I hate my Powerboost

[UGADawg96]

I would add that we won't have this PB forever and don't know if Ford or another manufacturer will offer a 7kW inverter in the future. We have a travel trailer so the PB can handle both for our needs right now. However, If we replace the PB with a non-inverter truck (F350 Tremor as an example) in the future, we could buy a med sized geny and/or rewire the house for a full house power option. It isn't like the work done isn't reversible.

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[Porpoise Hork]

We installed a transfer switch and can power almost the entire house except the central HVAC unit with our PB. We may lose power once a year for an hour and every couple years due to a hurricane for a longer duration. In 15 years living in FL, we've really only lost power two times for significant period of time. Once was 24 hours and the second was 36 hours. In both those cases our biggest concerns were the two fridges, ceiling fans, and hot water. So yeah, when we lose power in these cases, we connect the truck to the house, we have a party, and the neighbors say that is a sweat trick.

If you don't have one installed already, get an Easy start unit for the AC. It's an electronic control module that hooks up to the AC unit outside and significantly lowers the overall startup amperage requirement. Normal 3 ton units pull about 50 amps at start. The PB obviously cannot sustain that. With an Easy Start my unit (1 year old) only pulls 28 amps then drops to about 3-4 amps when running. The 7.2KB PB inverter will sustain that as long as everything else is powered off when the AC starts. All I do is turn everything off, turn on the AC and wait about 10 seconds then start turning lights back on. Then wait for the AC to shut off and then flip the thermostat back to off to prevent it from starting before I am ready for it.

 

[UGADawg96]

If you don't have one installed already, get an Easy start unit for the AC. It's an electronic control module that hooks up to the AC unit outside and significantly lowers the overall startup amperage requirement. Normal 3 ton units pull about 50 amps at start. The PB obviously cannot sustain that. With an Easy Start my unit (1 year old) only pulls 28 amps then drops to about 3-4 amps when running. The 7.2KB PB inverter will sustain that as long as everything else is powered off when the AC starts. All I do is turn everything off, turn on the AC and wait about 10 seconds then start turning lights back on. Then wait for the AC to shut off and then flip the thermostat back to off to prevent it from starting before I am ready for it.

We didn't put the HVAC on the transfer switch. If it starts to get too warm in the house with the fans running, we'll pick up a portacool from home depot to use. But usually when there is no power due to a hurricane, it cools down outside considerably.

 

[Deleted member 14557]

A hard shift on a ten speed is a programming issue. As others have said try to fix the issue first by a programming update or reset and update. Then if you are still convinced MOPAR is superior take it to a MOPAR dealer and trade it in > again. It may cost you a little bit of money but I follow the ten day rule. Ten days if something still bothers me and it is not fixed, I address it in full on attention. IF it can not be easily fixed it warrants a change.

 

[talespin]

I have had a '21 powerboost for a full year now with 15k miles. Beyond issues with stupid things from day 1 like power mirrors not working and the 11 month debacle that has been, I just really dislike the ride. I was so excited to have this truck, after my '20 Ram was rear-ended and totaled after less than 2 years, because after living through the Texas snowpocalpyse the 7.2kw generator in this truck seemed to make it perfect. But since day 1, my Lariate pb has been a downgrade and disappointment from my Laramie 1500.

First, I love the idea of a hybrid with great mpg, lots of power and speed, and the built in generator. Not to mention the fact that I was able to put a hefty sum down and get 0% interest in Oct 2021. I thought this truck was going to be the best of all worlds. But what I found was this truck drives like complete crap. There are very noticeable jerks when switching between gas and electric plus accelerating or decelerating, especially around 3rd gear is extremely rough. Every time I accelerate or decelerate I feel these jerks, pauses, and jolts and it is driving me insane.

When accelerating up a hill I will hit third gear and then it feels as if it downshifts and throws me in to the back of my seat as it shifts higher. When decelerating it can be very sudden that it shocks people in the vehicle. Sometimes there is a hesitation when accelerating causing me to hit the gas a little more which then leads to a jerk forward once the truck catches up. Nothing about the ride is consistent or comfortable. I hate comparing it to the ram but the hemi ram was smooth in acceleration and deceleration all the time. During the last 11 months of dealing with other issues I have mentioned the issues with the ride quality each time I took the truck into service and the dealer has done nothing for it. On the work order it says "no work done." I Paid 68k for this truck, full sticker 1 year ago, and I couldn't be less happy with it.

Most likely I will need to hold onto this truck because current interest rates are terrible and no one will give me a decent trade in. I am one service appt away from filing a lemon law claim here in Texas for a buy back. If we have a power outage in the next winter or 2, the generator may be the only saving grace, if it's not in the shop.

Wow….! That’s a bummer. I’ve had my PB almost exactly one year and I really like mine…? The hybrid system operates slightly better than my Lexus RX 450h. That’s the only thing I can compare it with. After a year my milage peaked at exactly 25 mph with about 11,500 miles on it. Milage is starting to trend downword with the cooler temps. Sorry to hear about your issues, hope you can resolve them some way…? talespin

 

[Rubystang]

After reading the entire 6 pages of threads on this post I only have one question. First, I will caveat my situation. I have a new 22 Powerboost Lariat coming in any day. I have to fly to the dealer to pick it up and drive it about 1,800 miles to get home. They say your not supposed to go over 50 mph for the first 500 miles but that’s just not doable in my situation and to be honest I’ve never done that with any car/truck I’ve bought. And they have always ran better in the long run. Anyway, back to my question…….. do you recommend I put the truck in Sport mode for the trip home to avoid all the adaptive learning it would usually go through or do you think these transmissions have been modified at the factory such that by this time it really doesn’t matter what mode I drive it in coming home ? Thanks for the advice in advance!

 

[UGADawg96]

They say your not supposed to go over 50 mph for the first 500 miles

Who is they ?

 

[Snakebitten]

Cheers to your new Powerboost!
I'm guessing if it's first couple of hundred miles are interstate, the shift strategy you use won't matter much since it won't be doing much shifting.

However, you can change modes on the fly. So leave the dealership in Sport Mode and then switch to Normal once you reach a long term cruising speed.

Honestly, the only difference you will notice at high speed cruising is that Sport Mode is a LITTLE less hell bent on getting to overdrive than the other modes.

 

[Rubystang]

Who is they ?

“They” is a tech at my local Ford dealer. Not the guy I usually go to though, so he may be blowing smoke up my a$$. What do you recommend for break in process ?

 

[Ziggy73]

I think one should not give the Powerboost a ? for powering a house. It's a great party trick though. Sure, it'll supply power to a house, but it won't power a house unless you live in a home that doesn't require much power. It sure won't power my house. Turning off the AC to run the oven is not powering the house. That's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Get a whole house generator instead.

I wouldn't call it a party trick, since many can power their RVs for a whole week, I've heard contractors powering the whole work site for a whole week, off-grid campers with tents it's a game changer. I don't think it was ever advertised by Ford to power an entire house, and thus it's not fair to call it a party trick when it's most certainly very useful in many many instances, I'm still using it in different ways each week.

 

[Severdog]

I would:

• Leave the dealership in Sport mode and drive it like you stole it for the first few miles to seat the rings. (see mototuneusa.com for reference)
• Once on the highway, switch to "normal" or "eco" mode and drive normally. I would consider locking out gears on long uphill stretches to avoid boost and keep the revs above 2k. Once you hit the summit, then just unlock the gears back up to 10. The whole point here is to avoid lugging the engine. It will lug along at 1.5k uphill but that can't be good for a motor.
• Change oil as soon as you arrive home, or the next day. Get the metal out of your sump.
• Enjoy! You're broken in. I've found that the tranny is smoother now at 9k than it was brand new. Not sure if that was due to upgrade flash or just learning/time. It's a joy to drive.

Congrats on the new horse.

..do you recommend I put the truck in Sport mode for the trip home to avoid all the adaptive learning it would usually go through or do you think these transmissions have been modified at the factory such that by this time it really doesn’t matter what mode I drive it in coming home ? Thanks for the advice in advance!

 

[Rubystang]

Cheers to your new Powerboost!
I'm guessing if it's first couple of hundred miles are interstate, the shift strategy you use won't matter much since it won't be doing much shifting.

However, you can change modes on the fly. So leave the dealership in Sport Mode and then switch to Normal once you reach a long term cruising speed.

Honestly, the only difference you will notice at high speed cruising is that Sport Mode is a LITTLE less hell bent on getting to overdrive than the other modes.

Thanks for the advice. I’m not really looking forward to the long drive but it saved me about $8k using this dealer. Once I get home most of my driving will be local traffic with city driving. Hence my desire for the Powerboost engine. I test drove one locally and liked the way it drove. I opted out of the FX4 package because I wanted a better ride. It’s a 4x4, so there is still some stiffness to it, but it has to be a little better than with the shocks from the FX4 package. Just couldn’t bring myself to paying the extra money for something I’ll never need either. I pull a small dual axle trailer I can load my zero turn mower and some other yard equipment on. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Rubystang]

I would:

• Leave the dealership in Sport mode and drive it like you stole it for the first few miles to seat the rings. (see mototuneusa.com for reference)
• Once on the highway, switch to "normal" or "eco" mode and drive normally. I would consider locking out gears on long uphill stretches to avoid boost and keep the revs above 2k. Once you hit the summit, then just unlock the gears back up to 10. The whole point here is to avoid lugging the engine. It will lug along at 1.5k uphill but that can't be good for a motor.
• Change oil as soon as you arrive home, or the next day. Get the metal out of your sump.
• Enjoy! You're broken in. I've found that the tranny is smoother now at 9k than it was brand new. Not sure if that was due to upgrade flash or just learning/time. It's a joy to drive.

Congrats on the new horse.

Appreciate the info! Definitely will be changing oil the day after I get home to get rid of all the minute metal shavings as it was breaking in. One thing though since I’m not familiar with this transmission, how do you lockout the gears and then unlock them when driving uphill ? On a regular trans you can just pull it down from D to 3 or 2 depending on what trans you have to keep the RPM up, as you suggested. Thanks again !

 

[Mug Costanza]

Honestly, I hated mine as well. I have a '22 and experienced all the jerks, jolts, etc OP said. I feel like around 6500, 7000 it finally started breaking in and while i still have some of that, it's much, much better now.

 

[UGADawg96]

“They” is a tech at my local Ford dealer. Not the guy I usually go to though, so he may be blowing smoke up my a$$. What do you recommend for break in process ?

Follow the manual.

So basically, don't race and don't tow for 1000miles. Just drive it as you normally would. Vary engine speeds and you'll be fine.

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