at 3810 lbs before you put anything in the trailer.

Not sure if I want to be at or above max towing for any long distance towing. Especially during triple digit temps in the Southwest.

 

[Maverick504]

were you using higher octane gas ? That is the Ford recommendation when towing.

I did not use high octane gas.

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