Ford Eco-Boost V-6 engines

Any comments--good or bad?

I have one in my Lincoln MKS,,makes it a "Hot Rod Lincoln"...it gets 23MPH and runs strong,,has 2 turbos on it...

I have one, like it so far with 30,000 miles. Very quiet, plenty of power and good gas mileage.(18 around home, 22 on trips).

I have one, like it so far with 30,000 miles. Very quiet, plenty of power and good gas mileage.(18 around home, 22 on trips). It's a 2013 Ford F150.

We have a couple 3.5s and a couple 2.7s along with several 5.0 V8s. To be honest I can't tell the difference between any of them except by sound. The V8 still sounds like a V8. I was expecting the hate the 2.7 but those things a flat out tough with 300+ hp and very good torque. I've heard - don't know for sure - the 2.7 has very little smog equipment compared to the other two - basically a cat and that's it - no EGR or anything else. Someday I'll figure out if its true. We had a few issues with our earlier 3.5, something about water condensing in the intercooler. Warranty issue that was taken care of.

I have one in a 2014 Larriot F-150......great engine...pulls my trailer with ease...fun to drive....quiet and responsive. Only have 6500 miles on it and so far not too happy with the mileage 15 ~ 16 depending on length of trip. Ford engineer told me after 7500 miles the gas milage will improve quite a bit...we'll see

A production 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine, #448AA, was randomly selected from the assembly line at Ford's Cleveland engine plant. This engine had no idea it was in store for 163k miles of brutal endurance testing.
#448AA was Shipped to dynamometer cell 36B in Ford's Dearborn, MI engine lab and run for 300 hours, this engine's first experience was a rapid simulation of 150,000 customer miles, including thermal-shock runs in which the engine was cooled to -20F and then heated to +235F, repeatedly.
The engine was shipped to Ford's Kansas City truck plant where it was installed in an F-150 4X4 Super-Crew. After assembly the truck was driven to Nygaard Timber in Astoria, Oregon, where it dragged a total of 110,000 pounds of logs across the ground (requiring all 420 ft-lb TQ)
Next they drove the truck to Miami Speedway, and hooked it up to a 2-car open trailer carrying two NASCAR Ford Fusions (a total of 11,300 pounds) and run continuously around the oval track for 24 hours (average speed: 82 mph, distance covered: 1,607 miles)
After this they took the truck to Davis Dam in Arizona, where it beat out the 5.3-liter Chevy Silverado V-8 AND the Ram 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 each pulling 9,000 pounds up a 6 percent grade in an uphill towing contest.
The 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost engine was removed and then installed in a 7,100-pound F-150 Baja race truck. After 1,200 miles of practice they raced the truck 1060 miles in the SCORE Baja 1000, the toughest off-road race in North America, finishing 1st overall in the Stock Engine class. The truck's owner said the engine's fuel economy was so good compared with his previous V8 he skipped 2 planned fuel stops during the grueling trip from Ensenada to La Paz. After winning in Baja they sent the engine back to dynamometer cell 36B and dyno-tested one final time. It generated 364HP and 420ft-lb TQ, only one horsepower less than its HP rating and exactly Ford's given torque rating.
Lastly, for the final episode of the F-150 EcoBoost torture test, Ford Motor Co did a complete engine tear-down and inspection of engine #448AA (never been serviced or previously inspected) in front of thousands at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The engine parts were laid out on three huge tables so that when the tear-down was complete, the engineers and the audience could take a closer look.

Have a 2012 with 105,000 miles no issues. Mileage 16_17 long trips around 20. Pulls great and runs like a scalded dog.

Wife to be has had three an edge an f150 and now an edge loved all three but we both likes the f150 best but she wanted something smaller to drive to graduate school 4 hours away

I have a 2011 F-150. Good and Bad.

Good:
1. Better Fuel Economy that a V-8.
2. Better acceleration than the last F-150 I had with a V-8. The thing will flat out get if you need to.
3. Better at towing. Pulling a 400lb tractor, 2500lb trailer, on I-64 east of Beckley WVA up 5 miles of a 7.5% grade, dropped under 70 once, and that was to negotiated a turn. The two turbo chargers provide incredible performance.

Bad:
1. Very complicated engine, I do not think even the factory trained mechanics are good at working on it or troubleshooting it. At least that is my experience.
2. Was told 100K miles between tune-ups when I purchased it. Now Ford has decided 40 to 50K mile between plugs. Also have the coil packs checked when you change plugs. They go bad frequently.
3. 2011 was the engines first year, and it did have some issues. Didn't think Ford stood behind the product very well. Several mods were issued, but unless you went to the dealer with the problem the mod was designed to fix, You were not told. If the problem developed after warranty, Ford wanted you to pay to install. Left a bad taste with me.
4. When the engine isn't right, like it has a bad coil pack or something, it is a DOG. And like I said earlier, the factory trained mechanics have a tough time troubleshooting.

Put 140K miles on it so far, when it is good, its great, but have had some issues occasionally.

What does "eco-boost" mean? Hoss

I've got a 2012 F-150 with the 3.5L turbo and really like it. Average mileage over 10,000+ miles since May is a little over 18 mpg and on a 2000 mile trip this past summer I got right at 20 mpg. I don't have the most fuel efficient configuration - 3.73 gears, 4WD, double cab, long bed (6.5 feet is the longest with the double cab), and the max tow package which includes large, wind-catching mirrors. As with any large vehicle the fuel economy drops off fast with higher speeds and my truck will start drinking noticeably more fuel over about 70 mph.

As far as power goes it puts the 2001 F-250 with the 250-hp Powerstroke I traded in to shame when pulling the same trailers. Where the older diesel felt sluggish with a 9000 lb trailer the turbo V-6 is much more responsive and doesn't seem stressed at all when accelerating and holding speed on grades. With nearly 50% more horsepower this isn't surprising. Modern diesel engines are praised for their great low rpm power (and rightfully so) but in reality it is the turbocharging, not the diesel fuel, that provides this and gasoline engines achieve the same benefits with forced induction.

Mine is a 2012 with 55,000 miles. No issues. Pulls the 8,500# fifth wheel just as good as the diesel I had before. Peak torque is down around 2,000 rpm so it feels like a diesel instead of a gas V8.

It's a version of Fords Turbo powered gas engines...

I have a 2012 F150 crew cab. The Eco has been very good so far (About 40,000 mi.) I get about 21.5 all around mileage and it has lots of power. Very slight hesitation when you floor it, due to the twin turbo's kicking in. It makes it's horsepower in the 1800 to 2000 RPM range, which helps with pulling heavy loads. I would recommend it.

4000 pound tractor, not 400.

Also, in colder weather fuel economy drops off. Seen some after market software loads that are suppose to address this, but haven't tried them.

. . . and direct injection is also part of the "EcoBoost" designation. This is what allows high boost pressures without detonation when running on regular grade gasoline.

Turbos on my friends lasted almost 200,000 highway miles.

We have one in our company truck at work. Runs like a warmed up V8 without the crappy gas mileage unless you can't keep your foot out of it then it's not much better. Pretty strong. So far no issues with it and it's driven by several of us.

Greg

I had one for a little while. Great truck. Pulled a loaded trailer better than the chevy v8.

I Put 86,000 on a 2012 with absolutely no problem and ran the heck out of it. 21 mpg on the road 18 around town. Driving on of the very first aluminum ones now already have 35,000 on it and it is even better.

Lots of power ...pulled a 40 foot bean head home last year about 10000 pounds in the hills ...didn't know it was back there

I have an F350, 4 Door, 4x4, 7.3 Powerstroke. I test drove an Eco-Boost F150. It had a lot of power and good performance. I don't think the Eco-Boost would pull like my F350 does. Mine is Auto OD, and it averages 14.8 mpg empty, and 12.5 loaded / pulling. And still has enormous pulling power. Eco-Boost, is a nice truck. But, I think I will stay, with my Powerstroke. Have a good day!

rjkeith said it best.

I bought a left over 2010 in March of 2011. It had a 5.4 and after driving a 2011 I knew I wanted the V8.My neighbor and 2 guys I worked with bought the 11s. I still got mine and they all got rid of theirs. Between engine and transmission problems they weren't happy campers.One was a dedicated ford man and he traded for a GMC.

The new ones are better.Good Luck.

"Very slight hesitation when you floor it, due to the twin turbo's kicking in". Yep

When we bought our 11 Ecoboost supercrew, one of our first drives, we were shopping in a small local town. We noticed a slight lag, just for a split second when accelleration pretty hard away from a stop sign. My question to brother, "Is that little lag from turbo boost, or is the traction control preventing wheel spin" ?? Lets find out, at the next stop sign I turned the traction control off. Brother punched the gas, it bogged for a split second,"yep, turbo lag", then lit the rear tires big time because the traction control was off. This stop sign happened to be right by the police dept. Oh boy, you in a heap of trouble son.=:0. Lucky , nobody chased us down to relieve us of a little money.

Great mpg and great power. Change oil every 5000 miles and it will run about forever.

My wife bought a 2015, F150, 2.7 turbo at year end. We felt pretty good about it since we hadn't heard anything bad about the truck or engine from other owners or the media. With the turbo-boost, it's a lively engine! She sold off her 1993 V6 Explorer with 250,000 miles on it. Never needed any work on the interior of the engine, transmission or axels. At 250,000, I thought it was just getting interesting. I wish she had held out to 300.

I have a 2013 ford flex with the non turbo 3.5. Same engine design without the turbos. Love it with 20 MPG all the time. (the turbo flex has a factory hitch) making it easy to tell not to try to race one. Our oil salesman has a 2014 eco boost with + - 200,000 miles with no problems. He sometimes carries 200 gal of oil from Havasu to Flagstaff which is like 500 ft elevation to 8,000.

The non turbo Flex is 100 less horse power than the turbo ones but it flat gets out of the way.

Call Dave. Make you a bet he can find you a duckoder.....

Thanks a lot for all your comments.

My neighbor bought a 2012 quad cab with the 6.5' bed. It will do everything my 2008 5.3 Silverado will do with about 1 mpg better mileage. They already have 60,000 miles on it with 0 problems. It pulls their 26' Terry 5th wheel as well as mine pulls my 24' travel trailer.

Forgot to add, so far they absolutely love it.

My boy watched a TV special about that engine. Your info sounds like what he saw. I wish I saw it.

We sell these new almost everyday, I'll say we've had the very good luck with them
But like always there's a few customers that have issue.. These engine's love clean
Oil.. A few people feel that oil is so much better today than years ago & oil changes
are a waste of money.... If you are driving many SHORT trips daily a 3000 mile oil change
should be in your service record. Short trips are ex-stream use. We have many of these
engines with well over 200K & we've done basically Spark plugs & a few coils to them.
Everyone we've had issues with were the 7500 to 10,000 + oil change engines. If the 2.7
does as well as the 3.5 & so far it has it will Be OK... I might add the water pump isn't
a very nice thing to change of the 3.5 Explorer & Taurus.

Actually I would advise 3000 mile oil changes on most "new" gas engines. While many will go on and on about what a waste of money and resources it is all I have to say is that most of the engine problems people have had in the last 10 years have been related to dirty oil. Engines 15-20 years ago and older only used the oil for lubrication of internal parts - with modern oils and a decent engine going 6K to 8K miles is a breeze. But so many of todays engines use oil pressure for timing chain tensioners and to run various forms of the variable timing set up. Ford, GM and ESPECIALLY Chrysler have all had fairly major engine issues and have many times put the blame back on the consumer claiming the failures are related to lack of maintenance because the internals are dirty. Ford's cam phasers - especially on the 5.4 come to mind, GM has redesigned their 3.6 engine so many times people have lost count and don't get me started on Chrysler's issues with everything in general (sludge, oil returns, timing chain tensioners etc..). Given a self performed oil change with a quality oil filter is about $20 to $25 I'll keep sticking with 3000 miles.