How reliable is the Ford Ecoboost engine?

[Bea]

Originally Posted by Ronn

Speaking of fuel cleaner, I ran a Black Car Service in Minnesota for 13 years, we mainly ran Lincolns and Expeditions (both the old V8 Towncars and the MKT's). We never ran any fuel additives in the cars. We sold close to a couple dozen vehicles with over 300,000 miles. No engine or transmission work but we had one Expedition broke a valve stem. All were naturally aspirated engines (I'm not sure for the public but Lincoln did build MKT's specifically for the LIMO industry that were not EcoBoost). Great cars when sold and I kept up with some of the purchasers who were very happy with the vehicles.

20 years ago our mechanic made a comment to us when we picked up our car: “I know where you buy your gas....”He went on to say that we had noticeable ‘build up’ in our engine due to all the ‘cheep’ gas we were putting in. So we started asking him and other mechanics, where or what kind of gas do you put in your own car? The overwhelming answer was, Chevron or Shell or places that have that added cleaner (like Techron) in their gas. We aren’t mechanics but decided it was time to make the transition and follow their advice. So glad we did, convinced it has helped.

We’re the type that holds onto our cars for many years - had our 2001 Ford Expedition for 16 years. It had a tow capacity of 5000# and our trailer was 4000#. Felt like we were on the hairy edge (needed to shift into 3rd gear on any incline) but it never ever failed us (just needed routine maintenance). It got us to and from every campground all those years - even those campgrounds high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and ski resorts at Tahoe in the winter. That old Expedition was a work horse! Convinced us, our next TV was going to be another Expedition, no question.

We have towed our #4000 trailer with our new 2017 Expedition (3.5 EB with the tow package, rated to tow 9200#) for a year now and it tows like a dream. Can’t tell it’s behind me - even on steep inclines in the Sierras. (*cue that Alka-Seltzer commercial -Oh what a relief it is!) Purrs like a kitten on inclines at low RPMs and automatically down shifts when it detects a decline to maintain a steady speed while towing. Looking forward to towing our new Escape soon!!

[Cary4run00]

Purchased my 2013 F150 3.5L new and after 90k miles it still performs like a champ. 14k of the miles is towing a 3500 lb camper. I just outfitted her with a 5th wheel hitch for my new Escape 5.0 for March pickup. Feeling confident I can get serveral more years out of her. No problems since purchasing. I would do the 3.5L again. Power is awesome. Gas mileage when turbos kick in is not good.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Bea

20 years ago our mechanic made a comment to us when we picked up our car: “I know where you buy your gas....”He went on to say that we had noticeable ‘build up’ in our engine due to all the ‘cheep’ gas we were putting in. So we started asking him and other mechanics, where or what kind of gas do you put in your own car? The overwhelming answer was, Chevron or Shell or places that have that added cleaner (like Techron) in their gas. We aren’t mechanics but decided it was time to make the transition and follow their advice. So glad we did, convinced it has helped.

We’re the type that holds onto our cars for many years - had our 2001 Ford Expedition for 16 years. It had a tow capacity of 5000# and our trailer was 4000#. Felt like we were on the hairy edge (needed to shift into 3rd gear on any incline) but it never ever failed us (just needed routine maintenance). It got us to and from every campground all those years - even those campgrounds high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains and ski resorts at Tahoe in the winter. That old Expedition was a work horse! Convinced us, our next TV was going to be another Expedition, no question.

We have towed our #4000 trailer with our new 2017 Expedition (3.5 EB with the tow package, rated to tow 9200#) for a year now and it tows like a dream. Can’t tell it’s behind me - even on steep inclines in the Sierras. (*cue that Alka-Seltzer commercial -Oh what a relief it is!) Purrs like a kitten on inclines at low RPMs and automatically down shifts when it detects a decline to maintain a steady speed while towing. Looking forward to towing our new Escape soon!!

After we picked up our trailer in 2013 we got to the driveway home ,we lost a seal on the transmission . Decided to do a complete build being over 120,000 in miles . Our trans builder said Chevron gas was the best for your vehicle . Either pay a little extra in Chevron gas or you will pay in repairs later . We are following his advice since . On the road if we can't find a Chevron wil go to Shell too. Pat

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by Patandlinda

After we picked up our trailer in 2013 we got to the driveway home ,we lost a seal on the transmission . Decided to do a complete build being over 120,000 in miles . Our trans builder said Chevron gas was the best for your vehicle . Either pay a little extra in Chevron gas or you will pay in repairs later . We are following his advice since . On the road if we can't find a Chevron wil go to Shell too. Pat

About 15 years ago I bought 2 used Cadillacs, we were running Sam's Club gas in them and within a month of each other they both vehicles ended up having problems. We switched gasoline after that incident and never had problems again. As I said in a previous post we ran our cars 300,000 miles and never needed to do any injector cleaning or additive. We fueled exclusively with Super America which is on this list.
https://www.fox23.com/consumer/clark...-car/728081491

[John in Santa Cruz]

I've been running Costco gas almost exclusively when I fill up at home for the past 5+ years and haven't had any engine issues on a variety of vehicles.

re turbos, I had a volvo turbo 850 and a turbo 740 (both wagons), and for sure they liked to be wound out for a good speed run about once a week. i'd take them up to 4000 or 4500 rpm and hold it there for about 5 minutes (by using 3rd gear to keep the speed out of the 'go to jail' range), and that seemed to keep the top ends pretty clean. When I first got the 740T, it had been owned by a middle aged 'mom' (and was originally /her/ mom's car) and I don't think had ever been wound out, but within two weeks of my leadfooting it, it was running much better. first few speed runs did blow quite a bit of smoke out

[crennpage]

I have a 2015 Ford Expedition 3.5 with eco-boost as well. I have about 55,000 miles on it to date and the only problem I have ever experienced with the SUV was with a bad electronic throttle body. Unfortunately, it occured on I-15 on my way back home to Houston from Chilliwack after I picked up my new Escape 21. However, I was towed within an hour to the nearest Ford dealership in Ogden, UT (Westland Ford). There they replaced the throttle body and had me on my way again within a couple of hours. They told me they kept an ample supply of throttle bodies on hand as there there was a recent general Ford recall for several models due to throttle body problems. Oddly, the Ford Expedition wasn't included in that recall but as I had only about 33,000 miles on it at the time the mfg's warranty had it covered.

[grump]

A friend runs a salvage yard and says 3.5 eb's go out as fast as he can get them. His theory has nothing to do carbon build up. He feels original buyers take good care of their drive trains. 2nd buyers not quite as much because it's not as expensive as new. By the time the 3rd owner gets it maintenance takes a back seat to just driving it. Have no idea if this theory holds water. but he does talk to a lot of people in the business.

[Defenestrator]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

With today's modern engines you can't really "blow" the carbon deposits out by revving. If you think you have carbon deposits, a fuel system cleaner added to a full tank of gas (I like the professional grade ones like BG) should take care of it. It chemically dissolves the carbon, but it takes time. Usually one treatment with a full tank, and making sure not to refill again until you're empty.

I don't think this works for direct injection motors like the 3.5EB. The fuel never comes into contact with the intake valves. I know on older Audis it's usually fixed by walnut shell blasting every 40K miles or so. The 3.5EB motors don't seem to have nearly that degree of carbon buildup, though - some people don't seem to have any issues even after well over 100K miles. Different PCV and/or EGR design, I guess.

[AnglingMad]

FWIW I Have a 2017 - 3.5L and IMHO it is excellent. Before hitting the button I had the very same concerns but went for it anyway and no regrets. The feedback I had from various fishing guides tipped the balance for me. These guys reckon they are the best half ton by a country mile. They tow substantial boats all the time and a couple of them are trading in their 3 year old trucks this year for new 3.5L S/Crew Ecoboost's.

[mgfreeman]

Go to

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-...h-extra-price/

or do a search on the Internet for "Top Tier Gasoline". If you use fuel that meets the "Top Tier" standard as much as you can, you won't have any fuel-based engine issues.

One of family businesses runs a fleet of Dodge vans. They fuel at Top Tier stations as much as possible. They consistently get 350k+ miles on their engines before trade-in. (It's usually the transmission, not the engine, that fails.)

[Brian B-P]

Keep in mind that "Top Tier" is not a grade or quality of fuel defined by the industry, any standards organization, or any government organization - it is a marketing program.

From a previous discussion:

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I'll just note that gasoline not labeled as "Top Tier" may more than meet the requirements of Top Tier. Participation in the program by fuel suppliers requires that they meet various requirements and pay a fee.

Despite the limitations of the program, I think that the Top Tier label on fuel can be a useful indication of some fuel characteristics. It's not useful enough that I actually look for it or care that neither of my usual sources (Costco and Husky/Mohawk) are Top Tier participants (which I didn't check until today).

Although written nearly like an advertisement and suspiciously positive about the Top Tier program, the corresponding Wikipedia page is a useful summary.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Top Tier specifies a higher level of detergent additives, much like Chevron w/ Techron. these additives are added to the gas by the delivery tanker truck when its pumped into the stations underground holding tanks.

I have always tried to stick with Top Tier *and* prefer major brand stations that are obviously clean and well run. I stay the heck away from grungie Arco kinda stations.

[mgfreeman]

You can get a list of the gasoline retailers who have Top Tier Fuel here:

https://toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/

[Rossue]

Arco is Top Tier, fyi and given that or some non-Top Tier or overpriced Chevron gas that is where I'll go when travelling. Also got a Valero card as using it is same as cash and they too are Top Tier.

[gbaglo]

But, is it organic? And, gluten-free?

[Higgy]

My experience with the F150 eco directed me to purchase the 5.0L engine, this engine gets better MPG when towing and as a man who has turned a few wrenches, I like getting my power from a larger displacement engine and a more naturally aspirated engine with less moving parts, turbo, blower , after coolers.... I have 289,000 on the 5.0 and buying another with the ten speed tranny that increases MPG as well running gear performance

[mizterwizard]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

But, is it organic? And, gluten-free?

Yes it is because organic has no actual meaning other than that hydrocarbons are involved and gasoline of any stripe is a hydrocarbon. It is certainly gluten free since gluten is a wheat product and there is now wheat in gasoline, not even in gasohol. That is corn based.

It is not low calorie though and just about everybody is allergic to it when exposed either by ingestion or surface contact.

[Patandlinda]

Originally Posted by Higgy

My experience with the F150 eco directed me to purchase the 5.0L engine, this engine gets better MPG when towing and as a man who has turned a few wrenches, I like getting my power from a larger displacement engine and a more naturally aspirated engine with less moving parts, turbo, blower , after coolers.... I have 289,000 on the 5.0 and buying another with the ten speed tranny that increases MPG as well running gear performance

If we ever need to replace our truck it will be the 5.0 . No turbo's . Want a V8 even though it is smaller then our 5.8 Windsor engine . Really with the new transmission won't need a bigger V8 to pull our trailer . Pat

[mizterwizard]

Direct injected fuel burns differently than intake injected fuel so that it makes more soot. The soot can lead to deposits if no other measures are taken. The worst place for deposits is on the compression rings which will stop sealing when they get enough carbon on them that they can't move to follow the cylinder wall instead of the piston.

We tend to think of the rings as part of the piston assembly and they are but their function is to be a movable part of the cylinder wall. Then they lose contact with the cylinder wall they might as well not be there.

When the engine is reved up it causes the rings to flutter up and down in their grooves. When they do this they tend to break up any deposits there and become freer to move. It is a good thing to rev an engine occasionally. You might think that the hardest working engines never rev past 2500 RPM as in OTR diesel engines which go for many hundreds of thousands of miles in a high soot environment without problems. Actually those engines have very long strokes so the pistons have to accelerate very hard to travel that distance in the time allotted. A large diesel turning 2000 rpm is working its rings and pistons as hard as a small engine turning 5000 rpm. That is one of the things that helps diesels to go a long ways without soot problems.

With the advent of direct injection gasoline engines it has become a part of the API standard to add more detergent to gasoline to combat soot. All good gasoline has more detergent these days but the better gasoline brands use even more. Chevron has been recommended by several manufacturers for about 30 years because it is more consistently good on a national basis. It is not the only good gasoline though.

Deposit buildup on valves is a different issue that has become a problem with oil fumes from PCV mixing with soot from EGR to form a paste that coats everything in the intake. This can be countered by injecting water into the intake but that takes an aftermarket or DIY setup to make it happen. Anything without a pump and controller is a waste of effort when it comes to water injection.

I like turbocharging. It takes wasted energy from the exhaust to do something useful by making the engine act like it is bigger than it really is. An engine that is to be turbocharged needs to be designed for it from the start though. It rarely works well to just slap a turbo onto a naturally aspirated engine. The ecoboost seems to be pretty well sorted out. You don't hear a lot about them coming apart or melting down which are the main consequences of over stressing an engine that isn't prepared for turbocharging.

[etuna]

I have a 2015 F150 with the 2.7 litre eco boost engine purchased new in September 2015. It has 67,000 kilometres on it, about 33,000 pulling our Escape 19. So far not a single issue with the truck. It has the power the maintain the speed limit on any grade while pulling the trailer. The fuel mileage varies depending on terrain and wind, but averages 15.8 litres/100 km pulling the trailer. I am very happy with it.