What F150 engine?

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Buying a new F-150 in the next week or two. I was sold on the 5.0 v8 because it is tried and true, and gets good mileage in MY18 trucks due to dual injection and 10 speed transmission. But after seeing pricing and options for towing packages with diffetent engines, I am thinking of looking into the 3.5L Ecoboost.

Starting MY18 the Ecoboost is dual injected so no worry about dirty valves. But I worry about the turbo reliability. I dont understand them well enough to be confident they are good or bad in terms of reliability.

Does the turbo portion need to be rebuilt after a while? Expensive to repair?

Any info on this engine or turbos in general appreciated. I plan to keep this truck a long time.
 
The 5.0 is just a complex an engine as the 3.5 Eco-Boost, just minus the turbo chargers (dual overhead cams, 4 valve, variable valve timing, and dual injection). When I purchased my F150, I drove nearly identical (even the color) 2013 XLT's with each engine and the 3.5 Eco-Boost was clearly the better truck engine with strong pulling from low in the rpm's versus the 5.0 needing to wind up to get to the power (which was good once you got there). The turbo chargers are water cooled so you aren't going to have the issues that 1980's turbo engines have. Turbo chargers in diesel engines run many hundred thousand miles easily and there is no reason to believe these eco-boost turbochargers will not do the same.
 
Originally Posted By: wallyuwl


Starting MY18 the Ecoboost is dual injected so no worry about dirty valves.


Started MY 17.

Besides that, there was never a need to worry anyway.

A turbo is also nothing to worry about.
I have driven turbo engines exclusively since 2002.
Put 304k on one.
The Eco I just traded last May had 147K
 
My knee jerk reaction is to recommend the 5.0L Coyote!!....Why would you want a jazzed up Duratech V6 in a truck?

Drive BOTH & make a decision. No need to worry about either engines reliability!
 
If I were putting my money down on a new Ford F150, I would go with the 5.0L.
I wouldn't want to own the twin turbos after warranty is up.
This is after running 100s of Ford trucks in a very large fleet, gasoline and diesel.
 
I have both a V8 and a 3.5 Ecoboost F150, the earlier body style. I can say, without a doubt, the V8 is far more pleasant to drive and live with. It's butter smooth, instantly responsive and does everything well.

The Ecoboost has considerably more vibration under some conditions. Other times, it's so quiet, you don't notice the engine at all. Weird. The EB has lag, and at times that's annoying. The EB is faster in real world driving. Pleasantly fast.

I am in the market for another new F150. I'm not going with the EB.

I'll say it like this, I drive both trucks from FL to NY from time to time. The V8 is just a better ride and is by far, my preference. The EB, while wonderfully powerful, is grating at times. You can blame that on the sound of a big V6, but I think it's more than just the sound, it's the vaunted NVH combo. (noise vibration harshness)
 
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Have you tried the different engines? The ecos if driven properly get better mpgs and the low end power at cruise is enjoyable. Will there be more problems ? if there are no turbos there will be no turbos to fail and under boost if bad happens it will be worst. I bought one without much stress. The V8 if I were a betting person would be the most reliable. I have two vehicles with turbos.
 
My brother-in-law has had a new pickup every year, through his business. He has been driving F150's for the past 4 years, started with a 3.5 ecoboost, then went to the 5.0, never went back to the 3.5, just liked the sound and power of the V8 for the past 3 years. Since retiring, he still buys a new truck every year but switched to Chevy, really loves his 6.2 LTZ Silverado. Says it has better power and fuel economy than the 5.0 Coyote. Yep, he has money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DznZdp0RpFw&t=24s
 
I really like the new 5.0, but I also like the Ecoboost. Tough choice. I guess if I was buying a new F-150, I would have to go with the Raptor, and that happens to have a High Output 3.5L Ecoboost.
 
I have owned a number of Turbo cars, albeit Euro models. No turbo issues other than an old air cooled Volvo turbo finally dropping speed at 148,000 IIRC. The replacement liquid cooled unit went 200,000 and was still spooling up to 13 PSI when I got rid of the car. Modern OEM turbos are very reliable
smile.gif


I have driven over the road trucks and tractors with turbos since the 1970's and they almost never fail in LOTS of miles/hours
smile.gif
 
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I just drove a 17 Expedition with the 3.5EB. While at heart I will always be a V8 guy since I was raised on Fox-body Mustangs and moved onto my all-time favorite, a G8 GXP with the LS3... all I can say is that I am seriously impressed with the 3.5. I also drove a friend's F150 CC with the EB as well, and that thing was quite impressive. If you are going to be towing or loading the bed down with heavy stuff, it will be hard to beat the usability of all the TT torque.

Ford has definitely done a great job with the 5.0, but the way I see it, HP and torque follow the same saying as championship sports teams... offense wins games, defense wins championships. Torque is defense!

Put a good synthetic in the EB, change it at 5-6k and it will live every bit as long as the 5.0.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Sounds like most who have owned both like the 5.0. I won't do a lot of towing, but will do some in the summer (though not heavy, at most 4000 lbs).

I drove the 5.0 and liked it except for the power really coming at the higher RPMs. That said, it had a nice feel to it driving around town. It was responsive and really smooth even if I'd have liked the power to come a little sooner in the power band. I have not driven the 3.5, maybe will on Monday. I did look under the hood and it would be a lot harder to even do basic things like change spark plugs, clean the throttle body, etc. For a modern engine compartment, the 5.0 has a lot of room.

I drove a RAM with the 5.7 HEMI and didn't like the sound of it, or the characteristics of the 8 speed in it. Won't consider GM because they no longer have the Vortec engines, they are all Ecotec3 since 2014. They are direct injected (not dual injected like the Fords), and I'm not going to get the valves cleaned every 20k miles. DI is a deal breaker for me.
 
The Ecoboost has been in production since 2011, and turbos with water-cooled bearing housings have been in production since the mid-1980's. It's a mature technology. The Ecoboost makes better low-end torque than the 5.0, and that's where it matters in a truck application.
 
I own 2 EB 3.5s, one in a car and 1 in the F150. Both the original version with high miles (123k and 83k) and no issues to report with either. Just tons of power thanks to the turbos and a wide power band.

If you like the sound of a V8 get the 5.0. It sounds wonderful. It's got great power, good economy and did I mention sounds great?

If you're going to tow or haul heavy loads, get the EB 3.5. We tow a 9900lb camper with ours and the power is very good towing that load. Up the mountains and down the mountains it just does really really well. Holds speed well and returns decent fuel economy when towing and not towing (we have max tow so it has the "worse"gears). On my 2011 F150 it's very easy to change the plugs, clean the throttle body, etc. Not sure how the engine compartment changed over the years but I imagine it's still about the same dimensions.

In the end I don't think you can go wrong with either engine choice.
 
Interesting article that includes points about the 3.5 Ecoboost and choosing an appropriate oil for turbos. It was good to see Castrol full syn Edge performed very well in this particular test, and surprising that Redline was last....

Amsoil article

Testing was from 2013, so formulas have most likely changed some since then.
 
Your best bet is to go on the f150 forums and research the EB's for failure trends of the stretched timing chain, phasers, internal water pump leak into the oil pan, thrown rods from slighlty overfilled oil, cac filling up with water, carbon etc.. Some of those maybe fixed now but it seems very hit and miss from some. From the issues my f inlaw has had on his 16 3.5, i would pass on the EB if it was a long term keeper vehicle. If it's a lease then have fun.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
If you're going to tow or haul heavy loads, get the EcoBoost 3.5 liter V6.

We tow a 9900lb camper with ours and the power is very good towing that load. Up the mountains and down the mountains it just does really really well.


If you had told me this 20 years ago, I would have said you were bat crazy!

There's a video on Youtube, Ecoboost v6 F150 towing a 10,000lb backhoe - truck has 140,000 miles on it, pulls heavy loads all the time, and has never had a problem ever.

I'm sold.
 
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