Title says it, thinking of trading my truck in for an f150 ecoboost. Want to know if there is something in particular i should ask for also want to know if the ecoboost is worth the hype.

Not sure about in a truck, but I test drove a Focus ST with the EcoBoost 2.0L and it was really nice; placing an order next weekend for one. Also the power that can be had with those EcoBoost engines when tuned is amazing!

My cousin has an f150 4 door 4wd Dr with the ecoboost. He says he gets about 21 mpg highway. He took me for a ride in it and I can tell u it hauls a$$.

Glad someone brougt this up, been thinking about a pick-em-up truck and heard a bunch of good things about that engine, just noting from anyone who actualy owns one just yet. Will keep an eye on this thread.

I'm a tech at a Ford dealer in western NJ. The ecoboost has been a very good engine so far in the F150s, tons of power. That said, I bought a 2012 f150 with the 5.0l v8 because we still aren't positive about the long term durability of the ecoboost, and there are many more components that can break lol.

 

What are you planning on doing with the truck? Towing much? Or just a daily driver?

No Toyota Tundra? Having owned Chevy, Dodge and Ford trucks, I must say the Tundra was by fay my most favorite truck.

No Toyota Tundra? Having owned Chevy, Dodge and Ford trucks, I must say the Tundra was by fay my most favorite truck.

 

The toyota frames tend to rot away, they actually replaced the frame on my buddys truck it had holes rotted through it where the spring mounts to the frame for the rear.. Cant believe they replaced the frame under warranty.. they had the truck for 3 months.

That truck i think is 5 years old now they may have made changes to the steel..

They replaced the frame on my friends tacoma after a 100, 000 miles and bought back another friends tacoma with 230, 000 miles for ten grand. It was the coating they used on early model trucks. That being said everyone I talked to and workes with have over 100, 000 miles on their toyotas with 0 problems. My Ram and Durango had numerous problems, my Silverado had bearing issues and mt brother in laws 2009 F-150 has injector issues at 30, 000 miles. Once you fo yota you never go back. Go luck though. The only other truck I would have gotten would have been a Raptor. Thats bad ass.

My brother personally knows the owner of 2 ford dealers. located in Old bridge and Paramus.

 

if your interested i can get you a name to call.

They replaced the frame on my friends tacoma after a 100, 000 miles and bought back another friends tacoma with 230, 000 miles for ten grand. It was the coating they used on early model trucks. That being said everyone I talked to and workes with have over 100, 000 miles on their toyotas with 0 problems. My Ram and Durango had numerous problems, my Silverado had bearing issues and mt brother in laws 2009 F-150 has injector issues at 30, 000 miles. Once you fo yota you never go back. Go luck though. The only other truck I would have gotten would have been a Raptor. Thats bad ass.

 

He needs to learn how to change a fuel filter..

100,000 miles is nothing on a vehicle in the last 20 years it is just breaking in..

put 338,000 miles on my 1987 S-10 blazer before selling it.

put 380+,000 on GMC Safari van before selling it to clarkes marine for a service van.

221,000 on my current work truck F250.

155,000 on my wifes 04 trailbalazer.

227,000 on my 97 ford f-150

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine who just swapped out his Ford F250 turbo diesel for the ecoboost. His diesel was an awesome truck! He told me he was tired of the diesel (mostly maintenance costs/extras) and wanted a gasser. He had just gotten back from a trip to Montana so I questioned him about the the truck. He couldn't say enough good things about it, he was extremely excited and loved the truck noting no problem with the power coming from a diesel. He enjoyed the fuel economy too.

 

I've read a lot about it and haven't seen too many bad things at all, keep in mind I have a Silverado 5.3L. I would want to make certain I have a good differential to go with that motor (assuming 4x4). I think they might....have an electronic locking rear?

 

I don't think the motor is hype, just different......

Reason I was looking at the ecoboost is for the gas mileage. I currently have a Titan which sucks down gas to the tune of 12 mpg average. So the only reason I was looking was for the mileage reports I have read in other forums.

My neighbor has a f150 economist and days its great. It was so nice, he ordered a explorer with the same engine on it.

 

IMO, the f150 is the best half ton truck out there.

I'm crazy about watching my gas economy in my Silverado. Around town I consistenly get 13.5 mpg and around 19/20 highway. I drive with fuel economy in mind and have the cylinder de-activation.

My neighbor has a f150 economist and days its great. It was so nice, he ordered a explorer with the same engine on it.

 

IMO, the f150 is the best half ton truck out there.

 

Back in the late 90's I wanted an F150. Because the dealership I went to was also Dodge, on a whim I tried the Ram 1500 and came away much more impressed with the power and how it drove. I know things have changed a bunch since then though.

Back in the late 90's I wanted an F150. Because the dealership I went to was also Dodge, on a whim I tried the Ram 1500 and came away much more impressed with the power and how it drove. I know things have changed a bunch since then though.

 

Motortrend just chose Dodge as best truck

My neighbor has a f150 economist and days its great. It was so nice, he ordered a explorer with the same engine on it.

 

IMO, the f150 is the best half ton truck out there.

 

No he didn't. The ecoboost in the F-150 is a twin turbo 3.5L V-6. The ecoboost in the Explorer is a single turbo 2.0L I-4. Only the "ecoboost" moniker is the same.

No he didn't. The ecoboost in the F-150 is a twin turbo 3.5L V-6. The ecoboost in the Explorer is a single turbo 2.0L I-4. Only the "ecoboost" moniker is the same.

 

Wrong. 2013 explorer sport had the 3.5 v6 with 350hp

Heres my take and yes I AM biased. You cant go wrong with any f150. But do you need the ecoboost? A few people I know got the 5.0 and LOVE that motor. That being said, my buddy just traded in his powerstroke and let me drive his ecoboost. Needless to say, that would be the ONLY gas truck I would ever buy and when I save up some $ will trade my powerstroke in on one. They are very fast, couple of mods and are even way more fast, tow great, stop freat, and are very refined. Cant go wrong with any ford really, haha told you Im biased.

My other friend was looking for the Ford truck. He was trying to decide 5.0 vs. ecoboost......you'd think the V8 would not have to work as hard??

Wrong. 2013 explorer sport had the 3.5 v6 with 350hp

 

Well that's new for 2013... Learn something new everyday.

Are we voting for best truck? Then another vote for Toyota Tundra (HiLux). Or a Dodge Cummins if you're hauling.

 

I'm curious how these EcoBoost engines will fare at the 10-15 year mark in the used market. Turbo gas engines don't age well. I love the quest for power by turbo though.

Are we voting for best truck? Then another vote for Toyota Tundra (HiLux). Or a Dodge Cummins if you're hauling.

 

I'm curious how these EcoBoost engines will fare at the 10-15 year mark in the used market. Turbo gas engines don't age well. I love the quest for power by turbo though.

 

makes you wonder what took the turbo quest so long??

makes you wonder what took the turbo quest so long??

 

Maybe wasn't ready for the mass market until the current era of precise computerized engine control, direct injection, valve actuators, etc. Turbocharged cars with a carburetor or mechanical fuel injection were a sad affair (and also widow makers). Fuel injected turbos from the 90's weren't much better but you could at least tune them for track days or racing without much compromise. Optimizing for the variables encountered in daily driving was still impossible. The current technology is pretty damn cool actually and there's not much left on the table to be improved -- ready for the big leagues of mass production I suppose. Of course there is still the issue of essentially a small sun living under the hood, relentlessly scorching anything nearby for the duration of its existence. Maybe some trickle-down technology from NASA will address that one day

Maybe wasn't ready for the mass market until the current era of precise computerized engine control, direct injection, valve actuators, etc. Turbocharged cars with a carburetor or mechanical fuel injection were a sad affair (and also widow makers). Fuel injected turbos from the 90's weren't much better but you could at least tune them for track days or racing without much compromise. Optimizing for the variables encountered in daily driving was still impossible. The current technology is pretty damn cool actually and there's not much left on the table to be improved -- ready for the big leagues of mass production I suppose. Of course there is still the issue of essentially a small sun living under the hood, relentlessly scorching anything nearby for the duration of its existence. Maybe some trickle-down technology from NASA will address that one day

 

Uh I put 180k on 90s 4 banger turbo and sold it running pretty well. The issue with that car wasn't the motor, it was durability of the transmission vs the motor. The technology dealing with engine management now was there then. Heck, the GDI engines with variable valve timing and turbo charging them were around then, just not in the US and not many of them. The only issue with turbo motors is that the turbo is indeed a wear item. You can't expect otherwise form something that spins at hundreds of thousands of RPMs.

 

For a single turbo engine, it's not that horrible. If you avoid dealer pricing. $500-1000 + labor, but then again so is your front bumper. Twin turbos double that easily and the fancier they get with the plumbing, the more labor costs go up.

 

As for the small sun.. be serious. Yes, it's hot, you don't want to touch it. You don't want to touch your headers either. They have gotten better about managing it these days as most cars now are dealing with ventilation of the engine bay seriously even in normally aspirated cars due to decreasing frontal area and aerodynamics. My turbo ride from the 90s did a pretty nice job on the under hood heat shield. My 2005 turbo ride you cna barely tell it is there. other than the intercooler.

The toyota frames tend to rot away, they actually replaced the frame on my buddys truck it had holes rotted through it where the spring mounts to the frame for the rear.. Cant believe they replaced the frame under warranty.. they had the truck for 3 months.

That truck i think is 5 years old now they may have made changes to the steel..

 

The Tacoma beds(not sure about Tundra) are now made of plastic because of that .Toyota ate a lot of major frame repairs with that rot issue.

Uh I put 180k on 90s 4 banger turbo and sold it running pretty well. The issue with that car wasn't the motor, it was durability of the transmission vs the motor. The technology dealing with engine management now was there then. Heck, the GDI engines with variable valve timing and turbo charging them were around then, just not in the US and not many of them. The only issue with turbo motors is that the turbo is indeed a wear item. You can't expect otherwise form something that spins at hundreds of thousands of RPMs.

 

For a single turbo engine, it's not that horrible. If you avoid dealer pricing. $500-1000 + labor, but then again so is your front bumper. Twin turbos double that easily and the fancier they get with the plumbing, the more labor costs go up.

 

As for the small sun.. be serious. Yes, it's hot, you don't want to touch it. You don't want to touch your headers either. They have gotten better about managing it these days as most cars now are dealing with ventilation of the engine bay seriously even in normally aspirated cars due to decreasing frontal area and aerodynamics. My turbo ride from the 90s did a pretty nice job on the under hood heat shield. My 2005 turbo ride you cna barely tell it is there. other than the intercooler.

 

I respectfully disagree. The necessary engine management technology was not in the mass market back then. ECUs from the 90s were more primitive and dealing with the turbocharger dynamics was an afterthought. Your 90s 4 banger was dumping fuel at high output and running inefficiently in some manner in almost all load scenarios. And it was probably a dog off boost with its low compression (I'm assuming, I don't know what truck you had). Today's engine control has a much higher sample rate and can adjust output before the next rev. There are many more sensors which influence the various algorithms. There are many more maps that the ECU uses in its strategy and these maps are much larger in dimension than before. Knock strategies are much improved from the old "pull all timing" method. The Ford EcoBoost uses a wideband o2 sensor which allows it to remain in closed loop much more often. Cars from the 90's went open loop practically off-idle. Variable valve timing was not present on mass produced cars (I'm not talking VTEC here).

 

You put 180k on a turbo 4 but that is not typical. Oil in a turbo engine degrades much faster from the extreme heat cycling and engine wear is usually quite higher in terms of metals found in the oil during analysis (even changing it twice as often). And as the center cartridge gradually wears out of spec coolant can be introduced into the oil and oil finds its way into the charge air increasing probability of detonation. New turbochargers have benefited greatly from better materials which result in much tighter tolerances and improved service life of the turbo compared to a turbo that you'd find in a mass produced car in the 90's. As for intercoolers, when they were actually used in mass production back then they were usually undersized and placement in the engine bay was too much of a compromise.

 

My NA headers have a surface temp of around 200 *F after I shutdown. My turbo downpipe and turbo have a surface temp of 500 *F after I shutdown. And the turbo is a much larger object radiating a lot more heat than NA headers. There is a big difference in the heat radiated and explains why underhood plastics get brittle and break, batteries explode and parts melt (heat shield or not). Heat management still has a long way to catch up to the current technology.

Look at the SVO mustang. Overall they were very reliable and hundreds have lasted way over 100,000 with no problems whatsoever.

Well I went for it. I bought a new to me Super Crew f150 ecoboost. Let me say it is awesome. The power over my titan is amazing. I averaged 14 mpg to the dealer in the titan and averaged 20.5 on the way home. I can't say enough good things about it so far.

Well I went for it. I bought a new to me Super Crew f150 ecoboost. Let me say it is awesome. The power over my titan is amazing. I averaged 14 mpg to the dealer in the titan and averaged 20.5 on the way home. I can't say enough good things about it so far.

 

Cool. I am going to have to look at one when my Toyota Rav4 finally dies. Unfortunately/Fortunately it never seems to.