observation: 2018 F150 2.7L EB

[meep]

New truck to me. Very pleased with it. MPG after 1100 miles is around 20-8 mixed commute and hwy. I'm probably still being a bit easy on it and I'm pretty conservative when driving larger vehicles.

After 1000 miles, the oil level was all the way to the lower mark of the dipstick. it was about 7/8 up when new. so that's nearly a quart of oil consumed in its first 1000 miles. Never seen this in a new vehicle before.

The manual says the oil use will stabilize after the first 3000 miles.

Has anyone else seen this? I'm not alarmed yet, but kept my receipt for 3 quarts of motorcraft 5-30 with top-off date/mileage.

I come from the land of honda, volvo, and toyota where very little oil is ever needed.

-m

 

[Lyman]

If it were my truck I'd drive it a little harder. Might help speed up the break in.

 

[IndyIan]

Maybe do some manual down shifts to get some decent engine braking going? I did a bunch of them, fairly hard too down some hills in the first few hundred km. These new auto transmissions have such high top gears that they get pretty much zero engine braking unless you are going 100+mph.

 

[oil_film_movies]

meep, Do keep track of how much oil you have to add. This 2.7L ecoboost engine has a history of problems. Ford should have solved them all by now, but you never know.
Big valve guide recall (caused oil consumption) a couple of years ago. Details at https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4491310/1

I have a 1.5L turbo engine (GM, 2018) and I just found out it uses 1 quart in about 4,000 miles. I guess thats not too bad. Any more & I'd complain.

Almost sounds like this experience:
"I bought my new F150 XL Supercab 2.7 Ecoboost on November 12, 2016. Truck went through 3 quarts of oil before its 5,000 mile service. My dealer said that was normal for these high tolerance, high performance engines. I asked if the white/blue smoke was normal also and was told they hadn't heard anything about that, to which I said I must have the first one. My 5,000 mile service was on April 15, 2017 with 4,966 miles on the truck. " -- https://www.fordf150.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=123809

Note: White/blue smoke is NOT actually acceptable or normal, as most know. Check for that smoke. A 2018 model shouldn't be getting all these problems, you'd think.

 

[bdcardinal]

Did you wait 15 minutes to check the oil level after shutting the engine off? There is a special procedure on the 2.7 which involves waiting 15 minutes before checking the level due to the dual block configuration on the 2.7 and 3.0EB.

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
If it were my truck I'd drive it a little harder. Might help speed up the break in.


This and make sure you wait at least15-20 minutes before checking the dip stick and on level ground. Better yet check it after sitting overnight on level ground for the most accurate reading. Also when changing the oil wait at least 20 minutes before opening the drain plug. If you pull the dip stick loose and open the oil fill cap this will help with the draining. We have a 2.3 EcoBoost Explorer and I have to do this also. These EcoBoost engines seem to drain slowly back into the pan. Ford acknowledges it and states so.

Whimsey

 

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Did you wait 15 minutes to check the oil level after shutting the engine off? There is a special procedure on the 2.7 which involves waiting 15 minutes before checking the level due to the dual block configuration on the 2.7 and 3.0EB.


You beat me to it

. Even our 2.3 EB says to wait 15 minutes before checking the oil level. Darn! I'm getting old and typing slow.

Whimsey

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: Blkstanger
If it were my truck I'd drive it a little harder. Might help speed up the break in.


Yep. This.

Need to progressively up the RPM. If you can do any engine braking, that's a good thing for break-in, too.

 

[SteveSRT8]

My pal's new 2.7 F150 has only used 1/2 qt. since new, he's at about 5k miles now.

I would always be concerned about this since there are known issues with a small percentage of these.

 

[Thugzy]

FWIW, my 2018 3.5EB has not burned anything, im now at 10k Kms

first OC 2000kms to M1 0W30 AFE
second OC 10000kms to M1 0W40 FS

 

[meep]

ok good to know, and thank you. I discovered the 15 minute wait and found consistent readings. It hardly ever revs to 2k, so I'll spend some time in sport mode or something to raise the revs a bit. And I'll check for white smoke. I did notice some one morning on cold start, but it to me looked like cold start morning steam more than oil. I'm a fan of the driving characteristics of this motor and will be patient with it. There isn't much for engine braking in this thing, that's for sure.

thank you for the advice.

I've also wondered if some of this could be break-in teething with the new block material. It may not wear in as quickly.

-M

 

[KrisZ]

Constant low RPM with little engine braking is never good for a new engine. If the transmission has a manual mode I would use that. At 1100 miles it is a high time for that motor to see some high RPM and WOT runs, followed by compression braking. Afte everything has reached the operating temperature, of course.

 

[09_GXP]

Originally Posted By: meep


I've also wondered if some of this could be break-in teething with the new block material. It may not wear in as quickly.

-M


CGI is a well known block material that has been used in diesel engines for quite some time. When I was working with it the issue was never raised about break in. This engine is built with a lot of diesel technology that is new to the gasoline market. I bought one as it bears quite the resemblance to the Cummins 5.0L V8.

 

[FermeLaPorte]

Take it to the dealer. You are still under warranty.

 

[MNgopher]

Drive it like you stole it some. Sport mode helps with that... If you barely hit 2000 rpms, you've barely found what makes this engine so much fun to drive.

After this many miles, getting on it won't hurt a thing and may actually help.

As pointed out, always wait at least 15 minutes to read the oil level, and read it consistently (ie: cold oil or hot oil).

The valve guide issue should not be a problem on your 2018 - that was a 2016 issue.

I'm at 26,000 miles on my 2016 F150 XLT Supercrew 4x4. Overall average of 19 mpg. Previous F150 with the 5.4 delivered 14.25 mpg in the same duty. The 2.7 does everything better and is a much more pleasurable engine in daily use, other than getting used to the sound. I have not had any issues with oil consumption.

 

[askani79705]

Nothing to worry about.My 2016 behaved similarly until 2.5k and is doing fine at 24k.Gas mileage is 21.6 mpg combined

 

[CT8]

I Have a 2015 2.7 and knock on wood it doesn't seem to use oil during the 5 to 6,000 mile oil change intervals I have been doing. I really enjoy the engine and with my driving get 20 to 23 mpgs usually . The lowest I have gotten has been 19 mpgs and the highest 25 Mpgs doing the math the computer read outs are 2 to 3 miles per gallon on the optimistic side. I really enjoy the engines feel . It seems much more powerful than it really is.

 

[tomcruise]

With my truck I took it easy until about 1000 miles and got my first oil change free from the dealer. I then hooked up a uhaul trailer and moved from Florida to California. It hasn't used any oil in 60k miles. Like others have said it's imperative you wait AT LEAST 15 minutes before checking the oil. Overnight is ideal. I'm sure the consumption will slow or stop.

 

[Alex_V]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Constant low RPM with little engine braking is never good for a new engine. If the transmission has a manual mode I would use that. At 1100 miles it is a high time for that motor to see some high RPM and WOT runs, followed by compression braking. Afte everything has reached the operating temperature, of course.


This, x20. Put the engine under some stress before (if it isn't already) it's too late to finish breaking things in. They're engineeted for such extremes you aren't going to hurt it.

 

[meep]

thank you - I'll track the consumption and try to begin working a little more RPM into the mix. I tried using sport mode yesterday but it's laughable. It's super-aggressive and the shifting is so intrusive I don't see the point. It's also not very predictable - sometimes acceleration is nicely strong and sometimes it's manic and wants to nail redline without much different input. Poor implementation and not fitting at all for such a large vehicle IMO, but either way not refined enough for use with any kind of good driving. One can shift the 10-spd manually, but that's a lot of non-ergonomic button pushing. Maybe I'll have it just hold a lower gear on smooth straights. I found it will engine brake with RPM if you overspeed with cruise engaged- it's rather cute - that little 6 doesn't give any real engine braking power... lots of button pushing to force this short-lived condition.

So really I'll probably just keep good records and work a few moderate and heavier acceleration pulls in here and there. It sees tow duty in May, which will certainly invoke more revs. That will be interesting to watch to see if consumption improves, or if it drinks a ton of oil during that use.

-m