is the 3.5 reliable?

 

 

Maybe not as reliable as the 'ol 40oz but so far, so good on reports

 

 

Dodge, Fiat, to name a few, are notoriously unreliable.

Ford makes great engines though.

 

There are a few "Most Miles" threads out there, and some of them have some pretty impressive testimonials. One thread on another forum has two owners who posted up odometer shots of over 300K on their EcoBoost trucks. Neither got any kind of special maintenance, either...just regular oil changes every 5-8K miles.

ON edit: here's one of them: https://www.f150ecoboost.net/forum/1...%20#post281605

 

I have to agree with this. I have owned quite a few Rams over the years and we still have 4 of them in our fleet. The one my wife uses for her daily driver is a 2010 Ram 1500 with just shy of 130K on it. That little V8 uses approximately 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles. It started burning oil at 75K and has progressively gotten worse. Still runs good, but just goes through oil.

Not intending to be brand bashing, but with the oil consumption, HVAC repairs, and rust issues, it hasn't been the best truck. My Cummins powered units are incredible, but other than that, I don't have much good to say about the Dodge/Ram offerings.

 

I'm not the mod for this forum, but isn't this thread about the EcoBoost engine? Derailing into a brand war probably wouldn't help the OP very much.

 

Wasn't my intention. Sorry if I broke a rule or guidelines.

 

You didn't break a thing. I'm just trying to express some courtesy to the OP...mainly because threads that turn into "brand comparisons" never end. Which isn't what the OP came here to ask, that's all.

 

One way of looking at it is that the current 3.5's are Gen 2 engines. Ford looked at the Gen 1 engines, noted things that weren't so great about them and incorporated the fixes into the Gen 2 engine design. Other than displacement, the current engines are entirely new and presumably even better / more reliable than the previous versions - which weren't too bad themselves.

 

My Ecoboost has been reliable for the 29K miles I've had it. It's my first Ford, so other than anecdotal reports...that's all I can add.

 

The op didn't specify NA or boosted- as he doesn't mention the ecoboost it seems the question should be about the NA version, which I am curious about as well

 

I'm approaching 87K on my 2011 ecoboost. Plugs changed at 61K and one coil changed at 67K. Other than that, she has run like a singer sewing machine.

 

Everything I've read suggests that it is pretty reliable(outside of some teething issues with the early models). It has one hell of a devoted following, and that's a pretty hard thing to do for a V6 in the domestic truck market, full of testosterone filled guys who like a V8 rumble(that includes me). As I understand it, they sell more Ecoboosts than V8's in the F-150 now. My plan previously was to replace my current truck with a GM down the road if Ford stopped offering a V8, but now I think I would stick with Ford and get a 3.5, unless they ruin the design by then.