1. The best fuel economy will be a 3.7L with the lowest rear axle ratio you can get.

2. There are some advantages that the 3.7L has over the 3.5L Ecoboost that make it slightly better for fuel economy. Because of the performance/trailer tow capability the best comparator for the 3.5L Ecoboost is the V8 equipped trucks. There is a lot that goes into the final fuel economy ratings, and I am not involved in that testing, so I can't speak to the actual fuel economy label.

3. I don't know the answer, but I will try to get it for you shortly.

Thanks again for your interest and patience.

 

Troy, sorry for the slow reply, I was pretty sure 12 psi was wrong, but I wanted to look at data first. The short answer is that the Ecoboost requires 13 psi boost to make peak power under standard SAE testing conditions. Environmental factors such as temperature, altitude and octane of the fuel can cause this number to be higher or lower.
The engine only runs boosted when it is required, we use a pressure activated wastegate on each turbo to control boost.

 

Very good questions.I will try to answer them to the best of my ability:

1. Service of parts is always a consideration for our engines. I personally have pulled spark plugs out of an Ecoboost engine while it's in the vehicle and the job was not bad. However, the plugs are designed to last 150,000 miles. The water pump is externally mounted so although we don't expect to have to service it, it should not be that bad to change. I know turbo chargers have been removed and put back on in vehicle, but I have not done the work personally.

2. I am not an electronics expert, however, we have had occasions where the battery voltage at our dynamometer lab has dropped to very low values and we have not hurt any of the components. I personally have not seen issues with our electronic actuators being destroyed by low battery voltage.

3. The injector and fuel pump are tested by both the supplier as individual components as well as engine and vehicle level testing in very harsh conditions. We wouldn't put them into production if we did not believe that they would survive in the customers hands.

4. We not only believe that 8 head bolts is enough, we have proven it with very tough testing. Look at the thermal shock testing in Episode 1 of the Torture test videos. You will see this test in action. We go from soaking at -20 F coolant to peak power 235 F coolant in minutes, run there for a period of time, shut the engine off and soak it to -20 F again.

5. The 13,000 hours I was referring to was the total of all of the dynamometer durability testing we did on Ecoboost engines. It includes many different test cycles on many different engines. The Torture test engine ran for hundreds of hours to simulate customer usage up to 150,000 miles. We are able to accelerate our testing (run much fewer hours) by running at high speeds, loads (torque) and temperature extremes.

6. I do not have a tally of all of the vehicle testing done with Ecoboost F150s. The Torture test vehicle ran ~ 15,000 additional miles after the dynamometer testing. That included driving to and from all of the torture tests and the mileage accumulated during the Baja 1000.

7. All of our durability testing is with E10 fuel. Currently the EPA does not test fuel economy with E10.

8. Quality is definitely Job 1.

 

Phil, Thank you Sir! Read your message at 5:50 and replying from the salesman's computer.

3.7 Custom Package, Oxford White.

 

I can't speak to the additives availble in fuels at the pump. Your best bet would be to check with the different large oil companies to see what additives they provide with the various octane fuels. Carbon deposits on the piston and combustion chamber are typical for gasoline engines(you can see them on the Torture Test engine) The level of build-up will be influenced by drive cycle. The vehicle that is driven easily, will generally have some more deposits than one that is driven more aggressively or tows on a regular basis. The dynamometer testing was run with premium fuel, the rest were run with regular fuel.

 

I do not know the exact milage on the truck. It is more than 10,000 because the total mileage was ~165,000 including 150,000 dynamometer, ~ 1,500 from Baja 1000. I don't think the total fuel consumed was tracked.

 

The Oil minder was calibrated prior to the completion of the teardown. Oil changes are influenced by several factors outside of total time or mileage. If you have a drive cycle that rarely warms up the engine or runs very hot, your oil change will come up sooner than 10,000 miles.

 

I will close this one out, we have used a fair bit of your time here Phil, and you need to get back to working on engines!
On behalf of everyone here, thanks ever-so-much for the time you have taken to answer our questions, we appreciate it.
Best of luck with sales of the truck, based on all reports it should fly out the door.