2013 Ford F-150 Ecoboost

[blderman]

Having previously owned a 2014 F150 Ecoboost I will give you a couple of suggestions from things I learned.

- Change the oil every 5,000mi or less using full synthetic. Do not go by the oil change monitor as it will let you go 10,000mi or more. The Ecoboost motor has relatively high amounts of fuel in the oil due to direct injection and a poor PCV system.

- Do a search on Ecoboost catch can. You either need to install one or drill a 1/16" hole in your intercooler. Ford poorly designed the PCV system on this engine and it let's a ton of liquid back into the engine. I chose to drill a hole in my intercooler and was glad I did as the amount of water/oil that came out of it on a daily basis was incredible.

-Spark plugs every 20,000mi and make sure all of the gaps are set to .030-.032


You will enjoy this truck, it tows like a small diesel and is very comfortable for long trips.



From my Note 5

[BuddyRay]

I've got a 2016 F150 Ecoboost and they are still just as good; better because of the Aluminum body increased the towing and payload numbers by the weight saved.
My gas mileage is echoing Flappers almost exactly.
I only towed our former TT once (to take it to the dealer to trade it in) but where my big V8 Explorer struggled, with the Ecoboost I seriously forgot the TT was back there. It's almost as good with the 5th wheel.
Hadn't heard the stuff about using mid-range gas - I need to check that out. Didn't notice it is the manual.


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[North of 49°]

Thanks blderman, I'll have to look into that.

The mileage on my old Silverado, 5.3 litre with the 4 speed and 3.73, was getting me around 13 in the city, so 17 to 18 will be a huge improvement. The Silverado would get that on the highway while not towing. I like having the instant fuel mileage display showing on the instrument panel; having that number right in front of me makes me more conscious of what my right foot is doing. Better gas mileage will help the truck pay for itself.

We have a trip planned this summer to some hilly country in western Manitoba, nothing like farther west but definitely not the flat prairie that we're used to. The last time we were out there was with the Silverado and our old 4,400 lb Starcraft hybrid. It handled the hills okay, but not exceptionally. This trip should be interesting.

[blderman]

Originally Posted by North of 49°

Thanks blderman, I'll have to look into that.

The mileage on my old Silverado, 5.3 litre with the 4 speed and 3.73, was getting me around 13 in the city, so 17 to 18 will be a huge improvement. The Silverado would get that on the highway while not towing. I like having the instant fuel mileage display showing on the instrument panel; having that number right in front of me makes me more conscious of what my right foot is doing. Better gas mileage will help the truck pay for itself.

We have a trip planned this summer to some hilly country in western Manitoba, nothing like farther west but definitely not the flat prairie that we're used to. The last time we were out there was with the Silverado and our old 4,400 lb Starcraft hybrid. It handled the hills okay, but not exceptionally. This trip should be interesting.

Not sure what gears your truck has but my Ecoboost had 3.73s and I couldn't get better than 13 city but hwy I was able to get 19-21 regularly.



From my Note 5

[BuddyRay]

I guess it also depends on what 'city' consists of. My drive to work consists of about 5 miles of expressway and 5 of streets each way.


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[North of 49°]

Mine has the 3.55 rear end in it so it should do a little better in gas mileage. It has the towing package, but not the max towing package. For us, "city" driving would be about 80% city/20% highway. We live in the east part of the city, and I work in the north part; it's 18 km and 25 minutes each way to and from work if I go through the city, and it's 25 km and 30 minutes if I take the highway around. So the gas consumption is a wash. I change up the route occasionally to keep things from getting boring. If I've had a particularly stressful day, I take the highway and crank the tunes.

I filled up with gas the other day, and the computer said something like 800 km (500 miles) to empty. That's going to be about twice what the Silverado got per tank. Mind you, it is a larger tank by about 25%.

[SkyBound]

I have the 137L tank and when I filled up last week the distance read 950km on the dash info center. Not sure if it's accurate since I typically re-fill at a quarter tank. I have 3.73's but with my larger tires the equivalent ratio is actually around 3.55. Driving habits and style is much more of a factor for fuel mileage than rear end ratio. I doubt you'd notice anything if you drove two rear ends the exact same.

The benefit of using higher grade gas when towing is so the computer doesn't have to retard the timing (as much or if at all) when the engine is really hot and working hard, due to detonation/pre-ignition. When the timing gets retarded (spark happening later in the compression stroke) the power is reduced due to the full cylinder pressure being applied to the piston after top dead center as opposed to timed perfectly to happen AT top dead center.

[North of 49°]

Skybound, that's what I've been reading, that towing performance with the Ecoboost is better with premium gas. Most of our trips are within an hour or two of home. Before we leave on a trip, I top up the tank, so it doesn't really make sense for me to top it up with premium which will get mixed with whatever regular gas that's already in the tank. But on longer trips, like the 400+ km one we have planned in August, I'll switch to premium for that.

So far just city driving on regular gas, I'm getting 14.5 l/100 km, which converts to 16.2 mpg. Noticeably better than the 13 mpg with the old Silverado.

[pman1088]

I guess you would have to see what your towing MPG increase is with Premium vs Regular. At .20 cents+ extra per gallon (a little over 7 dollars more in a 36Gal fill up) that works out to roughly 3 gals, and if your getting 9MPG towing, that's 27 miles better per fill up, but at the cost of $7+ per fill up, which is close to around the cost of 3 gals of gas. It may make you feel better, but the math leans to buying cheaper gas.

I get about 12 towing through the mountainous areas near my home. I try not to go faster then 65MPH.


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[North of 49°]

The speed limits around here are 100 kph (~63 mph) and I usually try to keep it there or slightly below. With the Silverado I found the sweet spot was around 95 kph; that gave me the best combination of mileage and performance. Our first trip with the new truck is this weekend to a campground about an hour away, and it's flat for the whole trip. Guaranteed it'll be a better towing experience.