Engine Braking When in Tow/Hual

[WolverineXLT]

Alright guys,

22 XLT with max tow. We reside in the mitten state, so not a ton of terrain here. We pull this thing all over the place with no issues. We are heading to Salt Lake City to see the in laws, then traveling down to Arizona to enjoy Lake Powell this week.

With the lack of long decents here in Michigan and the upcoming 5-7% grades going into SLC, I was curious if anyone has learned how to use the engine braking feature. From what i've gathered, if in Tow/Haul mode, when you apply the brake pedal, the engine braking will engage as well. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of using engine braking if I need my foot on the break the whole time?

Am I missing something or do we think the engine brake will remain engaged even after releasing the brake pedal?

 

[Dale5403]

Here is what says about it. I've never towed much with mine so no real experience with it.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?variantid=6027&languageCode=en&countryCode=USA&Uid=G1883439&ProcUid=G1883440&userMarket=usa&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web

 

[WolverineXLT]

Here is what says about it. I've never towed much with mine so no real experience with it.

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?variantid=6027&languageCode=en&countryCode=USA&Uid=G1883439&ProcUid=G1883440&userMarket=usa&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web

Thats all I could find too in the manual. I did learn something new though....do not use tow/haul in slippery/wet conditions lol. Pulled the camper through many a rain storms. Will have to modify that behavior I suppose

 

[Beargap]

Alright guys,

22 XLT with max tow. We reside in the mitten state, so not a ton of terrain here. We pull this thing all over the place with no issues. We are heading to Salt Lake City to see the in laws, then traveling down to Arizona to enjoy Lake Powell this week.

With the lack of long decents here in Michigan and the upcoming 5-7% grades going into SLC, I was curious if anyone has learned how to use the engine braking feature. From what i've gathered, if in Tow/Haul mode, when you apply the brake pedal, the engine braking will engage as well. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of using engine braking if I need my foot on the break the whole time?

Am I missing something or do we think the engine brake will remain engaged even after releasing the brake pedal?

View attachment 444321

We sometimes pull a horse trailer (5K lbs max loaded) with our 21 XLT with tow package. The automatic engine braking was a pleasant surprise for me as it did exactly what I expected to need to do manually with the paddle shifters. I really suspect it is using the vehicle position sensors and detecting downlhill gradients with no acceleration, then it starts downshifting to help maintain speed. It doesn't do it on level ground. That feature, the automatic extension of blind spot monitoring distance, and the easy connection to an e-brake controller make this a nice tow rig, the best of 3 we've used in the past.

 

[MNgopher]

As the OP has probably figured out by now, when you apply the brake, the trans wills drop a gear or two and engage engine braking, and keep it going even without your foot on the brake. Very useful when towing a trailer on long grades, etc... The flip side is the smaller displacement ecoboost engines unfortunately don't offer a ton of engine braking. Really just a function of displacement (example: The 2.7 and trans programming in tow haul is great in my 2016 F150, but the actual engine braking on my old '04 F150 with the 5.4 was better, but more difficult to get it to do what you wanted it to do (and less gears to play with). Have not towed any distance in the 21 Explorer, but imagine I'll find the same as compared to the '07 with the 4.6 V8.