Ford Explorer Sport 3.5L Eco-Boost Towing

[Stangman]

Anyone towing a 17RB/RK/FD or similar with a Ford Explorer 3.5l Eco-boost engine? How's your performance? MPG? My MPG terrible and the cruise control did not work consistently. Mostly flat traveling with some hills and winds. SUV is less than 1 year old and 7900 miles. Otherwise this vehicle drives great. It has the factory tow package and I have an E2 WDH/Sway hitch. TIA.

[ShawnR]

The 3.5EB can get poor mileage under a load. It’s the price we pay for hp and torque. Try premium fuel and lock out another gear to keep the rpms up. Both those improve towing economy a little. Also, avoid cruise except on straight and flat road. It doesn’t predict hills so you’ll lose momentum and suck fuel trying to get back up to speed.

[Retire-]

Sorry to hear about your SUV mpg problems. We couldn't be happier with our 2.7L Ecoboost. The Truck never struggled while driving up from Texas or while on Hwy 49 through the Mountains from Ft. Smith to Bella Vista Arkansas. Hwy speeds up to but not exceeding 65 mph with cruise control set in tow haul mode. Flat ground towing we were getting about 11.5-12.0 mpg. We got 10.9 mpg towing over the entire trip (including the wind in our face/cross wind and the mountain miles) and up to 26.7 mpg when not towing while driving around sight seeing through the mountains.
Highly recommend the 2.7L F-150.

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by Stangman

Anyone towing a 17RB/RK/FD or similar with a Ford Explorer 3.5l Eco-boost engine? How's your performance? MPG? My MPG terrible and the cruise control did not work consistently. Mostly flat traveling with some hills and winds. SUV is less than 1 year old and 7900 miles. Otherwise this vehicle drives great. It has the factory tow package and I have an E2 WDH/Sway hitch. TIA.

What do you consider terrible MPG towing? How fast were you towing? Were you in tow/haul mode? Did you air up your SUV and trailer tires while towing?

Your performance, should be amazing with a 3.5 towing that little trailer.