I'll try to make this short: My friend and I each bought a new 2013 F-150 in May of 2013 (2 weeks apart). He got a long-bed, 4-door (157" WB) ecoboost XLT, I got the truck below. Last year, when he had about 33,000 miles on his truck, on a 30 day, 7,000 mile road trip with his 40' camper, both of his turbos failed. Both wastegates failed. He finished his trip with no boost and returned to his dealer; they replaced both turbos. That was at the end of last summer.

We just got back from a camping trip in very hilly terrain. We both took our campers (mine is a smaller, 3,500 lb pop-up); His turbos have failed again. The same as last year. We just got back today; naturally, back to the dealer this week for him.

I will post what the exact failure is this time; however, is this just bad luck? or is there more at work there?

Is it possible the twin-turbo technology is not quite there yet? Is it possible the engines that are pushed to produce a lot of power on a cross-country journey just are likely to fail more till this technology gets better?

I told him to sell the truck and get another F-150 with the 5.0 V8.

I'm curious what other forum members and owners think; I'd love to hear from owners who have towed heavy trailers cross-country, especially hilly terrain with the ecoboost engine; any issues?

 

Agree - get rid of that ecoboost and find a 5L or 6.2. The ecoboost is an engineering nightmare. Ford has a complete failure with the 3.5 ecoboost.

 

Disagree - You friend needs to get rid of that Ecoboost and get a 6.7 F-350. Pulling a 40' RV with a 150, seriously?? Obviously he's never pulled it across a scale. I'm surprised he hasn't had a rear axle bearing failure. That's just asking for it. I wouldn't be surprised if the wastegate doors are physically burned out.

 

How much is he pulling? At 40ft that's a lot of trailer.

I'd be curious the specifics of when it failed.

 

I think that with around a million of these ecoboost engines in truck platforms, it's a bit much to say the concept "isn't there yet". No matter how many times 93Cobra posts.

However, clearly your friend has had some issues. I'd be shocked if a 40' camping trailer was within his payload or total allowable trailer weight, so that may be a factor. Has he driven it across any scales?
the 5.0L v8 is a great engine, but he may be in super-duty territory.

 

Last year the first time was traveling at about 60-65 MPH on the interstate in hot conditions (temp about 85 degrees); suddenly there was the noise of air rushing or escaping from somewhere under the hood and the CEL came on. The next day, a Ford delaer in Utah read the code as "Turbo Underboost." They could not see an issue and sent him on his way. Upon returning home, he took it to his dealer and they diagnosed the wastgates were not closing and replaced both turbos.

This past weekend, it was going up a steep hill; suddenly the boost dropped, the CEL came on and he's left with not having full power to tow. The engine even sounds different now at idle. Like I can hear a turbo leaking at idle (if that's even possible).

I'll find out more about the brand and weight of the camper. It is listed at 6,600 lbs. But who actually knows.

Stay tuned on that!

 

I remember this discussion from last year and sadly now again. Your friend's issue is only the second issue of turbo failure that I've ever heard of on the 3.5L. I'm sure there are others but I'll wager that the failure rate is quite low.

Please keep us in the loop on diagnosis, repair and future mitigation.

 

Wow... you must be living under a rock. Blown turbos have been an issue for several years. If you follow other forums and talk to people, you will find that out.

 

Here are the specs on the trailer. It is Premier Bullet 31 BHPR.

Shipping Weight 6750
Carrying Capacity 1250
Hitch 820
Length 35' 8"
Height 10' 11"
Fresh Water 43
Waste Water 30
Gray Water 30
LPG 40
Tire Size ST225/75R15D



It's not quite 40', it's 35'8".

Too big for an F-150? Is this super duty territory? His truck is not max tow, but is rated at 10,000 lbs. It seems strange that the turbos would be the weak link in the chain if this is pushing things to the design limit. I say that because I would not expect any part of the engine to be the weak link.

 

Your friends camper should be under 9,000 lbs loaded, so it being over weight should not be an issue. My camper is only 1k lbs lighter than your friends and i have never had issues towing in the mountains with my Eco-boost.

 

This is nothing that's surprising. When you take a smaller engine and force it to do more work, stuff happens. When you put forced induction, direct injection, etc. on an engine, stuff happens. When you've got to add supplemental equipment so you can provide vacuum to operate things like brake boosters, stuff happens. When you've got a timing chain a mile long to make it all work, stuff happens.

Guys have been fighting with the EcoBoost trucks since day 1. Myself, my brother, and 3 friends all have these trucks. 4 of us have the Coyote, my brother has the EcoBoost. Guess which one goes to the shop all the time? Guess which one stranded him again this week?

What people are finding out is that power is one thing, but being able to stay on the road is #1 in importance.

I have another good friend who's a Ford tech and from what I'm hearing, even the new generation 2 EcoBoost is showing up with problems frequently. When Ford scrapped the generation 1 engine and started over from scratch, I was hoping they had cured the issues, but apparently not.

I feel bad for you guys. I hope that the dealerships are taking care of you.

 

OK, so he is pulling an 8,000 lbs 31'ft camper. There is no way he is even close to that 6750 unless he doesn't have anything in it, no battery and no propane tanks on the front. that 6750 is bone empty, and optimistic at that. Realistically, when guessing on a camper's weight, you guess at the maximum loaded weight, as most people are closer to that weight when loaded up camping than they tend to think.

On paper he is not, IN MY OPINION, asking too much of the truck. His camper is right on par with mine, but maybe 1,000 lbs heavier and I'm comfortably pulling it with a half-ton expedition (though, I could use either A: more gears, or B: more power).

I can't even guess as to why the turbos would continue to fail. that's a big camper, but it is not that unreasonable. as tim said, yours is the only turbo failure that comes to mind. I'm left to wonder if there is something else wrong that is causing the turobs to fail.

 

I can't speak for Tim, but as for myself - I haven't the time to troll every forum for ecoboost fodder.

I'm as happy with my rock as you are with your axe.

you've said your piece. if you aren't going to try and help, then move along.

 

I'm still off work today, he's a P.E.teacher, so is off all summer; nonetheless, i've convinced him to go get it weighed. I agree it's heavier than the dry weight. I'll let you know the weight. Good to hear its not asking too much of an F-150.

 

Do some real research, get off the internet.