2018 F-150 Toad Tranny Toast

[Finance]

Scott, feel free to use all the caps and red ink you like, but you speak of towing for miles and hours; we have at times towed for days and thousands of miles. Including one of the same toads you write of. Tow your Jeep for five days with an electric brake actuator onboard and let me know what your battery voltage is.

As an aside, I do respect your knowledge and informative posts on many topics. But you're just Ford bashing here. In my opinion.

[strangebird]

Ford video abouyt towing the F 150 with out damaging your transmission

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnHQ15t8N6c

Now go tell that dealer to fix your transmission, or you get an attorney

[Mekanic]

Originally Posted by strangebird

Ford video abouyt towing the F 150 with out damaging your transmission
.......
Now go tell that dealer to fix your transmission, or you get an attorney

I agree 100% Go after Ford Because the video advertises 4 down towing.

[PanJH]

Originally Posted by sv20

We've got a 2018 F-150 King Ranch that we bought to use as a toad. It's been on 6 trips, and on 2 of them, we've found the battery dead after towing a few hours. Neutral tow mode was activated as per the manual, and we have no other modifications that could possibly drain the battery other than an Air Force One.

We got home from our trip on Sunday evening, and after boosting the truck, we found the mileage had accumulated and transmission had welded itself together... apparently when the battery goes dead, neutral tow mode no longer works.

Ford says $7,000 to replace, not going to be covered under warranty. The truck only has 2,000 miles on it. The dealership says it's the second instance they've seen of this, and admits "it's probably best just to put it on a trailer when behind your motorhome."

Anyone here have any experience with this? If not, I guess it's buyer beware. This is our 5th new Ford truck, and afraid it will be our last.

You say milage accumulated-- that would indicate you did not turn the ignition off. So, any other items like the media controls/radio/wifi/inverter and accessories that were turned on likely continued to operate and drain the battery.
I've towed my F-150 about 20,000 miles with no issues. Once, I did forget to turn the ignition off after activating neutral tow, but fortunately that was a short day and I caught it when we stopped a few hundred miles later.

[EdInArk]

Originally Posted by strangebird

Ford video abouyt towing the F 150 with out damaging your transmission

Now go tell that dealer to fix your transmission, or you get an attorney

I fear the attorney will ask if you can prove you followed the steps. Ford will say that since mileage accumulated you must not have.

Sadly, it'll come down to who can win in court.

I would consult an attorney, though. Maybe if nothing else they'll give you a break on the repairs just to avoid litigation expenses.

Best of luck.

[JIMBO34PA]

Call Ford customer assist. 800-392-3673 . Explain . If they won't do anything call your insurance they should cover if pilot error.

[Randyman1]

I too tow a 17 Ford King Ranch 4x4 and have for over a year now. No problems at all like you are describing. The fact that you gained miles means you did not get the ignition turned off and left it on accessory, thus running the battery dead. I know it can sometimes be tricky shutting that off with the push button start, caught myself leaving it on after I had thought I turned it off one time, but the radio still playing clued me in that I hadn’t shut it completely off. There is no other explanation because these trucks do not record the mileage unless the ignition is left on. An expensive lesson, if you end up having to foot the bill, but your truck is just as towable with no problems as mine. Randy

[Treetop Flyer]

If you followed the Ford F-150 owners manual instructions for flat towing the truck Ford should be honoring the warranty. If Ford has flat towing instructions for your vehicle, and they were followed, it should be up to your dealer and Ford to confirm what caused the failure and prove why you are at fault. Have you talked to a regional service manager from Ford about the situation? You may need to get an attorney involved.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Finance

Scott, feel free to use all the caps and red ink you like, but you speak of towing for miles and hours; we have at times towed for days and thousands of miles. Including one of the same toads you write of. Tow your Jeep for five days with an electric brake actuator onboard and let me know what your battery voltage is.

As an aside, I do respect your knowledge and informative posts on many topics. But you're just Ford bashing here. In my opinion.

Finance,
Well, I appreciate your comments on my knowledge and informative posts for sure. Now, am I Ford bashing, no, not really. Just acknowledging that Ford does have some screwups that they don't like admitting to. The "Escape" thing, the old "Areostar" mini-van that very, very many had to use the "Lemon Law" to get Ford to buy back some seriously flawed mini vans. One of the latest is the Twin Turbo V-6. They've lost a lot money on those due to multiple F-150 owners reporting completely blown engines. One of the folks here in town has had THREE of those engines in his '13 F-150, all paid for by Ford but, not without the typical back-stroking from Ford.

I've had a few Fords in my time and, I really liked them. My '79 F-350 with the 460 was one fine truck.

Now, your example of what my toads battery would be like if I towed it for 5 days with the kind of braking system you mentioned. Well, to me, you kind of answered your own statement. I kinda have a general answer for that. One, I never have liked, and never will like any form of "Robot" braking system. Especially one that draws on the toads battery. And even if I did manage to be talked into one, I'd have a strong, (probably around 10GA or 12GA) charge wire from the coach to the toad, to compensate for such draw.

But, that is when a charge wire would be needed, in my opinion. But, to put one on all toads, even when not needed, no matter what brand/type/year/model, would be a waste. If someone wants a charge wire that is not needed, well, that's up to them, it's their toad.

By the way, I, like many, many on here and other forums, use HIGHLIGHTED, and CAPITALS to emphasize a point or, emphasize someone else's statement(s) so there's clarity in what I'm addressing. Sorry if it bugged you.
Scott

[Mr.Mark]

I never bought another GM product after my new '81 Oldsmobile diesel drank oil like a drunken sailer drank whisky. The engine was gone before 50K in 3 yrs.
My 'one-man' boycott of GM single-handedly put Oldsmobile out of business! I was persistent! LOL!

As you can see, we tow a Lincoln MKX with 8,600 of driving miles and about 4,000 miles of towing (not counted in the 8,600).

I always make sure that the instrument cluster says 'vehicle in neutral tow mode'. So far, everything has worked fine. I don't lock the vehicle when towing, just never have.

If I ever have a problem, I'll report back.

Safe travels,
Mark

[Mousemate1]

Just a thought did you make any steep or sharp turns that would julted the toads steering wheel ...allowing the key to click out of position.
Years back on my Dakota had the key jump out of its position and lock the steering wheel with wheels turned after a hard downward right turn. Scared the crap out of me after I drug it to get over.

[paisleytime]

Originally Posted by sv20

We've got a 2018 F-150 King Ranch that we bought to use as a toad. It's been on 6 trips, and on 2 of them, we've found the battery dead after towing a few hours. Neutral tow mode was activated as per the manual, and we have no other modifications that could possibly drain the battery other than an Air Force One.



We got home from our trip on Sunday evening, and after boosting the truck, we found the mileage had accumulated and transmission had welded itself together... apparently when the battery goes dead, neutral tow mode no longer works.



Ford says $7,000 to replace, not going to be covered under warranty. The truck only has 2,000 miles on it. The dealership says it's the second instance they've seen of this, and admits "it's probably best just to put it on a trailer when behind your motorhome."



Anyone here have any experience with this? If not, I guess it's buyer beware. This is our 5th new Ford truck, and afraid it will be our last.

Sorry to hear of your problem- I have the exact setup (AF1 & 2018 F150 KR) since last December and have had no issues. Please provide more details about what you did when you first experienced the dead battery on your toad. Since that isn’t at all normal you must’ve called Demco and or the folks who installed your AF1 right? Also- how do you know that a dead battery will discontinue neutral tow? There are no warnings in the Ford manual about that – and I’m sure if that was the case -there would be. You might have a claim with either of these two companies if your facts are accurate so it might make sense to have more extensive conversations with them. When you do please share what you learn as many of us would like to hear.

[walt2137]

Originally Posted by sv20

We've got a 2018 F-150 King Ranch that we bought to use as a toad. It's been on 6 trips, and on 2 of them, we've found the battery dead after towing a few hours. Neutral tow mode was activated as per the manual, and we have no other modifications that could possibly drain the battery other than an Air Force One.

We got home from our trip on Sunday evening, and after boosting the truck, we found the mileage had accumulated and transmission had welded itself together... apparently when the battery goes dead, neutral tow mode no longer works.

Ford says $7,000 to replace, not going to be covered under warranty. The truck only has 2,000 miles on it. The dealership says it's the second instance they've seen of this, and admits "it's probably best just to put it on a trailer when behind your motorhome."

Anyone here have any experience with this? If not, I guess it's buyer beware. This is our 5th new Ford truck, and afraid it will be our last.

I towed a 2013 F150 CC 4x4 for 5 yrs with no problem but i have used a charge line fom the chassis battery to the toad way before i started towing the F150. In my owners manual for the 2013 did warn aginst towing with a dead battery could cause the 4x4 trans case to shift out of tow mode and i have posted this warning a number times on this forum.
I am so sorry about your problem and hope you can get some help from Ford and if you decide to tow the truck again please install something to keep the battery charged up.

NOTE:’PLS INSTALL A CHARGE LINE ON THE NEWER F150 AS A DEAD BATTERY COULD CAUSE THE 4X4 TRANS TO SHIFT OUT OF TOW MODE.

Please excuse the all caps im just trying to warn the F150 toads.
Walt

[sv20]

So the discussion is ongoing with the dealership and Ford--

Our first mistake was honestly telling the dealer that the problem happened after towing, so take note of that, even though the manual says it's permitted, they automatically blamed us and said we must have not had neutral tow mode active. They admitted they have no way of knowing whether the truck was in neutral tow mode or not (it was, I'm an airline captain and it's part of my meticulous pre-departure checklist as well as something I check at regular stops, in addition my dad verified it since we were traveling together), so now it's our word against theirs.

Walt--the dealer has no idea if neutral tow mode is deactivated with a dead battery or not... they are supposed to be pulling a new unit off the lot today to test the theory. In any event, the 2018 owner's manual mentions nothing of it as it apparently did in your truck. Obviously, a charge line will be added to ours as soon as we get it fixed.


AF1 has been completely helpful, but insists it would take many days of towing before their unit would drain the battery to nothing. The breakaway gets 12v and the LED indicator lights, but that's it.

We are giving Ford every opportunity possible to resolve the issue before escalating to legal action, so hopefully it doesn't have to go down that road. The dealer says they know of a few others being towed, and ours and one other have come in with transmission problems. Thanks for all the feedback, I'll let you know when we figure it all out.