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Old 06-12-2016, 06:16 AM   #1
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Scary letdown with v10 power in 2013 vista

Yesterday we had a very scary experience with our 2013 winnebago vista with the ford v10. We were towing a 12 foot single axle enclosed trailer with very little cargo and weight. We were on our way to visit some friends in the hills of west virginia. It was a place that we have never been to before and had no idea what was coming. We were almost to our destination and had to go up a steep hill in the neighborhood of our friends. It was probably the steepest hill that i have tried to climb,but, in my eyes not unreasonable for the motorhome to tackle. Well, we made it about half way up and the engine just stopped trying. Seemed to just back off and give up. It did not stall, just decreased in rpms. I was in panic mode because we are on a steep hill, have a trailer behind us, 4 kids in the motorhome and the road was on a turn... not to mention the left side of the road was a cliff that went straight down about 30 ft. So i managed to slam both feet on the brake, told the kids to get out and clear out of the way. Now i had to back down the hill and around the turn without going off the cliff. I did it THANK GOD. Thats the story and I have to say that v10 really let me down. I am wondering if the 5star tuner would have made a difference here? Any ideas. Thanks everyone
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Old 06-12-2016, 06:48 AM   #2
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I would put odbii scanner on it and check for miss fires and maybe check the fuel pressure.
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Old 06-12-2016, 06:48 AM   #3
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O boy, not fun.

You may have gotten it a little hot and it went into limp mode to protect the engine.

Did you drop the shifter into 1st gear before climbing the hill ? That keeps the engine speed up and circulating the coolant.

Did you eventually get to your friends house ?
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Old 06-12-2016, 06:52 AM   #4
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Scary story. Glad you skills got you out of a potentially a really bad situation.
As far as the 5 Star Tune, that would not help. The Star Tume simply changes the transmission shift points so that the tranny is not so sensitive to small inclines.
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:00 AM   #5
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Uugghh. Made a trip into Yellowstone last year on US 16 through Ten Sleep. Grades were 6-7 degrees, the V10 in our coach was groaning a lot (the uphill grade seemed to go on forever) but consistently pull our Challenger 37TB and Ford Explorer. Even with the groaning the V10 never quite - just got a little noisy.
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:10 AM   #6
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Tow/Haul

Were you in Tow/Haul mode?
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:23 AM   #7
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Low on fuel in the gas tank?

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Old 06-12-2016, 07:23 AM   #8
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I was in tow haul mode. The transmission was in drive. Now that its been mentioned, it did seem to go ito a limp mode possibly. It was a bad time for that to happen though. We did get to our friends house by going into the community a different way.
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Old 06-12-2016, 07:30 AM   #9
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Wow, glad everyone is okay. Tell us what occurred afterwards. Did the engine go back to normal after parking and cooling down?
First time MH owners.
We picked up our 2016 Sunstar 35F a month ago and haven't put 1,000 miles on the new V10 yet.
Curious as to it's behavior.
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Old 06-12-2016, 11:59 AM   #10
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After i backed down the hill and caught my breath...the engine acted normal again.
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Old 06-12-2016, 12:05 PM   #11
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The V-10 is an excellent motor, but it has backup systems to the backup systems. I'm guessing limp mode. Gotta keep the RPMs up, and turn off tow/haul when mountaineering.
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Old 06-12-2016, 08:29 PM   #12
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Tow /haul would have been fine,but I would have dropped the tranny down into 1st as mentioned earlier....no sense making it work harder than it needs to.
I have a 5 Star tune on mine,the "Economy " tune will give you about 30 more horsepower,and,75 lb.ft of torque so ,I would say absolutely YES IT WOULD HAVE HELPED.
i now have 64k on my '13 Vista 30T towing a '15 Subaru,and have NEVER had a problem with a hill! Plus I always carry a full tank of water!
Give 5Star a call and talk to them,you'll find them very helpful.
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Old 06-13-2016, 02:03 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B Dubya View Post
The V-10 is an excellent motor, but it has backup systems to the backup systems. I'm guessing limp mode. Gotta keep the RPMs up, and turn off tow/haul when mountaineering.

That is not correct. Turn on TOW/HAUL when hitting the mountains. In the newer models, Tow/Haul is actually Hill Descent mode. It keeps the tranny in gear longer and acts almost like a Exhaust brake (except on tranny) during hill descents. READ the Farfignuging Manual from FORD. It explains it all very well.
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Old 06-13-2016, 06:21 AM   #14
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Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I am still shocked that this happened. Fortunately, we do not travel much in the mountains but when we do, I will think twice about going to certain places. This was a real eye opener.
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Old 06-13-2016, 08:50 AM   #15
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You don't have to slap your forehead. I thought is was plain I meant hit the button so overdrive is off. Guess not.
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Old 06-13-2016, 09:00 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B Dubya View Post
The V-10 is an excellent motor, but it has backup systems to the backup systems. I'm guessing limp mode. Gotta keep the RPMs up, and turn off tow/haul when mountaineering.
Since I've never experienced it in my F53 I have to ask - what pray tell is "limp mode"? I've heard they have that in diesels, but in a gasser?
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Old 06-13-2016, 09:05 AM   #17
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When to computer senses something is wrong, ie overheating, it starts shutting down incrementally. RPM, cylinders, AC, etc. If you keep driving, it keeps limiting the motor. While I've never experienced this in 15 years of V-10 ownership, the idea is to save the motor.
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Old 06-14-2016, 10:05 AM   #18
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Had a 2011 Vista with the V10 and never had a problem like that. Pulled a lot of 5,000 loads with it thru the mountains and although I could not set any speed records it had no problem pulling those grades. As mentioned, I bet limp mode kicked in.
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Old 06-14-2016, 11:11 AM   #19
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I use the scan gauge 2 on mine.

While climbing a STEEP hill, I watch the temperature. If it gets to 200, I back down to 20 MPH and drop it in first.

I could smash the pedal and force the downshift but then It picks up speed and shift back into 2nd.

I have the low HP, 2 valve, 1999, V10. Not a hot rod but gets all our stuff over the mountains.
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Old 06-14-2016, 11:49 AM   #20
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I am going to conclude that the limp mode kicked in. I am glad that we were able to get out of that situation relatively easily. Im not sure others in that same position would do as well. Not trying to pat myself on the back but i have alot of experience with driving motorhomes and especially handling trailers. With that said, considering that size of hill, while it was rather impressive, i dont think the engine should have done what it did. It really put our safety into jeopardy.
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