We had the same event here in Fontana CA at AutoClub Speedway on 11/13 (thanks Adrian).

I test drove all 4 of the new engines, y'all can see by my sig, what I bought last Saturday.

 

Gentlemen,
I have a few questions. Until yesterday I was the owner of a 6.0L PSD. I sold it because of multiple problems. It was my 5th ford vehicle, and it along with one other have left a bad taste in my mouth. The 05 mustang I owned especially suffered from what I consider to be a rush to market.

I am in the market for a new truck and am truly intrigued by the concept of the ecoboost. Its the engine I've been waiting on for years. Power and Fuel Economy, having your cake and eating it too. But I have some serious questions that need serious answers before I can buy off on this unproven technology or more specifically another Ford truck.

1. What measures have you and your design team taken in order to insure ease of maintenance on the EB in Body? Has your team examined what will happen when for example changing plugs, or having to change a water pump or turbo.

2. Will the EB survive marginal accesories? What I mean is if the alternator effienciency has been reduced by 70% will the electronically driven parts of the engine (ie injectors, HP fuel pump) survive long enough to get to the parts store? (without frying anything expensive)

3. What has been done to insure injector and HP fuel pump reliablilty? What tech does it use? Common rail type? Can you run it out of fuel with out destroying them?

4. With the type of cylinder pressure that this engine produces do you feel that 8 torque-to-yield head bolts is enough?

5. I am somewhat confused by the dyno hours on the "Torture engine". Was it 300 or 13000? I have heard both. I find it hard to believe that you could justify 150K mi with 300hrs.

6. How much more real world testing was done? (In-body testing)

7. Was the EB designed to run off 10% ethanol fuel? Are the EPA mileage numbers rated with such?

8. Last but by far the most important. Is Quality once again Job 1? It seems though through the 2000s it ended up pretty far down the list.

 

More stmts in there than questions...

 

Perhaps, but some tough questions in there too.

An aviation engine expert and I went through the remains of the EcoBoost tear down in Detroit and were thoroughly impressed with the architecture of the engine, it's robustness, design and longevity. It had obviously led a remarkably tough life and held up very well. We joked that the problem was not going to be the engine wearing out, but rather it breaking in.

My concern, based more on manufacturers like BMW's history, is the ability of the components like the computers, pump and injectors, to hold up. Bosh co developed on the early stages of the EB design and frankly, the Germans do not do electronics to quite the standards truck buyers expect. These are the sort of questions he's asking and given the history of the diesel engines he's experienced, legitimate.

Ford has not talked a lot about their experience in building these engines, but Ford has been an innovative leader in direct injection since the 1970's. In 2001 they were one of the first to bring a gasoline direct injection to market in Europe. Ford also has made some comments about sharing our concerns about component reliability in a truck based application.

The electronics are over my head, but from an engine architecture standpoint, you can see where Ford aimed for the bleachers and knocked it out of the park. They really did a nice job.

 

You obviously no nothing about electronics as the German's make the best electronics (and everything else for that matter) in the world. Bosch makes the fuel injection systems for John Deere. From my 20+ years experience with Bosch products in my Deere's they are nothing but reliable. If you don't think Bosch electronics can stand up to a truck buyer expectations (whatever that is) how do you suppose they stand up to the conditions that they are exposed to in farm equipment? My Deere's have 3 processors for controlling everything from the engine, to the hydraulics and no problems.

They also make power tools which anyone in the know will tell you that Bosch tools are top notch.

Now if you want to worry about the electronics, don't worry about the design, worry about the workers in the Mexican plant that are too stupid to know how to clean soldering equipment.

 

The 6.0L PSD also had a sound engine architecture. The bottom end was rock solid. It was all the other stuff you had to worry about breaking. While I owned that truck I always felt like there was a porclein doll under the hood, one small thing breaking or even being slightly out of spec and catastropic engine damage could occur very quickly.

I don't know if I could make a blanket statement like that considering BMW and Mercedes' reliability as of late. I think a better statement would be John Deere makes an excellent product.

 

Does John deer have to use a DPF, EGR, Urea, or peizoelectric injectors and excessive boost to legally sell a product?

No offense, but of course john deer, or caterpillar, which apparently is out of the on-road game, is going to have reliable engines. They are building motors with essentially the same technology as decades ago, with a few electronic updates.

LOL thinking about a farmer seeding while going into regen .....

 

Let me add a question for Phil when he arrives:

• Did Ford source the injectors from Panasonic, or another Japanese supplier, to ensure reliability in these component parts?

 

Everyone complains about overseas sourcing....yet at the end of the day we all buy cheap junk because it costs less.

Easy to say "Buy American", few are really prepared to cough up the cash.

 

Well, not me. The F150 costs more and I'm buying it because it is built here in the US, is better engineered and better built. Guessing from your picture we have the same idea.

Just waiting on Phil's response to place my order.

 

F150's are assembled at the Michigan Truck Assembly Plant (Dearborn), not in Mexico. Mexican assembled vehicle: Fusion, for one example.

The F150's 17 digit VIN begins with a 1 which a dead giveaway it's a US manufactured vehicle.

The Fusion's 17 digit VIN begins with a 3 = Mexico. I traded in a 2008 Fusion for the F150. I owned it for 2 1/2 years without one problemo.

btw: According to Consumer Reports, Mercedes-Benz has more complaints inre to reliability than any other vehicle sold in the US...including Jaguar.

 

The F-150 is built with approx. 55% North American parts content, based on the factory decals that I've read. Yes, it is fully assembled in America, so is the Tundra which uses a higher percentage of North American parts than the F-150.

Just sayin' so no one is mis led into believing that the F-150 is all American.

 

Actually large farm tractors have to meet EPA regs, some use DEF, Deere uses cooled EGR to meet intermin Tier 4 regs

 

Do we know when the chat with an engine development specialist is supposed to happen?

 

It's not a live chat, just post your questions here and when he has time he will answer them