Limp home light on 2005 6.0 F-250

[Wordsmith]

Hello everyone; it has been a loooooong time since I dropped by!

Wanted to run a problem by fellow 6.0 owners. I pulled our 3295RK up to Unicoi SP in northern Georgia in early April and then today; I have experienced the same situation both times.

There is a short grade on Highway 441 just below Cornelia. In April the wrench light came on as I was about half way up the hill; I checked in the owner's manual and this was called the "limp home" mode. I made it up the hill, pulled off as soon as possible, and turned off the ignition, letting the truck sit for about 15 minutes. It started fine and we continued on to the campground. We had no more problems out of the truck. I took it to the local Ford dealer and they said they could not find anything and that there were no error codes because we had driven the truck since then.

I have driven the truck normally since April, even pulling the Montana to another park, albeit one without any grades...no problems out of the truck.

Today, on the way back to Unicoi, the same problem happened on the same grade. I did notice that the truck had just changed gears a few seconds before the light came on and, afterwards, it felt like I did not have access to that gear; I made it up the hill going about 35 mph, aiming for the same parking lot where I pulled off last time. To do that, I had to go down a shorter hill, touched the brakes and the transmission geared down for braking. After I pulled over, Marsha, who was in her car behind me, said a cloud of black smoke came out the exhaust about the time the transmission geared down.

I again stopped the truck, turned off the ignition; when I restarted it, the light was off and we were able to continue on without any problems.

I was wondering if any of you who pull more than I do have experienced a similar problem or have any insight. The truck had about 61k in April and 65k now.

Thanks for any insight you might be able to offer!