Hey you Eco Boost guys coming out of warranty! I need another vehicle and need to decide between another 5.0 or an Eco Boost.
Never owned an Eco Boost...what busts first on these and how soon? I heard they have more moving parts. Are they more expensive to repair and would you buy another?

 

I've been on this forum and a couple others and haven't really seen anything that I would call a common failure. Some trucks built before June of last year have had issues with timing chains, but thus far it seems to be relatively uncommon. There's a TSB on the matter, and the fix is to replace all four phasers, and the timing chain. There doesn't seem to be a noticeable pattern on the matter, but some mechanics I've talked with suggest 5,000 mile oil changes seem to prevent it. Engines made after 5/29/2015 shouldn't be susceptible to this. Mine's in the affected date range and I'm not worried about it.

Otherwise they seem to be doing pretty well. One guy on another forum has over 300,000 miles on his '11 EcoBoost-powered truck. Never has had an engine issue and changes his oil every 6,000 miles with conventional oil.

Who's Ecoboost has the most miles mileage on it - Page 8

 

I don't see how an engine with 3/4 the number of cylinders could possibly have more moving parts.

Simple fact is some folks remember back to the bad old days of turbo gas engines that were total failures in the 1980's and 1990's. Some people will never get over that, and use all sorts of made-up "reasons" to justify thier prejudice.

According to Ford, they've sold over 900,000 EcoBoost engines in the F150 platform, and take rate for the two EcoBoost options is around 60% these days. If there was some big reliability problem, we'd know about it.

Anyway, I'll climb down from my soapbox now . .

 

I dunno. You lose two pistons, four valves, some connecting rods, and bearings. But you gain two spinning turbos, wastegates, a blow-off valve, and a second mechanical fuel pump. You also gain some non-moving sundries such as CAC and a maze of air intake plumbing.

Definitely depends on perspective, but I think the whole system is significantly more complex on the EcoBoost engine. They seem to have done a fantastic job on the design side, as the overwhelming majority of this complexity has proven to be quite reliable.

 

It seems that there have been a few unlucky souls who have experienced timing chain stretch and have had to have the TSB performed. The 2011/12 eco trucks also have the vacuum boost pump on the front drivers side inner fender, Ford has sent a letter about that as well. Mine is now covered for 10 years or 150K miles from in service date.

I'd buy another in a New York minute. The over 900,000 ecoboosts sold refers to 3.5L eco's as I understand and the 2.7L just adds to the mix resulting in a 60% take rate.

Over the weekend we headed to mountains again to see my kid in college. As I was begin to ascend the last big climb I came up on a truck pulling what seemed to be a very large fifth wheel motor home. The trailer was huge and I was immediately assuming an HD truck was on the job. As I came along side I was flabbergasted to see a 2013/14 Screw XLT ecoboost truck. The was he was handling the load was impressive. I'd imagine he had his rear axle bagged.

Anyway, he was easily running 65 over the mountain and I'll wager that he had plenty more if he needed it. Out of courtesy he remained in the slow lane but didn't hesitate to pull out around anyone going slower than he.

Amazing, a tiny little six popper was doing all that work.

 

I just wanted to point out that the 5.0 isn't without flaws too. I've started to develop the "5.0" tick and will need begin the process of getting that addressed.

Also, I've needed to have the Transmission "leadframe" wire replaced (causing high gear engagement at low speed), pinion seal (leak) and the brakes turned twice. Not specific to the engine, but nothing is without some flaws.

 

no problems with our '12 EB powered truck. But it only has 50k on it right now.

 

In my truck...it's simple...traction is what breaks



In all seriousness...it's mechanical and electronic...something is bound to give up at some point. There are far too many variables to make a 100% true statement and have it hold true.