2011 Ford F-150 FX4

[PDenbigh]

I learned something:

Hawk Customer Service: "HB456 was only used up until mid-2012."

My truck is a '13. So there ya go.

[Jake]

I learned something:

Hawk Customer Service: "HB456 was only used up until mid-2012."

My truck is a '13. So there ya go.

Interdasting. I wonder why they changed 'em mid-run. Glad you got it sorted out! I've been very happy with the LTS on all four corners since finishing the install. Ended up driving down to Summit Point last weekend to watch the Refrigerator Bowl and tow my friend Justin's Mini home after it lost a coil pack. Much better braking performance compared to the very-worn-down stock stuff.

[PDenbigh]

Agreed. I feel like they modulate much better. OE pads came on too strong (ha) and then faded away unpredictably, even at gentle stops. LTS seem very linear and predictable.

Thanks for the info! Happy holidays and see ya at the track sometime.

Peter

[D_Eclipse9916]

Happy holidays and see ya at the track sometime.

Peter

hock:

Time to come racing, GTS2 is strong!!

[Jake]

Mileage: 62,300

Mr. FlimFlam is a swell guy and all, but there are certified dyno shops closer to home than his. However, given he also works on fast Fords for a living, I asked him to make mine a bit faster while I was in town. One credit card swipe and SCT tuner later, it's faster.

Shifts are firmed up by 15% and the fuel delivery has been changed. So, while it wouldn't dyno much higher than stock (he estimated another 10 whp) it makes power much lower in the rev range now. It feels almost hilariously fast if you leave a stoplight and give it ~50% throttle through the first three gears - especially because the shifts are quicker/harder as well.

Yay!

[JPolen01]

Tune all the things!

[WRXtranceformed]

Hahaha that is awesome, I'm fighting the tune bug on the GMC too! It apparently really wakes these things up, as it did on my old CTS with mostly the same motor

[Jake]

Mileage: 62,800

Ford recommends transmission fluid be changed at 150k, which seems a bit... excessive. I called two dealership service departments and got two different recommendations on how to best service the trans, so naturally I ignored them both and called a real transmission shop. County Transmissions in Vienna is family-owned and was great to chat with.

They wanted to do a drain-and-fill, combined with a new filter, as they aren't a fan of flushing.

I got into it with a transmission tech on Reddit a few days ago about the 6R80 and he said they are stout, but the one flaw can be torque converter slip that leads to failure. I of course got this in my head and tried to remember if it had done that before, ending up thinking the trans was clearly on its last legs because of something i may have felt once maybe.

The shop drove it, dropped the pan, did their work and gave it a clean bill of health. The fluid was a bit dark, but it was original at 62k miles so they were not surprised or worried by it.

Onward! Glad to have fresh fluid in there before I start towing for the year.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice, it's cheap insurance honestly and good peace of mind since you are towing with it and daily driving!

Does your Ford have "dead spots" or is very slow to engage acceleration when you step on the gas? My GMC is and it's definitely a GM thing, a lot of peole are complaining about it on the forums. I sort of expected it after my experience with my Cadillac. The way you fix it is with a tune or with a Pedal Commander that works even better apparently (seemed like snake oil but a lot of people are raving about it on the forums right now: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://coloradofans.com/forums/185-2nd-gen-engines-technical-discussion/332610-pedal-commander.html">http://coloradofans.com/forums/185-2nd- ... ander.html</a><!-- m -->)

[Jake]

Nice, it's cheap insurance honestly and good peace of mind since you are towing with it and daily driving!

Does your Ford have "dead spots" or is very slow to engage acceleration when you step on the gas? My GMC is and it's definitely a GM thing, a lot of peole are complaining about it on the forums. I sort of expected it after my experience with my Cadillac. The way you fix it is with a tune or with a Pedal Commander that works even better apparently (seemed like snake oil but a lot of people are raving about it on the forums right now: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://coloradofans.com/forums/185-2nd-gen-engines-technical-discussion/332610-pedal-commander.html">http://coloradofans.com/forums/185-2nd- ... ander.html</a><!-- m -->)

Yeah, I want to keep this truck in good shape and be ahead of the maintenance.

No dead spots in throttle application before or after the tune. The transmission is pretty dimwitted in traffic though. It wants to be in a higher gear very quickly, so it rushes the 1-2 upshift. If you are in heavy-ish traffic and have to be off-throttle because people slowed down, it slams into 2nd pretty hard. I think it needs more throttle to keep the line pressure up as it shifts - which means you need more room ahead of you to let it accelerate that much. Not a huge deal as I drive the E46 most places where traffic exists.

The newer GMs definitely have that dead spot. My 2005 was very linear (as is DJ's truck - newer but same generation), but I remember driving the rental 2015 Tahoe I had (when the Yukon got smacked by the parking lot "arm") and it was annoyingly dead for the first... 10%? of the travel. Maybe a bit less. Good thing the tune can fix it! Have you made any decisions about tuning the Canyon?

[navin]

Finding a shop that will drain and fill vs. flush is a good sign. I'll have to look into bringing the Tundra in to them because I'm lazy.

[Jake]

Finding a shop that will drain and fill vs. flush is a good sign. I'll have to look into bringing the Tundra in to them because I'm lazy.

Yeah, and they were good about explaining their logic to me.

I was going to attempt the drain and fill on my own, but the F150 doesn't have a drain bolt (aka I would have spilled fluid everywhere because I'm a klutz), and the fill bolt/mini-dipstick is next to the cat. And you're supposed to get everything up to temp before doing the work. Fuck that, I'll pay someone so I know it's done right and to ensure I don't burn my right hand off.

[ViPER1313]

Jake - what was their logic? I have heard flush services are a kind of a scam because the torque converter is running in bypass unless the car is moving, what was their reasoning?

[WRXtranceformed]

The newer GMs definitely have that dead spot. My 2005 was very linear (as is DJ's truck - newer but same generation), but I remember driving the rental 2015 Tahoe I had (when the Yukon got smacked by the parking lot "arm") and it was annoyingly dead for the first... 10%? of the travel. Maybe a bit less. Good thing the tune can fix it! Have you made any decisions about tuning the Canyon?

Yeah that's not surprising! It's like a GM hallmark to have terrible TCM tuning and throttle response :lol:

That's kind of where I am at right now. If I go the tune route I've got it narrowed down to Bad News Racing or Livernois, either of those I'd be probably $600+ in with having to purchase the tuner (Diablo, etc.). The Pedal Commander seems to make a bigger impact on the actual throttle application which in turn is causing the transmissions to act more "normal" and eliminating the dead spots, and it's also a lot cheaper ($240ish with a current coupon code). The PC is also just a piece of hardware that is pretty easy to pull out for warranty stuff vs a tune which mfgs have gotten better at finding via flash histories. So yea I haven't figured out which way to go yet...I was kind of waiting for more people to tell me the PC was hot garbage but every single review so far has been stellar. I guess I could start with the PC and also add a tune later!

[Jake]

Jake - what was their logic? I have heard flush services are a kind of a scam because the torque converter is running in bypass unless the car is moving, what was their reasoning?

So I don't know much about automatics, so bear with me here. I think there are two schools of thought that both apply. The first is, like you said, related to the torque converter. I know it doesn't lock up until 3rd gear, and I believe that is related to how you can deal with the fluid. The bigger concern is simply blasting little bits of particulate everywhere if you do a true flush with a machine - the shop said that can make things worse because of gunking up various channels and lines and so on. I know that's usually a thought applied to 100k+ transmissions, but they said it was a valid concern even on mine.

Basically, there are some fairies and some witchcraft involved, and we dealt with it in the better of the two ways (and also installed a new filter, even though one of the dealerships told me it was "lifetime.") These guys have been around since 1973, I think, so I just said "hey, here's a 6R80, do what you think should be done."

[rherold9]

Will add my 2012 with like 10-20% throttle shifts at like 2k or less rpm and accelerates slowly. Probably fuel savings and also programmed to be dead for bumps in the road so you don't accelerate. Also there isn't much difference between like 70% throttle and foot to floor. May just because the turbo diesel life for the last bit though.

[WRXtranceformed]

Will add my 2012 with like 10-20% throttle shifts at like 2k or less rpm and accelerates slowly. Probably fuel savings and also programmed to be dead for bumps in the road so you don't accelerate. Also there isn't much difference between like 70% throttle and foot to floor. May just because the turbo diesel life for the last bit though.

Interesting, I may end up pulling the trigger on the PC and let you know how it is. apparently the "Sport" and high City settings are too aggressive for most people, like you barely tap the gas and it's like you're going WOT :lol:

City -1 or -2 seems to be the best settings for driveability; people are saying it's like a completely different vehicle

[D_Eclipse9916]

Jake - what was their logic? I have heard flush services are a kind of a scam because the torque converter is running in bypass unless the car is moving, what was their reasoning?

I have heard to never flush a trans, more likely to send shit into places where it doesn't belong than to clean.

Drain and Fills. Kind of annoying on the Diesels because they take stupid expensive trans fluid. The Allison engineer says to drain and fill 2 or 3x to get 90% of the fluid. At $120 a pop for a drain and fill in fluid I am just going to do it every 30k. once. That way there is always new additives in it. Reminds me I am coming up on doing all of mine as well.

[Scott]

Finding a shop that will drain and fill vs. flush is a good sign. I'll have to look into bringing the Tundra in to them because I'm lazy.

I was going to change the transmission fluid in my Tundra myself, until I read this:
http://www.tundraheadquarters.com/blog/w...sh-tsb.pdf



I had the dealership do the work (that and it's still under it's certified pre-owned warranty)

[navin]

Did they flush, or drain and fill + drop the pan?