Positive: Ford F-150 2014 Ecoboost Review

[robsshots]

We picked up our 2015 Rockwood Ultralight 8280 WS last August - with a 2014 Ford F-150 Ecoboost. Hardly anyone believed we could tow that fifth wheel with a 6 cylinder truck.

Happy to report that we have pulled that thing from Ohio to Tennessee (Great Smoky Mountains NP), across to Colorado and through the mountains, on to Grand Canyon, Vegas, Wintered in Arizona in three different places, to Havasu Falls, Page AZ, Las Vegas, Bishop CA (foot of the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas) and now sitting in Coarsegold CA while visiting Yosemite.

Have not had one single challenge with the truck. Tows like a champ. When doing mountain or very hilly country, I get between 9 and 10 mpg. When on relative flat land, I get close to 12 mpg.

Our great truck has a heavy duty tow package (MANDATORY) which includes a larger radiator and transmission cooler along with a sway bar. We added half a Timbren suspension booster to the rear end to help a bit, total of $300 installed.

When not towing we get 18 combined city/highway driving. Our trip into Yosemite yesterday netted 21 mpg on some of the steepest twisting roads I have ever driven.

So yes, it can be done and it works great. I regularly pass other units on mountain highways, accelerating uphill without much trouble. Usually try to maintain 60 mph. We got stuck behind a semi in the mountains coming here, and when I pulled put to pass him finally we were doing less than 40 mph. Passed him with no trouble, quickly accelerating to 60 mph much to the surprise of the semi-driver and several cars watching us zoom up the road.

Love this combination. Truck only needs oil changed every 10k. Get this: I dropped the fifth wheel on the truck bed when I did not have it hooked up properly. While I will NEVER make that mistake again, there was not a dent to be seen in that truck bed when I got the rig off. strong truck Ford makes.

So we are tooling around the country, burning gas and not diesel, in one of the most comfortable rides we have ever had, smooth and quiet, and getting great mileage. If you have not gathered it yet, we love our truck AND our 8280 WS - but that's a review for another day.

[TT233S]

Only thing I noticed in your post that gave me a red flag was the 10K oil changes...........It's your truck but mine gets oil changes around the 5K mark!!!!!



I only get 14-15 MPG driving to work, but if I get on the freeway and go 60-65 I get 22-24 easy, if I could just get in the right lane and drive 60 I would get 25 with out a problem!!!!!


This is my first truck and so far it's been great, as I have had problem's with other Ford products and really had to dig deep to get my truck!!!!!


It blow my mind to think that Ford sold around 750,000 of these trucks in 2013

[TURBS]

My 05 gasser and my 08 diesel have a change oil light when I go by that which I do it varies from 6,000 miles to 9,000 miles.
If you change oil nowadays @ 3 to 4k your throwing your money away.

I currently have a 2001 chevy @ the shop that gets changed this way also and it's ticker is @ 350k with original motor, according to my records 9k is the average oil interval for this truck.
I wouldn't be affraid of 10k service.

TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded, 32bhok Sabre
2015 camping "4 nights"

[robsshots]

Right - forgot to mention I have the SCREW as well. The HUGE rear passenger compartment and an extra foot in the bed (6.5')

I tend to agree with you on the oil, but at my age having seen gallons of good clean oil changed out of my vehicles over the years…I aim to keep an eye on the oil regularly. It it gets dirty, I'll change it before the 10K. Otherwise, I'm saving the $$$. Most of our driving is not towing…

Glad you like your truck as much as I like mine. Great product. Only beefs are the difficult access to the tire changing kit, and the stupid design to change the air filter. Seems no mfr is willing to make that a simple task...

[madmaxmutt]

I sure understand not wasting money, but I think you are definitely looking through rose colored glasses if you are towing and plan on changing at 10K.


The manual actually says 10K is for normal driving. 3,000 - 4,999 is for towing in your category. See attached.


EDIT: & I should add that I hope you are using full synthetic oil. . .

And my most hated things about the F150 are Sync and the stupid door detents

[robsshots]

Point well taken - thanks! Had not read that in the manual. 5K it is!

[robsshots]

And I agree with you about Sych. Stoopid system...

[robsshots]

Forgot to mention: MUST have the 3.73 rear end or the tow capacity drops dramatically. With the 3.73 I can tow up to 11,300 lbs, but with the next one down, I can only tow 9,000 lbs. That differential makes ALL the difference. The twin turbo-boosters help, too, I guess LOL.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by robsshots

Forgot to mention: MUST have the 3.73 rear end or the tow capacity drops dramatically. With the 3.73 I can tow up to 11,300 lbs, but with the next one down, I can only tow 9,000 lbs. That differential makes ALL the difference. The twin turbo-boosters help, too, I guess LOL.

Mine is 9,600 with 3.55. There are many, many different configurations. There are also 3.73 rear geared trucks of the same year with 9,600 so you have to pay close attention to detail on the chart.

[B and B]

X3 I drove yesterday into a 45 mph head wind and the transmission never went above 195 F. I held 90 kmph the legal limit for the road twisting and winding. The area I was in is home to a large windfarm, always have wind here. For my 8289 it handles the Fiver just fine!

[TT233S]

Originally Posted by robsshots

Forgot to mention: MUST have the 3.73 rear end or the tow capacity drops dramatically. With the 3.73 I can tow up to 11,300 lbs, but with the next one down, I can only tow 9,000 lbs. That differential makes ALL the difference. The twin turbo-boosters help, too, I guess LOL.

The F150 forums will tell you it's all about the PAYLOAD, which IMO is correct 95% of the time!!!!!

[MilCop4523]

we have the 2013 XTR super crew and tow getting 11 to 13 mpg.
Without tow I'm getting 20 to 22 miles per gallon on the highway.

Still getting the battery warning on my console though (our 11 ecoboost did the same thing). Ford has no idea what is causing it.

[305RESGUY]

robsshots,

Quite the testimony. I have a 2012 Ecoboost with the max-towing package and I pull - you guessed it - a 305RES. It pulls fine.

First, I have to agree re: the 5K oil changes and I'm glad you'll be adjusting your schedule from here on out.

But just a heads-up, I recently became aware of the "Ford Ecoboost Misfire" problem. The 2015 Ecoboost is supposed to be - "totally redesigned" - but up thru 2014 there have been some issues. I was unaware until Good Friday when I was driving on the interstate 3.5 hours from home with 39K miles and the affliction started with mine.

Generally speaking, it seems the spark plugs prematurely crack in a lot of the F-150 Ecoboost engines (apparently the F-150 line is the only line impacted for Ford). And/or many of them are suffering coil issues as well. One or more cylinders will start to misfire (I had multiple cylinders misfiring badly at 65MPH highway speeds and lower if the engine was under a strain). It started suddenly without warning. Some report they only have this problem in wet conditions (Google and you'll see the various reports).

Compounding the problem is the onboard computer doesn't always log the misfires and the techs will have to document the issue road testing it (a tech and I road tested my truck 184-miles one day trying to get the engine hot enough to start misfiring - I went to the dealer to assist because it had been there 4-days at this point as they tried to diagnose the issue).

On my 6th visit to the dealer over the April-May timeframe, my dealer finally documented it and replaced all six coils and six plugs under my extended warranty with a $100 deductible. So far (2-weeks), so good.

Just FYI to be aware of it. Lots of info at the following forum - FordF150.net - Your Ford F150 Truck Enthusiast Site - 2014 2015 Ford F150, also search youtube for videos, and there are several Technical Safety Bulletins published by Ford Motor Corp. I subscribed to receive all future TSB's re: 2012 F-150s so I'm aware of new ones.

It seems the magic mileage for the problems to begin to surface is 30-45K. I think it's important to know, especially for those of us pulling big loads. It's bad enough to have vehicle issues, let alone when you're pulling a travel trailer or 5th wheel.

I'm not anti-Ford ... as I said, I own a 2012. I have the Blue Oval hat, several t-shirts, a polo and a travel mug for the truck. Other than the past 2-months I've been happy with mine. I'm just glad this didn't happen in the middle of camping season. Maybe the 2014 will be a bit better, but I know some of the Technical Safety Bulletins & mods also covered that model year.

Troy

[madmaxmutt]

First, a lot of these issues were from poorly gaped plugs. Most report .028 - .032 works much better than what the manual says not to mention that many 2011-2014 were a larger gap than the specs listed. There is no "magic mileage", they were simply not gaped well to start with.
Second, the number of reported issues are minuscule compared to the number of vehicles on the road (which doesn't matter if it happens to you)
Third, You can change the plugs yourself in less than an hour on this truck/engine for a few bucks.
Fourth, a LOT of the people reporting issues are tuned.

[305RESGUY]

madmaxmutt,

I think (without looking) the Ford spec for the gap is 0.35, and indeed many are gapping it smaller when replacing the plugs.

Five of my six coils were cracked, and the sixth one had a cracked boot so I had some sort of failure in all six. Admittedly strange for a 2.5 year old truck with less than 40K miles. Again, I'm a Ford Guy so I'm not bashing - maybe frustrated it took 6 dealer visits to figure it out and the fact they didn't volunteer anything until I mentioned the specific Technical Bulletin Numbers to them.

I didn't understand your 4th point, maybe a generational gap

Cheers Mate,

Troy

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by 305RESGUY

madmaxmutt,

I think (without looking) the Ford spec for the gap is 0.35, and indeed many are gapping it smaller when replacing the plugs.

Five of my six coils were cracked, and the sixth one had a cracked boot so I had some sort of failure in all six. Admittedly strange for a 2.5 year old truck with less than 40K miles. Again, I'm a Ford Guy so I'm not bashing - maybe frustrated it took 6 dealer visits to figure it out and the fact they didn't volunteer anything until I mentioned the specific Technical Bulletin Numbers to them.

I didn't understand your 4th point, maybe a generational gap

Cheers Mate,

Troy

No worries. The manual says .030-0.33, but mine (and many others) were all over the place when I pulled the stock plugs. At less than $6 per plug it is good insurance to check and replace the stock plugs.

tuned = The owners were using aftermarket tuners that change the computer control of the vehicle usually making the truck much faster

[305RESGUY]

Thanks madmaxmutt. I don't normally associate F-150 with "tuned", but of course. I haven't touched my F-150 because Ford will void the factory & my 100K extended warranty for almost any reason - e.g., after market exhaust, intercooler "bug" cover, etc.

The 0.35 stuck in my head b/c that was the AutoZone or Advanced Auto Parts over-the-counter recommended replacement plug that I looked at early on when I considered replacing the plugs to see if that would solve my problem.

Thanks for the input. And you're right: tuning = faster is better

[bruane]

I get the same comments all the time when they see me pulling my 8280. The technology is great and one item that you didn't mention is the tow/haul mode. I went up and down the Rockies twice last year with a full load and going downhill in 6/8% grades it was feet off the pedals and this mode managed all of the braking and kept the whole configuration as solid as a rock. Coming back across the Appalachians this spring on the up hill I was maintaining 60 mph and it was outrunning tractor trailer rigs all of the way without working up a sweat. On the oil item 5K is a good number. It was mentioned to me that the turbochargers give the oil a good workout under load and to not to overdo it. The only downside that I can see.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by robsshots

Forgot to mention: MUST have the 3.73 rear end or the tow capacity drops dramatically. With the 3.73 I can tow up to 11,300 lbs, but with the next one down, I can only tow 9,000 lbs. That differential makes ALL the difference. The twin turbo-boosters help, too, I guess LOL.

On paper only. And not anymore. I have contended for a long time that there is no need for gears lower than 3.55 in the EB because of the torque curve and the 6 speed tranny. The 2015 models have the highest tow capacities listed on the 3.55 trucks. So, apparently Ford now agrees with me.

[walleyeman]

I have the same trailer but a 2011 same dry weight, do you know the pin weight on the rear axle. This is my concern, I know the trailer tow package states 11,300 lbs but are you legal with the weight on the rear axle when you include loaded weight of the trailer, hitch weight, fuel and passengers. I would really prefer a F150 over a F250 so I am very interested in your reply. Thank you