ok, so this horse has been beat to death. the transmission is less than ideal. I've had such a miserable towing experience this week, I gotta ask. Is there an easy way to check for an update for the transmission factory programming? will the dealer let me know if there's an update?
This week, we took the 9000 lb travel trailer from Sacramento to Santa Barbara. Was in tow/haul mode the whole time. So, going over the mountains going UPHILL, the truck held onto 4th gear forever and wouldn't shift into 5th unless I actually slowed down from 55 to 50 or less. then I would have to very slowly build up speed again just so it wouldn't shift back into 4th. Ok, maybe not a big deal.
The bigger issue was going down hill. I assume these trucks have an incline sensor. down even a mild grade, touching the brakes immediately sends the transmission from 5th to 3rd at 55-60 mph. even with gentle roll on throttle, it won't shift out of 3rd. Add to this, if you even tap the brakes a second time, it shifts into 2nd, holds it until you hit a flat/level area. This means you are near redline, engine screaming, the entire way down the hill (6-10 miles long in this case). I tried switching out of tow/haul. nothing. I just had to slow way down and ride out the hill in 2nd until I hit bottom.
is this considered normal? anyone know of an update/flash?