Looking at buying a new Lariat this year at some point, and am stuck between the 5.0 or the 3.5 ecoboost.

I had a 2011 FX4 with the 5.0 before but it suffered from the 5.0 knock, not bad enough for the dealer to do anything about, but bad enough to really bother me. Seemed to come and go with no pattern. It never got any worse and I sold the truck a year ago with no problems.

Back when I was researching the knock problem I seem to recall someone online saying it was a problem with the 11 and 12 5.0 blocks, and that Ford had fixed it for the 13+ MY's. Is this true or do they still suffer from this knock?

In general I think I'm more sensitive than most to noises, but I don't want to buy a new 5.0 and suffer through the same knock I did before. I do love the V8 grumble while driving, but listing to that knock at drive through's was painful.

Should I just go with the EB? How quiet are they on idle?

Thanks all

 

Cylinder distortion seems to be less of an issue from '13 and on but I do believe I've read of a few newer 5.0s having the same problem. I'd buy a new 5.0 with no worries maybe opt for extended warranty, but otherwise I wouldn't sweat it.

 

Don't think you can go wrong with either. If I was in the market, I'd give serious consideration to the EB with the 10 spd transmission. (Not sure if it's offered with the 5.0 yet).

 

We have the 3.5L EB in a 2015 SCrew. Very quiet. It does seem to make some noise when first started, but it gets quiet within 30 seconds of startup. I don't believe this is unusual.

 

Have a 2013 mustang trackpack and a 2016 F150. Enjoy both of these 5.0 engines. Lots of power for NA motors. Amazing potential if you want to add a supercharger or turbo charger. Haven't heard of any big reliability issues even pushing into 600 hp, but 400 plus hp in the mustang can get me into trouble fast enough.

 

That's good to hear, because I heard about this knocking issue after purchasing a 2015 5.0 crate engine for project I've been working on. The last thing I want is to hear a noise coming from anywhere other than the exhaust.

 

The EcoBoost has start stop technology on all engines starting in 2017. At idle your engine won't even be running, can't get much quieter or smoother than that. You'll have to give them a test drive to check that feature out.
The 3.5 EB in the Lariat has a deeper throatier sound than the 2.7 EB probably due to the sound augmentation. If you like the V8 sound you'll probably like that feature.

 

Extremely annoyed to learn about the auto start stop I must say... It's coming to the 5.0 in the 2018 MY as well. I have zero interest in it and will be disabling it the first day I pick up the truck via the jumper method. Completely aware that they've beefed up the starter and battery to accommodate the extra startup's, however I highly doubt there would be any significant fuel savings with the feature left on. Cant be good for the engine either, as the majority of your engine's wear occurs on startup's (cold startups but warm ones cant be good for it either)

As I understand, it doesn't turn the engine off in park anyways, so if you're like me and remote start your truck in the AM to warm it up, when you walk outside to the truck you'd hear it. That's the only time I ever heard the knock on my 5.0 besides waiting at drive through's. Still annoyed me though.

I've never taken the 2.7 out but it doesn't really interest me either. Bit too small of and engine for me. Leaning towards the 3.5 at the moment.

Thanks all

 

The only problem with any turbo vehical truck or car, turbos don't last at $2-3,000 for repairs I'll stick with the 5.0

 

Oh contraire. I think you're operating on old information. Turbo diesel trucks last for many hundreds of thousands of miles. Likewise current-generation EcoBoost engines.

 

The Turbos go bad not hte engine.

 

 

 

My 2016 burned oil for the first couple thousand miles, until the rings wore in properly. Your 2018 has the plasma coated cylinders, so maybe Ford has some issues with the process. Or maybe your cylinders became glazed, and the rings never seated properly. Did you baby it during break-in, or give it lots of full throttle bursts? If you babied it, that's probably what caused it, but it might not be too late. Sometimes a top engine cleaner can deglaze the cylinders. Then take it out and pound on it, and the rings should seal better.

 

+1 to this. I saw this first hand many years ago. A friend had a car (happened to be a Chevy) that was doing exactly what was described here. He decided that he needed to collect on the warranty and started beating the ever loving crap out of that engine. Lo and behold, the engine broke in, and was great from then on.