2023 Ford Maverick Lariat AWD road trip w/ issues

[boxster03]

next time drop it into a lower gear push the revs past the redline and if she blows get a new maverick under warranty

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[Jeffr4JC]

I have towed my 3,900# Highland Ridge for many trips. The only problem I had was once when it was windy and I forgot to put it in Tow/Haul mode. It seemed to slip and lose power. However the truck told me the trailer was swaying in the wind!! I switch the trans to tow/haul and it stopped. Never got a trans light though!

 

[Maverick504]

Good post. That's why I'm curious about how much weight the OP was hauling.

He was aware that he was on the high side because he left his fresh water tank empty while towing. That's not an option for me because I plan on doing some boondocking on my trips.

I'm wondering if they left the trailer as light as possible and instead loaded the bed with needed things? Hopefully the OP can give us more details on the weight so we all can avoid the same potential problems.

So, I didn’t have an additional items in the trailer. All I had in the bed of the truck was a single 50 qt ice chest with ice and two bags of clothes. I also had a weight distribution hitch attached for additional stability. I waited until we got to the camping location to fill the water tanks and emptied out all of the grey and black water from the camper after emptying the potable water. There was no 700lbs of food, drinks, bedding, dishes, etc as we were using MRE’s for food and two sleeping bags.

 

[Maverick504]

Probably a dumb question but were you using Tow/Haul mode ?
Also, did you take a picture of the trouble light ? I always do that in case the light goes out I have some sort of proof to show service department. Had a 2012 Malibu under warranty that was having intermittent issues with the stereo . Showed the dealer videos I took of the display flashing on and off.
Even though they couldn’t duplicate it they replaced the head unit under warranty. Apparently it wasn’t the first time someone came in with that complaint.

I was using the tow/haul mod. I also took a pic of the transmission light and showed it to the ford dealership that took a look of my truck in Gallup, NM. The tech didn’t see anything when they plugged in their reader and my trucks self generated report said everything was good and has every report since.

 

[1929]

I recently took a trip in my FX4 AWD 2.0 Ecoboost up to Buffalo from Florida and picked up a 2400 lb 1987 Shelby GLHS and a lot of parts and towed it back to Florida. I ran 76 mph all the way and got 19 mpg
While towing.
I figured that between the car, tow dolly, and the spare part I was towing about 3500 lbs.
We did about 2400 miles over 3 days and never had any trouble with the Maverick.

Every tow dolly I've used or owned stated not to exceed 55mph during towing.

 

[billbillw]

Every tow dolly I've used or owned stated not to exceed 55mph during towing.

 

[billbillw]

So, I didn’t have an additional items in the trailer. All I had in the bed of the truck was a single 50 qt ice chest with ice and two bags of clothes. I also had a weight distribution hitch attached for additional stability. I waited until we got to the camping location to fill the water tanks and emptied out all of the grey and black water from the camper after emptying the potable water. There was no 700lbs of food, drinks, bedding, dishes, etc as we were using MRE’s for food and two sleeping bags.

I'm sure the trailer weight was more than you realized. Things like propane tanks and dealer installed items add to the UVW. Regardless of the weight, it does appear that the frontal area exceeded the recommendations by Ford by some margin. I'd say next time, go smaller. If you are eating MREs and using sleeping bags, you didn't really need that much trailer. Hopefully there was no damage that comes back to haunt you. We have almost the same truck, except for the color! I will certainly keep your experience in mind if I ever decide to rent a trailer and keep it closer to the 2500lb mark if I'm in the mountains.

 

[TacoTanium]

I've read many issues like this and most of them it seems like it involves towing near the spec limit. I wouldn't tow more than 75% of the limit (50% to keep it safe). I bet the 4k towing is just marketing numbers they throw out since not every one tow. Even F-150's can hardly handle 8k when the spec is above 10k. A lot of tacoma owners complain towing problem at 4k when the spec is at 6-7k.

Anyways, could it be the transmission oil temperature? If something broke, the light would stay on but doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Ranch]

I'm sure the trailer weight was more than you realized. Things like propane tanks and dealer installed items add to the UVW. Regardless of the weight, it does appear that the frontal area exceeded the recommendations by Ford by some margin. I'd say next time, go smaller. If you are eating MREs and using sleeping bags, you didn't really need that much trailer. Hopefully there was no damage that comes back to haunt you. We have almost the same truck, except for the color! I will certainly keep your experience in mind if I ever decide to rent a trailer and keep it closer to the 2500lb mark if I'm in the mountains.

I agree with your post.

I will not use a trailer that's so heavy that I can't bring along any food, water and any other gear that I would want to use.

 

[Goose20]

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?

It is a Ford...Expect the unexpected....

 

[Exranger]

Not sure if mentioned but a trans fluid exchange would be a good idea.

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