I looked at an XLT and the whole truck seemed cheap to me, the 5.0 engine compartment was the worst I have seen in awhile, on top of the intake manifold on each side is some kind of styrofoam just pushed down in there felt to me like I could have just pulled it out down the road that will be just a mess, does look like the plugs could be changed pretty easy compared to my 5.4 only plus I can see on the whole truck...

 

My local dealer just got a 2011 F-150 EB 4x2 Screw with the 3.73 axle. It's rated at 22 hwy. This is not a 25% increase over the 5.4L truck configured the same way which is rated at 19 - 20 hwy.

IMHO, the real cool story is the 4x2 trucks with the 3.7L engine. They are rated at 23 hwy. This tiny little under recognized engine also has the power of a V-8 of not too long ago yet it's very impressive in the Mustang and seems to be able to handle it's business in the trucks.

Obviously the hype behind the EB engine is you can cruise and get 22+ and yet pull an 11,300 lb trailer.

 

Funny, I just came back from one of the largest dealers here where I live. They were closed but I walked around their lot. Around 40 plus f150s there and not a single EB. Half of them were 5.0 and other half 6.2. Note that I live in what you could easily call "truck capital" of Canada...

As for the 6.2L becoming obsolete...I seem to be only reading this from recent 09, 10 purchasers who got stuck with the tired old 5.4. I currently drive that engine and cannot wait to get my new on order 6.2L. Gas mileage WILL be the same and will have 100+ more horsepower on my foot. Hmmm, I guess that is a bad thing...

 

I work with Ford on a daily basis. I work with more then 10 engineers that work on the drivetrains of the P415 program so I hear things. I have been on the exhaust development since 2004. I know what the release schedules are for the future and what they are presently. The majority of the F150s being made in rouge as of recently have been made with the EB drivetrain. The 5.4L is an OK motor at best. It has been under powered compared to competitives drivetrains for the last 8 years. Fuel economy is nothing special on it also. The 6.2L and its 100+ more HP is a good thing....but it comes at a cost. Your local dealership may have more 5.0Ls and 6.2Ls then EBs but you do realize ford has over 3500 dealerships between Canada and the US.

 

ummmm... just my guess but, perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the EB production was a bit delayed compared to the 3.7/5.0/6.2 trucks and so now they are having to turn out mostly EB's to get caught up on the backorders for that engine? I'm in the Chicago area and a search of the dozens of Ford dealerships in this corner of the state shows tons of 5.0 trucks, a few 6.2's and almost no EB's at all (lots of em listed as on order but I only came up with 3 or 4 actually showing as on the lots). If there were any EB's available I might be looking to buy one but, with so few around there's no EB set up the way I want it which means I'll either wait a few more months for those trucks to arrive or, most likely just go with the 5.0 and be happy enough with that engine (plenty of power for the hauling/towing I'll be doing but still decent enough mileage for a full sized truck).

 

Agreed that the 5.0 engine in the F150 isn't too pretty to look at, compared to the nicer way it looks in the Mustang. Ford could have prettied it up....

Below is the reason for the "insulators" you saw:

21693 FUEL RAIL INSULATOR SERVICE TIP
2011 F-150 AND 2011 MUSTANG VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH THE 3.7L OR 5.0L ENGINES HAVE FUEL RAIL INSULATORS INSTALLED FROM THE FACTORY TO REDUCE NVH (NOISE/VIBRATION/HARSHNESS) FROM THE FUEL RAIL AREA. THE FUEL RAIL INSULATOR (BASE PART 6P013) SHOULD NOT BE REMOVED UNLESS DIRECTED BY WORK SHOP MANUAL (WSM) PROCEDURES LOCATED IN SECTION 303-04. REMOVING THE FUEL RAIL INSULATOR MAY RESULT IN AN INCREASED UNDESIRED NVH CONDITION.
EFFECTIVE DATE: 01/20/2011

 

The EB was on a delayed launch vs the 5.0L, 6.2L and the 3.7L. At this point on dealership lots there may not be a lot of EB trucks available....give it a few months

 

I have only put about230 miles on my eco so far. Its xlt plus with 3;73 gears. The average mpg city/hwy so far 17-19 my 2010 chevy silverado crew on hwy only got 14-15mpg so the eco is way better and much nicer truck. awsome power and handling, easy steering. Any truck can get bad mpg if you are always in it. But I can tell you I'm very very happy getting rid of my 2010 chevy for the eco.

 

JM: Thanx for the info, I had in my mind the 5.0 in the f-150 would look like the mustang possibly the cleanest engine bay ford has built in the last 10 yrs, personally I would rather listen to the injectors than have a piece of foam to collect mud,oil and other dirt that will collect on a 4x4 truck with no way to ever clean it up, my 04 5.4 injectors r a bit noisy but fine in the cab. Think it is just me but for an 37K XLT I was just not impressed....

 

Thanks for the info. I had been wondering what was the deal with those things (definitely NOT the best looking engine compartment I've seen in a while).

 

I had Ford bring a crew cab, 6.5 bed, 4x4, with 3.73 axle to my house yesterday for the EcoBoost Tour. It was a truck with 16,000 purely "test drive" miles on it. Meaning, no one was driving this thing easy. It had gone from Michigan to L.A and then back to Utah. It was averaging 16.6 when I picked it up. I reset the lie-o-meter and in the 30 or so miles during my test drive, I got an average of 17 mpg. Trust me, I wasn't driving easy. This was either jetting up an on ramp, lugging the engine to see how it would react to low rpm/hard throttle input, or heavy stop and go driving. I know 30 miles isn't enough to get an accurate reading but I was pretty impressed. I figured IF I could keep my foot out of the throttle, I could average 17-18 mpg.

Here's my review from the EcoBoost forum:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...k-show-up.html

 

ummm... yeah, that was kinda my point in regards to your earlier comment that the majority of what's being produced NOW is the EB's. It's not necessarily because they are in greater demand or are going to end up being the majority of what will be sold over the entire model year, it's just because they are catching up on a backlog of dealer orders caused by the delayed start of EB production. We're not going to know until much later in the year at the earliest what engine is really going to be the big seller so anything we say now is basically just a guess.

 

Theres a small company that most in the automotive industry use in order to forecast manufacturing production...CSM. Its one of the largest marketing firms in the world for Automotive forecast. According to them they call for the EB being the majority of the market share for the F150. For a small company like mine ($19 billion in 2010) when you manufacture the exhaust on all engine platforms its important to know what volumes will be for each drivetrain as it affects our manufacturing process and our release schedules. You are correct that we wont know exactly what the final numbers for production will be at the end of the year for each engine platform, but this company is normally pretty close at the end of the year. Most the time they have a +/- 5% margin of error on there forecasted volumes.

 

Well, after all is said and done, the "Turd" I have on order will still suit my needs regardless if it is popular or not or becomes obsolete.

 

I test drove an EB as well, and average just over 12 mpg on my 20 or so mile test. Truck has less than 100 miles on it. Hopefully mileage improves substantially after break-in. Performance was impressive though.