Question for those pulling with an F150 Eco Boost

[Likes_to_tow]

I have seen some folks pulling small 5th wheel RV's with the F150 Eco Boost and wonder how well these engines hold up over time. Seems like everyone says the torque is there when needed and it does a decent job but my question is how long will they hold up?? It would seem that screaming an engine under boost would make it wear out quicker. How many miles have any of you accumulated with your Eco Boost??

[humblerb]

Thermoguy wrote:
With the ecoboost, is there more maintenance for the twin turbo? I was surprised once sitting in a waiting area where a guy next to me was recommended a turbo maintenance at 30K miles (I think) and it was expensive. What experience to people have with the added maintenance on the ecoboost?

I really wanted to like the F150 diesel, but the towing numbers and payload is dismal. I am looking to replace an explorer as a work vehicle and really like the flexibility with the F150. I have a small goose neck horse trailer that I would pull on occasion but want the added advantage of the gas mileage on the diesel... Just to mention, the weight of the horse trailer is only about 7K lbs with a fairly light tongue weight.

Again, I had my 2012 until last year.
Never heard of "turbo maintenance".
There is nothing special that needs to be done specifically to the turbos. Maybe some of the routine maintenance schedules were different for the EB, but not specific to the turbos.

[Thermoguy]

With the ecoboost, is there more maintenance for the twin turbo? I was surprised once sitting in a waiting area where a guy next to me was recommended a turbo maintenance at 30K miles (I think) and it was expensive. What experience to people have with the added maintenance on the ecoboost?

I really wanted to like the F150 diesel, but the towing numbers and payload is dismal. I am looking to replace an explorer as a work vehicle and really like the flexibility with the F150. I have a small goose neck horse trailer that I would pull on occasion but want the added advantage of the gas mileage on the diesel... Just to mention, the weight of the horse trailer is only about 7K lbs with a fairly light tongue weight.

[johndeerefarmer]

I had a '11 ecoboost, a '13 and now a '17. The '17 gets 1-1.5 mpg better than the first gen. This is due to port injection being added and the 10 speed.

Pulling my 26' GD Reflection 22rk I get 9-9.5 mpg driving 63 mph. With my '16 SD and driving closer to 70 I get 10 mpg. Not a lot of difference any more between a diesel and the ecoboost for loads of this weight. If I slowed down with the SD to 63 like with the F150 I would expect maybe 11 mpg

The big difference is the wind. The SD is way more stable in high winds. I took my 32' GD 29rs to Colorado with the SD and would probably never try that with the F150. On the other hand the F150 rides better and gets better fuel economy unloaded in both highway and city

[theoldwizard1]

humblerb wrote:
Did some checking with Jerry Reynolds "The Car Pro" prior to buying my 2012 F150 Ecoboost. One thing Jerry told me was the Ecoboost is not a new engine - it was just new in the F150 (back then).

It is a very close cousin to the original Taurus SHO 3.5L (code name Cyclone). The base engine dates back even farther and include the 3.7L version that was in F150 between 2011 and 2014.

The current version of the 3.5L (code name D35) was introduced in 2017. The biggest change was adding port fuel injection to the direct injection. Several other internal changes were made including redesigning the water pump.

[2112]

94K miles on my 2011 without issue. It hasn't blown up yet. Still running the original spark plugs.

[DutchmenSport]

wing_zealot wrote:
....This thread is just trolling.

Maybe not? OP is a senior member on these forums with over 1000 posts since Jan 2006

Sounds like a fair and honest question to me, regardless of what might have been asked previous.

Personally, I have no experience with the Eco Boost. I'm a Chevy guy. But this much I do know, folks who dive them sure do like them!

[MitchF150]

82,000 miles on my 13 Eco. No issues at all, (except for the couple of recalls, but all taken care of without issue). You do need to change the plugs more often than the "100,000" in the manual, but they are easy to do and there are only six of them! 🙂

Tows my new #7000 TT just fine, but it's different from the old #5000 I used to tow with it.. Getting used to the new trailer and it'll be fine once it's all dialed in.

Mitch

[philh]

I was a displacement kind of guy... don't have nearly the experience with the engine most of the other respondents have, but it's a sweet towing engine

[Lwiddis]

Gee, OP, at least say you are rethinking your previous opinion on the 3.5. I don’t have one but friends do. They are satisfied.

[humblerb]

Did some checking with Jerry Reynolds "The Car Pro" prior to buying my 2012 F150 Ecoboost.
One thing Jerry told me was the Ecoboost is not a new engine - it was just new in the F150 (back then).
I towed 7200# with mine for 5 years (not a lot of towing miles) but traded in last year for a RAM 2500 and new Fifth Wheel.
Can't speak from long time experience, but Jerry is a big fan of it for towing.
And I never had any towing issues.

[tragusa3]

Towed 7k cross country 5 times (40k towing) and put 80k miles on it without a single concern. Always had more easy torque on tap than I could ever need. Loved this truck.

[librty02]

romore wrote:
Looks like I had better replace my old 5.9 ctd with an Eco-Boost. Man, these little tykes will pull anything, anywhere and get phenominal miledge doing it. Sheesh. The F-150 certainly is a hot rod lightly loaded but for serious pulling I want torque and sorry guys but a 3.5 v-6 doesn't pass muster. I drove one with a fairly heavy cargo trailer and wasn't impressed.

Impressed or not with my 7k behind the 3.5 it feels the same way torque wise than my previous 08 6.7 RAM felt with 13k behind it...Actually it feels like it has more torque than the 6.7 did towing...to each there own

[romore]

Looks like I had better replace my old 5.9 ctd with an Eco-Boost. Man, these little tykes will pull anything, anywhere and get phenominal miledge doing it. Sheesh. The F-150 certainly is a hot rod lightly loaded but for serious pulling I want torque and sorry guys but a 3.5 v-6 doesn't pass muster. I drove one with a fairly heavy cargo trailer and wasn't impressed.

[librty02]

I had an 11 5.0 after my 08 5.4 and honestly they both down right sucked at towing...I'd take a 3.5 Eco anyday over a NA V8 in the 150...The 5.0 screamed, couldn't keep speed, and guzzled the fuel...hence I only had it 4 months it was THAT bad