Manual shifting

[Major Kong]

Jakes on the Bronco Sport
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[Obi_Kwiet]

That is not the case !
In my 1.5L dragon I used low at about 45 mph. The transmission downshifted to I think 4th from 6th.
The engine rpm quickly climbed to near redline.
This small engine was about to be pulled past redline on this moderate grade. I applied steady brake pressure like I was taught in tractor trailer school and drew my rpm’s back to 4,000.
In the Cumberland gap in class five tractor trailers this is the method I personally used many times.
We as professional driver would have lost control without smooth steady braking.
We did use the compression release and downshifted to the appropriate gear.
BUT the brakes are what held our speed in check.
Did you know a commercial driver must stop before a long decent and physically check brake slack on each individual brake ?
I must stress this for everyone’s safety,
To choose a gear and coast is wrong, very wrong.
Unless your on some kiddy grade like a 2 or 3% then do as you please,
I choose inexpensive brakes as opposed to planetary gears buried deep in my multi thousand dollar transmission.
Brakes can handle long steady pressure.

I mean, the lack of a real manual gear select on the 1.5 seems like a problem to me. Auto transmissions make extremely stupid gear decisions for many situations.

That being said, there's no reason why engine braking shouldn't be useful in even a 1.5L. You obviously need to keep an eye on the tach, and if it gets too fast, you can make an application of the brakes to reduce the speed. This is far better than riding the brakes, because the engine is dealing with most of the braking and the brakes have time to cool between applications.

I've done this many times in many vehicles and it would be tough to mess it up. We are not running jank drum brakes from the ancient times. If the vehicle gets too fast, we can slow it down. The only real worry is cooking them by riding them for a long time.

 

[Winds of Change]

We don’t have enough engine for engine braking, the crank is just too light.
Ford knows a 1st gear hold would be too slow and a sudden change in slope could over rev these little power plants in a heart beat.
Besides most know brakes are far cheaper to replace than engines or transmissions.
Smooth steady continual brake pedal pressure. On the longer grades. Like the Cumberland gap I’d stop for a full disk cool down once along the way down. As my disks are not drilled.

I was taught stab braking as the long steady pressure is too much constant friction. Yes brakes are cheaper but proper use of engine and transmission is what they are there for. Being in the low gear from the start and just take your time on longer steeper grades. impatience is what will get you in the end. I always liked the morons that are tooling through a level parking lot with their jakes on. REALLY! LOL. I'll say one thing I do not miss is the constant sounds of idling diesels ALL the time. Walked away from it a year and a half ago. Do not miss the BS weather local or OTR. But I miss PA in the fall. Used to go to Leetsdale, PA every Monday and return Tuesday.

 

[Devil6]

I have the same question as the op, nobody is answering it, only adding their irrelevant experiences.

Where I live, there are many steep hills, 11-15%, both low and high speed, that have to be used just to get from the house.

A 2L engine has sufficient compression braking for a vehicle of this size and weight.

The slow speed problems: the vehicle on its own wants to climb slow speed steep hills in 3rd/ 4th gear puting RPM’s at a dangerously low speed compared to the force being created and put on the engine. Putting the vehicle in 1st before a climb often fails as the vehicle will quickly skip shift into 3rd at about 6 mph. If you pause on the hill and put it in 1st it will then hold 1st but only if done this way.

Using Sport or Manual makes no difference.

I have not been able to descend in 1st regardless of what I try. If I stop and put it in 1st it frustratingly shifts itself into 2nd/ 3rd.

Higher speed problems: while descending in second it will hold at 2,500 but confusingly sometimes also at a higher RPM while going the exact same speed, but a little less than what 3rd would be. While climbing the exact same hill at the same speed and in the same gear the RPM’s read 3,000. Using 3rd and 4th gears put the engine at unacceptable low RPM’s.

It’s unacceptable that the vehicle won’t hold 1st gear while descending. Why the confusing engine speeds when descending in 2nd?

 

[Mark S.]

I have the same question as the op, nobody is answering it, only adding their irrelevant experiences.

Where I live, there are many steep hills, 11-15%, both low and high speed, that have to be used just to get from the house.

A 2L engine has sufficient compression braking for a vehicle of this size and weight.

The slow speed problems: the vehicle on its own wants to climb slow speed steep hills in 3rd/ 4th gear puting RPM’s at a dangerously low speed compared to the force being created and put on the engine. Putting the vehicle in 1st before a climb often fails as the vehicle will quickly skip shift into 3rd at about 6 mph. If you pause on the hill and put it in 1st it will then hold 1st but only if done this way.

Using Sport or Manual makes no difference.

I have not been able to descend in 1st regardless of what I try. If I stop and put it in 1st it frustratingly shifts itself into 2nd/ 3rd.

Higher speed problems: while descending in second it will hold at 2,500 but confusingly sometimes also at a higher RPM while going the exact same speed, but a little less than what 3rd would be. While climbing the exact same hill at the same speed and in the same gear the RPM’s read 3,000. Using 3rd and 4th gears put the engine at unacceptable low RPM’s.

It’s unacceptable that the vehicle won’t hold 1st gear while descending. Why the confusing engine speeds when descending in 2nd?

If you want help you might start by avoiding accusing everyone trying to help of irrelevancy.

That said, are you talking about driving on or off road? When going downhill does the transmission downshift on its own? I’ve never experienced that. We have some fairly steep hills nearby, and when descending a hill I’ve had the transmission UPSHIFT when the RPM gets too high, but it’s never downshifted to put the engine at a higher RPM unless I use the manual shift paddle.

I would not worry about lugging the engine with the automatic transmission selecting the gears for you. The hallmark of Ford’s EcoBoost engines is low-RPM torque—that’s what it’s designed for. The PCM will monitor engine parameters and downshift to a lower gear if it senses operation in a regime that might result in engine damage.

 

[RushMan]

I have the same question as the op, nobody is answering it, only adding their irrelevant experiences.

Where I live, there are many steep hills, 11-15%, both low and high speed, that have to be used just to get from the house.

A 2L engine has sufficient compression braking for a vehicle of this size and weight.

The slow speed problems: the vehicle on its own wants to climb slow speed steep hills in 3rd/ 4th gear puting RPM’s at a dangerously low speed compared to the force being created and put on the engine. Putting the vehicle in 1st before a climb often fails as the vehicle will quickly skip shift into 3rd at about 6 mph. If you pause on the hill and put it in 1st it will then hold 1st but only if done this way.

Using Sport or Manual makes no difference.

I have not been able to descend in 1st regardless of what I try. If I stop and put it in 1st it frustratingly shifts itself into 2nd/ 3rd.

Higher speed problems: while descending in second it will hold at 2,500 but confusingly sometimes also at a higher RPM while going the exact same speed, but a little less than what 3rd would be. While climbing the exact same hill at the same speed and in the same gear the RPM’s read 3,000. Using 3rd and 4th gears put the engine at unacceptable low RPM’s.

It’s unacceptable that the vehicle won’t hold 1st gear while descending. Why the confusing engine speeds when descending in 2nd?

Have you tried using cruise control? I drive using cruise control most of the time, even locally. There is one steep downhill I regularly drive, about 1/8 mile long. I drop the cruise control speed to 4-5 mph under the speed limit as I approach the steep part of the hill, and let the computer choose the gears. Sometimes I will adjust the gear with the paddle shifters too.

 

[Devil6]

Have you tried using cruise control? I drive using cruise control most of the time, even locally. There is one steep downhill I regularly drive, about 1/8 mile long. I drop the cruise control speed to 4-5 mph under the speed limit as I approach the steep part of the hill, and let the computer choose the gears. Sometimes I will adjust the gear with the paddle shifters too.

Thanks. From experience in another vehicle I have tried cruise control on longer high speed ascents and experienced unsatisfactory results.

While climbing and running at the allowed speed that Ford did ok. There are steeper sections though with tighter turns where cruise has to be disengaged by applying the brakes and then the vehicle is in the wrong gear and the computer doesn’t adjust.

Using the brakes and then manually down shifting can work but, sometimes the computer takes too long to decide to downshift and sometimes the transmission makes very hard/ jarring down shifts. In about three months of trying to figure this out I could never get the same result twice.

Can’t find a win here. This is possibly the case where the computer, tuned for economy, just won’t figure it out.

 

[Devil6]

If you want help you might start by avoiding accusing everyone trying to help of irrelevancy.

That said, are you talking about driving on or off road? When going downhill does the transmission downshift on its own? I’ve never experienced that. We have some fairly steep hills nearby, and when descending a hill I’ve had the transmission UPSHIFT when the RPM gets too high, but it’s never downshifted to put the engine at a higher RPM unless I use the manual shift paddle.

I would not worry about lugging the engine with the automatic transmission selecting the gears for you. The hallmark of Ford’s EcoBoost engines is low-RPM torque—that’s what it’s designed for. The PCM will monitor engine parameters and downshift to a lower gear if it senses operation in a regime that might result in engine damage.

I appreciate the fact that you stayed on topic.
Even though the manual states to use the transmission to control speed on descents I cannot figure it out. It never downshifts on its own, only up shifts. After manually (even using the manual feature and sport mode) putting the vehicle into 1st, on its own it will automatically shift to 2nd and sometimes skip to 3rd. After rolling from a standstill there is no reason for the transmission to do this.

I worry about lugging the engine and will not do it. You are correct in what you say about the turbo but that isn’t the issue. The issue is the engine is being asked to do a lot, and it’s producing a lot of (turbo) power, but isn’t spinning fast enough to ensure that it’s metallurgy and mechanical can survive the great forces it is producing but also great forces acting on it due to too high gearing while overcoming friction and gravity.

Simply stated, in my environment, the pistons and supporting infrastructure (powder forged at best) are moving too slowly at too high of a gear, 2nd or 3rd gear, with too much force being put into them and acting on them. This is something you can get away with on occasion but not when it is done almost daily, it will cause an engine failure.

 

[Devil6]

If this hasn’t been answered yet, this is what I did yesterday and it worked in both 2d and 3rd gears. I havent replicated it though.
I put it in Sport mode and then in manual mode. The trans then held 2d or 3rd gears while descending a steep hill.

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