Driving your 2.7L manual gear.

[Hippydrome]

Never had an automatic tranie and it's just odd how the gears change back and forth when in D mode. Has anyone just drive there truck using the M mode and shift the gears up and down just like a stick?

Is it bad to drive all the time in M mode?

cheers,

HD

Sponsored

 

[Theherofails]

Its a 10 speed, and first five gears are so close that it would require superhuman skills to manage them successfully. There must be only a few hundred RPM between factory shift points for those gears.. its a very constant and smooth motion. I do play with them though and you can mimic a manual fairly easily other than the insane amount of gear changes.

I use M when off-roading as it does a better job keeping you in 1st, which is essentially the auto transmissions crawl gear.

Is your Bronco past about 1,000-1,2000 miles? It appears to get much better. I rarely notice my transmission now at about 1,200 miles.

 

[Hippydrome]

Its a 10 speed, and first five gears are so close that it would require superhuman skills to manage them successfully. There must be only a few hundred RPM between factory shift points for those gears.. its a very constant and smooth motion. I do play with them though and you can mimic a manual fairly easily other than the insane amount of gear changes.

I use M when off-roading as it does a better job keeping you in 1st, which is essentially the auto transmissions crawl gear.

Is your Bronco past about 1,000-1,2000 miles? It appears to get much better. I rarely notice my transmission now at about 1,200 miles.

Thanks for the info. My truck has only 80 miles on it. I have been driving sticks only my whole life.

Will the tranie smooth out the more you drive or it learns you driving style?
Can you switch to manual any time driving? The Owner Manual is very vague.

Thanks,

HD

 

[RagnarKon]

Thanks for the info. My truck has only 80 miles on it. I have been driving sticks only my whole life.

Will the tranie smooth out the more you drive or it learns you driving style?
Can you switch to manual any time driving? The Owner Manual is very vague.

The control unit will continually adjust the transmission over time based on the values it detects through its sensors. It does not explicitly try to learn your driving style, but obviously your driving style will influence the system parameters detected by the sensors. So it'll get better, but it won't be a dramatic change.

And yes, you can put it in the manual mode at any time.

Ultimately @Theherofails hit the nail on the head. There are 10 gears in that gear box, so it'll shift a lot. It is designed to shift a lot, because the engineers are trying to optimize power delivery and fuel economy throughout the drive range. I'll definitely be a bit weird if all you've driven is 3-6 speed manual transmissions your entire lift.

I too drive almost exclusively manual transmissions (have a manual Bronco on order). When my wife first got her vehicle (8-speed auto), I hated how often it shifted, and I used to drive around in manual mode to pick the gears manually. But I quickly learned it is not worth it. The gear ratios are just too close close together and there are a ton of them. Since you are ultimately driving an SUV and not driving a semi-truck, so... you are basically clicking the buttons ALL the time and it quickly becomes a pain in the butt to deal with. The only time I use manual mode now is while sitting in traffic or while driving around windy roads.

 

[WuNgUn]

Also, I think it'll drop out of manual and into full auto if you leave the shift buttons alone for a time....?

 

[RagnarKon]

Also, I think it'll drop out of manual and into full auto if you leave the shift buttons alone for a time....?

Yeah it won't let you blow up or stall the engine. So if you stop shifting it'll take matters into its own hands.

 

[RideEmCowboy]

Coming to this thread late, 1 month into ownership. Hope someone from this thread is still here.

Does it make sense to use M gear going down a hill to let the engine brake some? I have one fairly steep hill on my commute where the speed limit is 35, and where it's impossible to keep under 40 w/o riding the brakes. And should I wait til I have 1,000mi on the engine? (I have had both manual and automatic cars, used the ol' D1 and D2 on the latter for hills and slow curves and dirt roads)

 

[Hippydrome]

Coming to this thread late, 1 month into ownership. Hope someone from this thread is still here.

Does it make sense to use M gear going down a hill to let the engine brake some? I have one fairly steep hill on my commute where the speed limit is 35, and where it's impossible to keep under 40 w/o riding the brakes. And should I wait til I have 1,000mi on the engine? (I have had both manual and automatic cars, used the ol' D1 and D2 on the latter for hills and slow curves and dirt roads)

Tried it and seemed like not engine braking at all, just max out rpm's.

 

[Flourman]

Tried it and seemed like not engine braking at all, just max out rpm's.

Isn’t that the definition of engine braking?

The 10-speed also skip shifts unless you are hard into it or in sport mode. I know some transmissions won’t spin a set a clutches when you run in manual all the time, which leads to premature transmission wear and failure as it doesn’t get oil up into everything. I’m not sure about the Ford 10-speed.

I know the 10-speeds in the F-series has fantastic engine braking, even for a gasser. If speed pics up, a brake application and it downshifts.

 

[BigMeatsBronco]

Also, I think it'll drop out of manual and into full auto if you leave the shift buttons alone for a time....?

This is only part factual..correct if you just touch the toggle switched to ”take over”...it will revert back to normal auto mode after a few seconds.

But obviously if you pull the shifter back into M mode it will NOT revert back to auto (with exceptions like coming to a stop)

 

[Hippydrome]

Isn’t that the definition of engine braking?

yes, but it does not feel like engine braking compared to my other truck.
Going down a hill in my 1995 Defender 90, I can feel the gears resistance working hard to slow down the truck as the engine rpm's slowly go up, hardly using the foot brakes. With my Bronco, the gears rpm up fast with no resistance and the truck just keeps speeding up. I have to use my foot brakes constantly. No engine braking compared to my D90.
I hope it is user error for me in my Bronco. )

 

[Flourman]

Engine braking is actually using the engine’s compression to slow the vehicle down. Yes , the gears have a bit more resistance due to turning faster in the same oil with the same viscosity but almost all of the engine braking is a resulting of the “reverse torque” applied back from the engine compression.

‘What you may be experiencing is how the torque converter is reacting. It should be in full lock up during engine braking RPM’s though.

 

[Butzy]

Coming to this thread late, 1 month into ownership. Hope someone from this thread is still here.

Does it make sense to use M gear going down a hill to let the engine brake some? I have one fairly steep hill on my commute where the speed limit is 35, and where it's impossible to keep under 40 w/o riding the brakes. And should I wait til I have 1,000mi on the engine? (I have had both manual and automatic cars, used the ol' D1 and D2 on the latter for hills and slow curves and dirt roads)

I have a similar situation. I use cruise control in my F150, it takes the hill nicely up and down and I don't have to worry about that hoopie in the middle of it.

Sponsored