lanyard wrote:I haven't pulled the trigger on any vehicle yet. Life of being a contract employee means life is certainly uncertain. So, no Jeep Truck in the near future, apparently college tuition for the kids and $5k a year in athletic fees are more important than my self gratification.....
So, looking at used F-150 crew cab 6.5' boxes and checking to see if any of you internet jockeys have enjoyed the EcoBoost.
My father in-law slagged them, but my brother in-law said he missed it after flipping to a Ram.
There's a lot of "Eco Boost Sucks" posts on the internet, but I can't seem to find much that indicates it's a turd. Hell, I had two of the 2.9l v-6's back in the day and supposedly those were the worst engines ever.
Thanks in advance for any actual experience. I don't mod my engines, just try to keep the oil changed and proper air in the tires, etc.
I'm your huckleberry...2011 F150 Ecoboost with 250k miles still my daily driver...owned since brand new...ask away.
Quickly...theres a known issue with timing chains/cam phasers... apparently when they cast the engines...lot of sand got left behind up through around 2015 years. This clogged the oil ports...so cams couldn't adjust... wearing chains and throwing timing off. This shows itself on a cold start(sitting for 24 hrs in between starts), you will hear a rattle on startup. That's the timing chain banging. Doing a cold start like this is the #1 thing you need to do on a "test drive" before buying. I went with my buddy to test drive his '14 before he bought it...I heard it right away...dealer did the fix then sold it to him.
Transmission...pretty solid..mine finally got weak this past Winter with around 230-235k on it. I put a used one in out of a salvage with 42k on it.
Maintenance will be a little more on the forced induction. The higher cylinder pressures eat plugs a lil faster...I do them every 50k miles...super easy like $30 and 30 min. Also, they like to build up gasoline in the oil as most direct injection vehicles do...full synthetic (I do amsoil every 5-7k) or cheap oil on short 3k intervals is a must, no paying attention to the oil light which will go approximately 7-10k which is way too far on this engine.
Mileage...well #1, it's a **** truck. Everyone has different expectations. Mileage played 0 role in me buying this truck...the power towing did. Having said that...my mileage since day 1 I've never reset...towing, idling using it as my office, rush hour, etc, is 15.2 mpg over 250k miles. Most don't think that's good, however considering the idling and towing I do I think that's a great number. And that's with a leveling kit, ripping off the stupid air dam under the front bumper, and having much heavier slightly bigger tires than stock. In perfect conditions... relatively flat roads under 65 mph, warm temperatures...I can get 22-23 mpg. Like a Maple Grove to Bloomington drive with no stop an go...over 20 easy. Over 65 mph the mileage plummets, which is why many complain about the mileage. Going 75 probably only get about 16-17. Winter these numbers are worse, they run very rich in cold temperatures.
Everyone worries about turbos...turbos are really not that complicated and are pretty bullet proof. Every semi has one traveling cross country with hundreds of thousands of miles. No issues with mine aside from a small drip from one of the coolant lines running to it.
The #1 selling factor for me on this truck was the way it towed. Hands down, outside of a heavy duty diesel, best towing truck there is. Gobbs of power. And you know how a diesel just builds boost to pull you up over a hill instead of downshifting? Ya same exact thing on the Ecoboost. I had the dealer give me a 48 hr test drive before I purchased and I hooked it up to every trailer at the office. Bobcat trailers flat beds whatever...towed like a dream. Better than my dad's supper duty with the 6.2 gas. Better than any other gas vehicle I have towed with it ridden in while towing something
Whatever else you wanna know or want an opinion on, let me know