Ford F150 EcoBoost Twin Turbo

[gsfred]

Ford is advertising their new F150 V6 with twin turbo as a great tow vehicle. Read a couple of reviews that were written. Anyone out there towing with one, or have any experience with it?

[Topless64-455]

Wow I was going to ask the same thing tonight after read the new post!

I remember turbo cars and you could not tow much with them???

[Brad Conley]

The guys over at TB.com had some good discussion on the new eco-boost engine. See: http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/tur...-ecoboost.html .

[Skyhawk]

Yellowbullet.com had a bunch of comments as well. Good as a daily driver but terrible on gas as a tow vehicle. I guess if you don't tow much it would be ok.

[staged70]

Yellowbullet.com had a bunch of comments as well. Good as a daily driver but terrible on gas as a tow vehicle. I guess if you don't tow much it would be ok.

So what tow vehicle gets good mileage towing? My 94 Ford dually seems to get 10 towing and 11-13 ( mostly city)not 7.3 turbo

[Thrillrr]

I rode in one for about a month up in Michigan..It was very peppy, although it was a prototype model. I think the power was still the same though. I could see it being a good tow vehicle.
One of the guys from a local board in ky had this to say about it:

kyhorsepower.com
http://kyhorsepower.com/forums/showt...light=ecoboost


First tow with it yesterday. To sum it up in one word.... IMPRESSIVE.

Now, my trailer with the wench weighs in about 2100-2200lb empty. Put a roller coupe on the trailer, so I figure that weighed about 2000lb or so. Overall, about 4000-4200lb total weight. My truck is rated for 9600lb towing capacity without the max trailer tow package, so less than half the rated towing capacity. At 60mph it tackled these mountains with ease, only downshifted out of overdrive once to maintain 60mph up a grade. Had it hooked up about 60 miles total round trip. From a stop, the truck EASILY accelerated to 60mph and honestly, could hardly even feel a load behind the truck besides hearing the turbo's A LOT more than unloaded, lol. My mpg is questionable as I forgot to reset it, but I did note the number of gallons used and the miles I traveled. It figured to 14mpg, which I'm actually very impressed with as I got 13mpg towing a 4000lb boat with the tuner on my old diesel truck. This was also with 87 octane fuel, and 1200 miles on the odometer. I had to tow over 4 (4-6% grade) mountains.

If I had to complain, my ONLY complaint would be that it doesn't hold back nearly as good as that diesel did decending grades (4-6%), but that is to be expected for a lighter truck. The truck downshifts to try and hold back in Tow/Haul mode, but you still have to lightly use brakes as that V6 doesn't have the holdback power of a V8. I did not have the electric trailer brakes hooked up either as I wanted to test the truck. If you let it do its thing on its own it will downshift and get the RPM's up really high (4,500 rpm) trying to hold back and I don't like for it to do that, although I assume it will not hurt anything.

I am thrilled with it, and I can't wait to put a 8,000lb load behind it and really see how it does
First tow with it yesterday. To sum it up in one word.... IMPRESSIVE.

Now, my trailer with the wench weighs in about 2100-2200lb empty. Put a roller coupe on the trailer, so I figure that weighed about 2000lb or so. Overall, about 4000-4200lb total weight. My truck is rated for 9600lb towing capacity without the max trailer tow package, so less than half the rated towing capacity. At 60mph it tackled these mountains with ease, only downshifted out of overdrive once to maintain 60mph up a grade. Had it hooked up about 60 miles total round trip. From a stop, the truck EASILY accelerated to 60mph and honestly, could hardly even feel a load behind the truck besides hearing the turbo's A LOT more than unloaded, lol. My mpg is questionable as I forgot to reset it, but I did note the number of gallons used and the miles I traveled. It figured to 14mpg, which I'm actually very impressed with as I got 13mpg towing a 4000lb boat with the tuner on my old diesel truck. This was also with 87 octane fuel, and 1200 miles on the odometer. I had to tow over 4 (4-6% grade) mountains.

If I had to complain, my ONLY complaint would be that it doesn't hold back nearly as good as that diesel did decending grades (4-6%), but that is to be expected for a lighter truck. The truck downshifts to try and hold back in Tow/Haul mode, but you still have to lightly use brakes as that V6 doesn't have the holdback power of a V8. I did not have the electric trailer brakes hooked up either as I wanted to test the truck. If you let it do its thing on its own it will downshift and get the RPM's up really high (4,500 rpm) trying to hold back and I don't like for it to do that, although I assume it will not hurt anything.

I am thrilled with it, and I can't wait to put a 8,000lb load behind it and really see how it does

[Bergy]

I went to a Ford ride & drive in Aberdeen MD. Got to drive a Chevy Silverado 1500 with the 327 V8, Toyota with the 5.7 V8 and the F150 with the V6 Eco-Boost. All were dragging a 10,000 trailer. I drove all 3 on rural road as well as 1 exit on I-95 down & back. The Chevy and Toyota were "pigs". They made a lot of noise and were slow on merging. The Eco-Boost pulled like a freight train with not much noise. I had 2 concerns I gave the marketing guys. #1. I'm fearful of the technology. If a driveability failure occurs out of warranty, you'll need a suitcase full of money to fix it. They're suggestion was "Extended Warranty". #2. was the turn signal switch. I can't remember my problem with it but I remember the turn signal staying on during the drive, and it had no mechanical "click & stick".

[GoldBoattail455]

Paul,
That is interesting that a manufacturer performed that type of test and drive. The new Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is only rated for 8900 lbs. Wonder if it had the 3.73 or 3.42 rear axle. I have never been a fan of these types of tests....even if they are done by a third party. I'm not trying to say your wrong or anything, just think people should rent a vehicle before they buy it. The EcoBoost powertrain is not going to cost an arm and a leg to repair.

As for the turn signal, you are correct. You simply push the stalk down and it returns to its original position. The turn signals will still blink and wait for movement in the steering column to trigger the flasher to stop. It takes some getting use to.

FWIW, the GM's 5.3 is 325 cubic inches. A crew cab Silverado 4x4 5.3 is only rater for 6700lbs towing., 4.8 drops to 5,500. Always better to stick with a regular cab long bed 4x4, towing capacity jumps to 9800lbs. Not trying to be negative but I don't find any of theses manufacturer's tests accurate for a work vehicle.

[Tyler Northcutt]

The ecoboost is a pretty impressive engine. As far as durability, I know they haven't been out for long but we have not had any come in for driveability concerns.

The only problem is one came in with an issue on the front seal on the transmission. customer could not see the fluid leaking out of the trans because of the splash guard on the underside. We ended up having to replace the transmission because the customer ran it out of fluid and burnt it up pretty bad.

[BadBrad]

The engine has now been out since about fall of 2009 (first in the Flex); not what I'd call "new" anymore. I've not driven the engine yet but will soon as I'm considering a Taurus SHO for the next family ride, later this year.

[Tyler Northcutt]

The engine has now been out since about fall of 2009 (first in the Flex); not what I'd call "new" anymore. I've not driven the engine yet but will soon as I'm considering a Taurus SHO for the next family ride, later this year.

Ok fine, I guess you got me good there... what I was saying in the post is that so far with all the crap that these farmers/oil fielders put these trucks through they have not had many problems with the 3.5l ecoboost engine.

[BadBrad]

Hey man - relax. I had no intention of "getting you good." Just pointing out what I know since I was closely following the release of this powerplant in '09 when I was last shopping for a new family ride.

[Gulfgears]

We have four of them. Guys mostly are towing boats 18-22' long.

I hauled two pieces of gearing that weighed 1300# with mine.

Under a load the fuel mileage is comparable to our old 5.4 engines 14mpg or so.

If you're not on the turbo, you can easily tell it's a 3.5 engine, but on the turbo it thinks it is a 427 with 20+ mpg.

Yes, the turn signals suck, and after driving mine since March I'm still not used to them.

[Tyler Northcutt]

Hey man - relax. I had no intention of "getting you good." Just pointing out what I know since I was closely following the release of this powerplant in '09 when I was last shopping for a new family ride.

Was not intending that to come off like that. I have nothing but good things to say about the Taurus SHO. Get it then have it tuned, those run great for such a big car.

[gsfred]

Anyone else got one of these?

[Gulfgears]

Well, we have mileage on our four eco-boosts rangine from 35K (mine) to 20K. All trucks are 2012's delivered in 2011. No significent problems with any of them, just the usual squeeks and the ever present drive line clunk.

Towing a tandem axle 26' cargo trailer one of the trucks averaged in the low teens with no complaints about lack of power. My 50 mile commute of interstate and surface roads has me averaging about 20mpg.

Our trucks are all 10,000# towing package with 3.55 gears and posi.

What other information do you desire.

[69 wag]

wow, quite the little motor (ABOUT 215 CUBES) Took one out for a test drive last monday. now there's one in my driveway. punch it from a roll and the tires lite up. I know, I should break it in proper like. My girlfriend has an 08 dmax that pulls hard so we're going to find a nice quiet stretch of road and see whoose king of the hill. Any bets? I know pulling a trailer the ford won't have much of a chance against 800 ft lbs but empty my money is on the ecoboost.

[lorenceoforegon]

howdy no personal experience with them but a buddy of mine traded his titan in for one ad has never looked back. he works for the forestry service so i know its durable. there was also a sweet mini web series that ford and mike rowe did. its obviously biased but shows the durability pretty well. sorry i cant provide links but they are out there.

[69 wag]

howdy no personal experience with them but a buddy of mine traded his titan in for one ad has never looked back. he works for the forestry service so i know its durable. there was also a sweet mini web series that ford and mike rowe did. its obviously biased but shows the durability pretty well. sorry i cant provide links but they are out there.

As with any new vehicle stuff is already out there to boost performance. trouble is you can't do anything or warranty is void. beleve it or not the dealer told me yesterday that I cannot even change my own engine oil or I could risk loosing my warranty if something related to the engine goes wrong.

[GSXMEN]

Friend of a friend plows my neighbors driveway with an ecoboost F150 4x4. Only had about 36k on it when he took it in to the dealer to check on a noise in the tranny. They both drove it around to duplicate the noise.....tranny ended up totally junk.

Ford is totally sticking it to him on the warranty.....they won't cover it. Now he's left with a $40k plus lawn ornament until his lawyer can get things straightened out. Dealer wants well into 4 figures to get it fixed.