So, has you're "sooty" tailpipe magically disappeared?
JL

 

Awesome post and thanks for sharing a very detailed and well thought out report.

 

That's good to hear. I'm only nearing the thousand mile mark but the folks at Ford that I know say it's very possible that the engine is set to special parameters during the break-in period and they are all saying (what you are seeing) the mileage will get better as the engine breaks in and to give it time. Over time, black (sooty) exhaust pipes have generally meant you should be looking at your mixture as it might be running a little rich. Ford could possibly be running the engines a little rich but they certainly wouldn't be pouring raw gas into the cylinders heavily enough to "wash the cylinder walls". That's just being silly.

There appears to be a couple of folks on this thread who are looking to be confrontational rather than helpful. Don't let them bother you. If they are so disenchanted with their EB's mileage when new, maybe they should have bought the 5.0.
Expecting max fuel mileage right out of the gate is just not realistic.

 

I only have 1000 miles and what i am seeing is high 19s on highways where the limit is 65mph and right at 18 if i drive at 75mph on the freeways.
seth

 

what speed limit? 70mph or 55?

Thanks

 

Seth,

Thanks for the info. I haven't had mine on the hghway long enough to get a serious mileage reading but I am continuing to get between 14 and 15 in a stop & go suburban environment. That's driving it sanely but not 100% for mileage. Enjoy!

Jim

 

Mixed driving 60% city 40% freeway is yielding average mileage in the low 17s calculated by hand. I see a lot of people complain about the "lie-o-meter" in the dash but i would like to defend it by saying that each fill up so far it has predicted the gallons used and has been within a tenth or two as far a mileage averaged per tank.
I cant tell you how much i love this truck! I might have opted for the 3.55 gearing considering how little i tow, but it is not a big enough concern to change. I do see people with the 355s reporting about 1-2mpg average better than what i am getting with some reporting 3-4mpg better. But i dont drive mine that nice as i am still enjoying it and still showing it to people.
cheers
seth

 

Tail pipe soot is going to be present in direct injected turbo charged engines - all of them have it to some degree. My brother's 335i had it, the VW's have it and so did my Mazdaspeed3. What is interesting with this new engine is the degree of soot.

There's no doubt, Ford had a hand in the Mazdaspeed turbo engines. These were the test bed for the technology that has resulted in the new Ecoboost engine. I believe Ford learned a lot with the Mazda 2.3 liter turbo and has improved things quite a bit over that engine.

I say this because in 54,000 miles of driving my unmodded Mazdaspeed3 there was always thick tail pipe soot after burning a tank of fuel. Every time I washed the car, I wiped out the tail pipe and the soot was always there no matter what.
Fast forward to my trip to Az and back and the post trip clean up of our EB Platinum showed far less soot than my Mazda would have ever had - running that much gas through my MS3 would have yielded the La Brea tar pits at the tail pipe! So Ford has lessened the soot issue quite a bit from when they first started their trip down direct injection lane.
Just making a note....

 

I think you hit it right on the nose. You really don't know how those other folks drove their EB's with the different gears. Maybe the figures you saw were easy driving under ideal conditions....best case, if you will. I'm still enjoying the power as well and still getting what I consider, decent mileage. It's a blast to drive! It's very quiet (even under power), it handles great. it's comfortable and it's got great curb appeal. It'll be interesting to see how the EB holds up under real-world driving over time and to see how the mileage improves when I settle-in with the truck. BTW, I've got an FX4 SC w/18 inch & 3.73's. Jim

 

Amascio:

Maybe they've got the fuel/air ratio figured out to where there is less soot. Ford certainly seems to have something figured out. With me, soot is not really an issue. If it's normal, then I'll accept it as normal. Never having had a direct-injected, forced induction engine before, I revert to my experiences with normally aspirated engines. I do know, I really like this truck. Jim

 

I put the second full tank of gas in yesterday at 870 miles. The trip computer read 19.1 mpg for about 440 miles. I used 89 octane gas for that tank. The first tank was 16.9 mpg with 87 octane. I'm not babying it or beating it, just driving normal. I'm going to try 93 octane in this tank. I'm happy with my F-150. It just seems so much bigger and more comfortable that my old Chev.

 

I am very happy with my maxtow supercrew. I currently have 1300 miles and sine passing the 1000 mills mark I have been seeing 21 at 55 mph 18.5 at 65 and at 75 around 17. Honestly I am happy as all get out this is a full size truck! My much smaller 2002 durrango couldn't get me any better than 15 and it isn't even close to the same league in power. While towing my 17' lund boat I have been getting 15. And this weekend towing my 29' #7000 travel trailer I got a solid 10 mpg at 60 mph. I might mention how powerfull the ecoboost is. I ran straight up a steep 6 to 8 percent grade pulling the tt and the engine hardly even knew it. I actually accelerated up and only stopped at 60 cause the speed limit was 55. Wow is all I can say! This baby runs like a diesel but is much quieter. And gets much better mileage around town. All of my driving was with standard 87 octane gas.

 

Dude, i have been getting that kind of mpg since day one, passing 1000 miles has nothing to do with it. 21 is easy to get at 55mph. we want to see it at 70!

 

Yes, my XLT loves the MPG up to about 68 mph and than it sucks a bit more. Considering the HP and toque, I think I made the right choice..FORD..former Chev guy for 40 years.

 

But 10 pulling a 29' trailer is what is really exciting. It seems there are many out thee that would be disappointed if they see under 25 mpg at 80! Me I am happy as **** to get what I am with a full size truck! I think Ford kicked some ads when building this truck!