Questions on S mode and Towing

You have clearly have not driven “up north” in Minnesota on summer weekends. It’s bumper to bumper traffic with big boats on trailers going 80-90 just to keep up with traffic.

Have fun in the boat. Boats bring smiles. Damn are they shit tons of work though. Lol

 

People drive pretty slow where I’m from. It’s fairly common to see people going 5-10 under the speed limit. I feel like a led foot on the freeway at 75mph. Right line always has people going 50

 

People drive at different speeds. I try to drive at the speed of traffic or slightly faster. I’ve often thought if we all drove at the same speed we would be happier and safer. Autonomous cars might make that reality someday.

 

the owners manual just says to press the "power" button (they mean ECT) when towing. it does say to use s5 or lower if you want to maintain charging system performance while engine braking...which should be common sense.

 

When the torque converter is locked the tranny generates zero heat. It won’t lock in 3rd and in 5th and 6th it will unlock and heat up before it decides yo downshift. S4 is the ticket for towing. Keep the rpm up and it will rarely unlock even on hills.

 

Good info. You reaffirmed my plan to use S4 and ECT going down the highway

 

From the owner's manual...

Selecting shift ranges using S mode restricts the upper limit of the possible
gear ranges, controls engine braking forces, and prevents unnecessary
upshifting.

 

I've towed my boat with gear that was slightly over 2k lbs in S5 with no issues, same for my 5x10 utility trailer. You'll get the best gas mileage to...around 19 mpg. The tranny will automatically downshift to a lower gear when it feels it needs to. Just don't run the truck in the D mode if towing....your transmission will thank you.

 

5k lb travel trailer and agree: ECT, S4 and watch those atf temps. Pay no attention to the mpg - you’re on vacation!