First time Towing and Terrible MPG - PowerBoost

[jmphelan]

Last night I towed my 24' enclosed race trailer for the first time. The trailer was empty towing to go pick up my car at the shop, empty weight was around 5,000lb. The truck pulled like a champ and felt very stable and never felt like it was stressed at all, way better than my 2019 Ram 1500. The issue for me was that running 70 or 75 the truck was getting 5 MPG. I have a power boost engine in this truck and was hoping to get some better MPG based on what I have read about the eco boost in general.

Other than MPG I was thrilled with how the truck towed, just somewhat blown away by poor mileage.

Anyone else have this issue? I read lots of good reviews before buying the truck pulling more weight than i was. I think in these cases it was a lower trailer, mine is a flat front enclosed trailer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. And yes I know I can drive slower, I didn't see any meaningful increase in economy until I was going 65, which is below the speed limit here.

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[Jus Cruisin]

One, don't believe the LOM. Two, you need to stay out of the boost. For me that generally meant 70 mph was it for speeds.

I pulled a 24' enclosed car trailer with my 2016 F150 King Ranch 3.5l Ecoboost and would get 9-10mpg hand calculated on trips to and from Florida and Michigan.

 

[jmphelan]

One, don't believe the LOM. Two, you need to stay out of the boost. For me that generally meant 70 mph was it for speeds.

I pulled a 24' enclosed car trailer with my 2016 F150 King Ranch 3.5l Ecoboost and would get 9-10mpg hand calculated on trips to and from Florida and Michigan.

assume LOM is Lie-O-Meter for the gauge clusters estimate. Also have you towed with your new PowerBoost? What was your MPG like?

 

[Jus Cruisin]

assume LOM is Lie-O-Meter for the gauge clusters estimate. Also have you towed with your new PowerBoost? What was your MPG like?

Yes correct assumption on the LOM. No actually not going to be towing anymore, at least cars. I do have a 277cc Cobia boat that I might tow but it's in rack storage on Lake St Clair so I don't anticipate taking it anywhere else.

 

[chrisp993]

Like Jus Cruisin, I pulled a 24' race car trailer, weight about 7,000lbs, with my 2016 3.5 Ecoboost with the older 6 speed transmission and always got between 8 and 9 mpg, running around 70mph. I can't believe the Powerboost, with an improved version of same engine and 10 speed transmission - even with the 3.73 rear end - would be any worse. Expect about the same. Advise you to hand calculate as suggested?

 

[JPK]

Has anyone seen improvement with a bed cover or cap? I've made two - 200 mile trips on my 6 week old powerboost. Started towing at 1100 miles, (4500 lb. 26 ft ultralight travel trailer) I'm really disappointed with the fuel economy. Averaging about 10 mpg running at 65 mph max. Previous towing vehicle was a 2020 Explorer and I averaged 12 mpg over about a dozen trips. Expected much better with the Powerboost not worse Without the trailer Im getting 24 hwy. Seems maybe an aerodynamics thing...I certainly notice the wind more with this truck

 

[discothan]

Several threads floating around testing/stating that leaving it in 8 or 9th gear while towing will get you a small improvement with MPG than letting the transmission shift to 10. Also, TFL Youtube video discusses what/how the true MPG rating was derived. Finally, I think your PB engine disengages after certain speeds, so the PB engine won't help you with MPG at 70-75mph; your EcoBoost engine would have kicked in by then.

 

[Ziggy73]

Yeah, what disco said. Lockout several of your gears, starting with at the very least 8th through 10th, sometimes I'll run mine and 7th just depending on how steep the hill is to keep boost to a minimum. But you don't want to be on a super long hill climb and 9th gear running 10 PSI the whole time. I did that and it helps a lot, as well as many of the guys even unloaded when you're going up a hill rather than letting the truck lug and tenth. I think that will help you a lot, just to be vigilant with locking those gears out, I used to keep it around 2200 RPMs going up steep hills. Still a lot lower RPM than a 5.0 pulling the same load for sure.

 

[Atlee]

Last night I towed my 24' enclosed race trailer for the first time. The trailer was empty towing to go pick up my car at the shop, empty weight was around 5,000lb. The truck pulled like a champ and felt very stable and never felt like it was stressed at all, way better than my 2019 Ram 1500. The issue for me was that running 70 or 75 the truck was getting 5 MPG. I have a power boost engine in this truck and was hoping to get some better MPG based on what I have read about the eco boost in general.

Other than MPG I was thrilled with how the truck towed, just somewhat blown away by poor mileage.

Anyone else have this issue? I read lots of good reviews before buying the truck pulling more weight than i was. I think in these cases it was a lower trailer, mine is a flat front enclosed trailer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. And yes I know I can drive slower, I didn't see any meaningful increase in economy until I was going 65, which is below the speed limit here.

I tow a 5500+ pound travel trailer that's 24.5' long. My PB has a 6.5' box and 4x4 with the 3.73 rear. On roads 65 Mph speed limit or higher, I drive 63 mph. I get in the right lane and let the world go by. I also lock out 8. 9, & 10 gears. This past weekend I got 10.5 mpg over 188 miles all interstate.

 

[bbene]

I tow a 5500+ pound travel that's 24.5' long. My PB has a 6.5' box and 4x4 with the 3.73 rear. On roads 65 Mph speed limit or higher, I drive 63 mph. I get in the right lane and let the world go by. I also lock out 8. 9, & 10 gears. This past weekend I got 10.5 mpg over 188 miles all interstate.

I do the same. I'd rather take my time and get my family to our camping trips safe and not worrry about having to pass vehicles. Bonus points for when you end up behind a semi trailer and get to draft a bit lol

 

[780]

Bonus points for when you end up behind a semi trailer and get to draft a bit lol

I'm always torn between being able to draft or worrying about getting a rock chip in my windshield when I end up behind a semi. I usually end up passing the semi... lol

 

[Losungen]

You can’t beat physics - once your battery runs out, you’re towing more weight then a non powerboost plus the engine is now also working to charge the battery.

A hybrid should get worse mileage towing than the non-hybrid equivalent, it’s just physics.

Same goes for any driving where it’s charging instead of depleting the battery, ie. highway driving

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Last night I towed my 24' enclosed race trailer for the first time. The trailer was empty towing to go pick up my car at the shop, empty weight was around 5,000lb. The truck pulled like a champ and felt very stable and never felt like it was stressed at all, way better than my 2019 Ram 1500. The issue for me was that running 70 or 75 the truck was getting 5 MPG. I have a power boost engine in this truck and was hoping to get some better MPG based on what I have read about the eco boost in general.

Other than MPG I was thrilled with how the truck towed, just somewhat blown away by poor mileage.

Anyone else have this issue? I read lots of good reviews before buying the truck pulling more weight than i was. I think in these cases it was a lower trailer, mine is a flat front enclosed trailer.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. And yes I know I can drive slower, I didn't see any meaningful increase in economy until I was going 65, which is below the speed limit here.

Selling and buy a 3/4 ton diesel. You will never be happy with mileage driving 70-75 and pulling g a trailer.

I’m not even get into the idea of how irresponsible it is to tow at those speeds with a 1/2 ton truck.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Air flow resistance is a big deal. As mentioned above stay out of boost. The benefit of a V6 with turbos is that the power, when needed is there, but the downside is that if you get on turbos then the mpg goes down down, down... I towed a U-Haul trailer with a big ramp. That ramp, when folded up, was a big wind drag. Keep in mind that wind resistance goes up as a cubic function. So when you go from 30 mph to 60 mph the wind drag goes up by a factor of 8.

 

[themcmercslr]

Selling and buy a 3/4 ton diesel. You will never be happy with mileage driving 70-75 and pulling g a trailer.

I'd have to agree. I get about 14 MPG towing a 20' open aluminum race trailer, and my buddy's 2500 Cummins gets the same towing a enclosed trailex of the same length, and I'm usually the one DRAFTING him.

Not saying it can't be done, I've seen big tall intechs pulled by SUVs. If that's within your risk tolerance, that's your rodeo. I'd tow that 20' short enclosed trailex (of about 1500 lbs empty) I mentioned with my truck but if going taller and heavier, I'd go with a diesel HD.

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