Looking at 2013 F-150 EcoBoost - any concerns?

If I hadn't wanted/needed the payload of a SuperDuty, I would have bought one in a heartbeat. You'll love how it pulls!

It's a great (powerful) little engine in a great truck.

I would say though, that if you buy it thinking it will sip fuel, you'll be disappointed. It gets about the same mpg as the competitors V8s - worse in some cases.

bbweasel wrote:
I am looking at getting a tow vehicle by the end of year. One of the trucks on my list is a 2013 F-150 SuperCrew, Max Tow, EcoBoost with 1766# payload (door sticker). I am concerned reading many of the F-150 forums about engine issues including power loss and going into limp mode. When looking at dealer inventory, I see many EcoBoost trucks and not many with the v8 available which could hint at a known problem. I read many positive reviews on this forum vs. others.

The ecoboost is by far the most popular engine in the F-150 line up. It's been hovering around 40% of all F-150's sold (and there are three other engines available).

Based on 2012 F-150 sales of 343,168 F-150's sold, (40% Ecoboost) that means nearly 140K ecoboost F-150's were put on the road over the course of 2012. They've been on the market since January 2011, so rough math would say there are about 400,000 Eco F-150's sold by the end of 2013. If you end up with one, you'll be in good company.

The Ecoboost only has about 3 years under it's belt, and I imagine there are some posters here who wouldn't even ride in one till the design is 20 years old and obsolete. I suppose it's up to you and your pocketbook which way you tend to lean. In either case, best of luck with what you choose.

One of my good friends has an EcoBoost I drive on occasion, and it had the stuttering/loss of power issue. A 2013 will already have the new intercooler design. The dealer did the intercooler upgrade, and that fixed the problem completely. His only other issue was a heat-sheld that came off on the freeway after getting an oil change. The dealer ended up replacing it with a nice aftermarket skid-plate since that was not any more expensive than the molded foam with foil factory heat shield.

Problem with reading about issues on the net is that a small amount of people can have a problem and a huge amount of people respond, making it look like a lot of people have the problem. Go to the Ford 150 forums and see how many of those guys are having the problems. Very few, compared to how many units are sold. IMO it's just another problem overblown from the net.

The motor is proving to a good one and the power for the little 3.5L EB is off the chain and puts some the competitors V-8's to shame. You may want to consider the HD payload package to get the full use of the power available and to max towing capacity.

Bought mine in March. 7300 miles so far with 2500 towing. Absolutely no problems and the MPG's have improved on each trip (10.4 last 1200 towing miles). So far, I can't say enough about how pleased I am with this truck. Rides like a dream and hardly notices my relatively light TT. From what I can tell, whatever problems they had with the intercooler have been worked out, especially anything built after October '12. Nothing against the V8, it's a good engine just really like the low RPM's and hardly any downshifting on interstate overpasses.

this should be fun! Who has the beer?

If you are not (JMO here) over the 32' and 8000# with your RV then it will make a great tow vehicle. The F-150 is somewhere between a 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton truck.

Don

BTW most of the issues or quick launch bugs have been worked out and the EB is proving to be a great little engine for Ford.

Oh boy, here we go!!. The only concern I have had with mine for 20,000 miles is the excessive wear on the rear tires. I wonder if that could be my fault??

Ford had put large incentives on the 2013 F150 with a V8. That is probably why there are not many left.

The concern I would have is buying a 2013 when 2015s may only be months away. This will definitely hit the resale value.