High milage ecoboost

sirkdev

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So something that may be of interest to you folks with eco's that tow.....I have a 2015 and it is used almost exclusively for towing for my wife and kids 2 horses/ trailer etc. What I have noticed is fuel octane makes a huge difference empty 87 is fine no noticed mileage increase to go to 91. However when towing hard it seems to gobble fuel excessively. Especially when ambient temps are high. On a whim I tried 91 octane, mileage increased almost instantly significantly. I think this engine is a choice candidate for water/methanol injection. Snow makes a great kit for this.
Snow performance has a good video on there site to explain why is affects this particular engine so bad, also would be a great help to reduce carbon buildup issues so common to direct injection issues. Now to convince the wife to get on board with the meth plan....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AkkaDDS_3I
 
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skidoo6100

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We have a very early build '11 F-150 Ecoboost at work. I drove it for the first 200,000kms, now another worker has it and its at about 230,000... So far were on the 3rd set of tires, 2nd set of brakes, 4th set of spark plugs, and one vacuum pump. Pretty good if you ask me... Its used to tow a lot as well.
 

Caper11

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JUST had another customer come in with an F150 (not an ecoboost) with noisy cam phasers. Offered him the "proper fix" as well as thicker oil. And he chose..... yup, you guessed it.... thicker oil.

Yes that works, and is cheaper for sure, but changing out the solenoids to the updated ones fixes it properly, plus the fuel mileage is 7-9l per 100k better.

But at the end of the day it's what the customer can afford.


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Badass69

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They spec 5w20 or even 0w20 now for every last ounce of fuel economy improvement.... that's it. If the people that spout off about "tight tolerances" ever actually looked at things like main journal clearance... rod bearing clearance... guide clearance... etc they would see that "tolerances" haven't gotten much tighter now than 40 years ago... Case in point was a guy posted specs for a 2011+ 5 liter and spouted off about "tight tolerances" as always. For funzies someone else posted the bearing clearances for a 1970 302... and they damn near were identical... Funny how those engines didn't implode with straight 30 weight or heavier in them... People that spout this stuff should just be ignored.... you know because a new Boss 302 Mustang specs no less than 5w50 with the exact same spec'd clearances in the engine as the pickup 5 liter that specs 5w20... uh huh. Guess Ford forgot that the modern 5 liter would blow up instantly with a heavier spec'd oil than 5w20....

And for the record... the ecoboost specs 5w30... not 5w20.

Ford screwed up in the 5.4 ( in more ways than one... what a turd those heaps are) but even published themselves that up 10w40 was acceptable in them after the 3 valves started hammering like powerstrokes...

All the oems have done is hours and hours of testing to find the lightest most fuel economy friendly oil that will still protect the engine under normal operating conditions. It in no way means stepping the viscosity will cause failure... because it won't.

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AreWeThereYet

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What everyone has failed to mention is whether it be Dodge. Chev or Ford, 5w20 has been spec for VVT or MDS. It is required for these so called feel better mileage claims to sell vehicles to the greenies.
 

Badass69

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Gms original vvt and active fuel management LS engines spec'd 5w30 from inception in 2007.....

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X-Treme

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What everyone has failed to mention is whether it be Dodge. Chev or Ford, 5w20 has been spec for VVT or MDS. It is required for these so called feel better mileage claims to sell vehicles to the greenies.

I can't think of a single GM vehicle, off hand, that specs 5w20. Everything newer is 5w30 Dexos.
 

Badass69

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I can't think of a single GM vehicle, off hand, that specs 5w20. Everything newer is 5w30 Dexos.
All the 2014 and 2015 5.3 and 6.2 powered trucks spec 0w20. The 4.3 specs 5w30 still... even though it's an identical design engine to the 5.3 and 6.2 now and not that stupid old 350 missing it's front 2 cylinders. Gm makes little sense... my 2015 6.2 is getting 5w30once I burn through the 5w20 I have kicking around.

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X-Treme

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All the 2014 and 2015 5.3 and 6.2 powered trucks spec 0w20. The 4.3 specs 5w30 still... even though it's an identical design engine to the 5.3 and 6.2 now and not that stupid old 350 missing it's front 2 cylinders. Gm makes little sense... my 2015 6.2 is getting 5w30once I burn through the 5w20 I have kicking around.

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Fair enough. Haven't had one of the new body trucks in the shop yet. Weird tho, as the '13 Tahoes that the RCMP use are 5/30 Dexos. Wonder why the change in '14...
 

Badass69

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Fair enough. Haven't had one of the new body trucks in the shop yet. Weird tho, as the '13 Tahoes that the RCMP use are 5/30 Dexos. Wonder why the change in '14...
Completely different engines that only share relative displacement. The new ones are not LS engines anymore and direct injection changed pretty much everything. My 15 6.2 8 speed double cab makes the LS 6.2 trucks feel like turds lol.

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Moose

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traded my 2011 off with 180000km(lots of idle time in there as well) and wish I still had it lots of power decent mileage. I was on the 3rd set of plugs. The plugs take about 15min to change so its not that big a deal
 

gdhillon

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JUST had another customer come in with an F150 (not an ecoboost) with noisy cam phasers. Offered him the "proper fix" as well as thicker oil. And he chose..... yup, you guessed it.... thicker oil.


Was that a 5.0? Did the engine have a metallic like tap? I think im going to pm you a few ?s if you don't mind

Here's a thread for a tsb on the ego (from FT), from 11 to 15 this is an issue iirc: TSB15-0131 - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums
 

Braddock54

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Mine is still pretty new (33k), but I haven't had any problems with it. Still holds 6th gear towing on most hills, but it sure burns a lot of fuel doing it.

Should be called Eco OR Boost though.
 

DDrake

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Mine is still pretty new (33k), but I haven't had any problems with it. Still holds 6th gear towing on most hills, but it sure burns a lot of fuel doing it.

Should be called Eco OR Boost though.

I have 26k on mine with no issues. Same as yours will hold 6th gear on most hills and if I keep it around 100 k towing my 22' enclosed I get 22-25 l/100 k which I am happy with.
 

Bnorth

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Lock out 5th gear towing and you'll see better mileage. 6th loads it too hard and makes more boost.
 
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