How common are 14th Gen turbo failures?

[Scotty_B]

Thanks for the update. I am seeing quality issues in many new things since 2020. I wonder what happened?

Sponsored

 

[Rambo Crane]

Thanks for the update. I am seeing quality issues in many new things since 2020. I wonder what happened?

Same.
I would imagine majority has to do w/ post-pandemic employment and business practices. Post-pandemic era manufacturing space seems to be suffering from labor pool and supply chain struggles.

Off topic--I ride mountain/gravel bikes where same issues have risen. New Fox and RockShox/Sram products are junk. I've sent multiple forks, shocks, wireless drivetrains back to manufactures for warranty work either out of the box or shortly after install/minimal use.

Fingers crossed we're coming out of this.

 

[Fisher24]

Hey guys l, I have 2021 STX with 85k miles.
Since brand new the truck has been leveled on 33’s. I regularly change the oil at 5k miles and it drives like new. I have towed a trailer a hand full of times but mostly highway miles. I’m starting to get nervous reading about the possible turbo failures.

 

[ColoradoHunter]

Forums are well known for attracting people who have problems. The lack of threads with people complaining of turbo failures gives me faith that Ford has it figured out. Anything mechanical can have manufacturing failures. Most of these failures will happen in the first few thousand miles.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

12 years on my last turbo Ecoboost motor with no special treatments and turbos were fine. Failure would be the exception not the norm. Buy ESP if you are worried about it.

 

[Rambo Crane]

Hey guys l, I have 2021 STX with 85k miles.
Since brand new the truck has been leveled on 33’s. I regularly change the oil at 5k miles and it drives like new. I have towed a trailer a hand full of times but mostly highway miles. I’m starting to get nervous reading about the possible turbo failures.

Drive it, maintain it, and don't worry.

Two post above are 100% accurate. Forums are loaded with folks (like me...) that have had issues and complain.
I have owned multiple 5.0s, 3.5EBs, 6.7PSD, with great success. The F-150 platform is about as good as it gets on today's market.

Was I an unlucky customer w/ my 2022 Tremor? yes, probably so. Ford made it right and dealership did a good job on repair. Truck drives better than when I picked her up, new.

I do believe in warranties though, just as extra insurance.

Enjoy your truck, looks awesome!

 

[amschind]

I agree. I was speaking of non hybrid, so your PB definitely creates a different situation.

I think the PB has some relevance for regular 2.7/3.5 owners because I believe that the turbos are the same between models. I was just defeated by Ford's 3+ taillight connectors, so I'm far from an authority of Ford SKUs, but I think there's only one turbo design.

 

[rpold150]

I think the PB has some relevance for regular 2.7/3.5 owners because I believe that the turbos are the same between models. I was just defeated by Ford's 3+ taillight connectors, so I'm far from an authority of Ford SKUs, but I think there's only one turbo design.

I assume the EB and PB turbos are identical. The EB / PB difference in this discussion is that with EB, I can be putting a lot of stress on the turbo (heating it up) and spend the last few minutes cooling things off by driving easy coming into my neighborhood, or as mentioned above I can climb a long hill and coast down the other side. But with the PB, the truck can turn off the IC engine during either of those scenarios and not benefit from the cooling down from the IC engine still running at low RPM.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

I would assume there is something on PB to keep coolant circulating. Doesn't the coolant run around the battery pack too?

 

[Snakebitten]

You could switch to Sport or Tow mode while you are driving those last couple of "cool down" miles. The ICE will stay running.

The 2.7 turbos are not the same. The 2.7 doesn't even have exhaust manifolds. A very different motor. More so than most might think.

 

[Samson16]

Thanks for your replies. I agree with all of the above and practice as you have said.

My previous experiences w/ F-250 and F-350 6.7 PSD’s and older 3.5 EB have been good.

However, my 2022 3.5EB has killed both turbo’s @ 15k. Now the concern for reliability and dependability is questioned.

Not sure why turbo’s failed. OCI were ~5k w/ Pennzoil Ultra Plat. 5w-30. Blackstone OA looked good after first OC @ 1,8k. Truck doesn’t tow and lives a good life.

Thanks for the updates.

Both turbos failed at different times but before 15k miles? Replaced under warranty? Did you perform your own oil changes prior? Did they fail close in time and following the same oil change?

 

[sts90]

Well in your case very unreliable. Sorry, could not resist. I owned a 2012 first gen 3.5eb, it had almost 200k before it was wrecked. I had the intercooler moisture issue on the next startup after long hauls in humid environments if I did not idle for 5 minutes when getting home. Only issues/annoyances it had. I changed the oil every 5k, the air filter when dirty, ran 87 octane 98% of the time with occasional 93, plugs at 60k, and rotated the tires. I did not flush the transmission. I did not change the coolant or differential fluid.

This is my second f150 EB and I got the 4x4 this time. So the only changes are, I will change fluids in differentials, transfers case, and transmission. Maybe 30 or 60k just have not decided yet because there is more stuff going on there with 4x4. Oh yeah, run the 4x4 monthly with a trip into 4low with differential-locked on some dirt. I might get daring and flush coolant but too early to tell.

Things break and you repair them but there is a time to not throw good money after bad. So if you repair it under warranty and it has another major failure, I would get rid of it. Don't do the keep fixing it and lemon law if it gets bad. I did and won but it never works out in your favor. In the end, any vehicle is a tool for a purpose. Just use some old-school common sense and it will be fine.

My 2 cents.

 

[Rambo Crane]

Both turbos failed at different times but before 15k miles? Replaced under warranty? Did you perform your own oil changes prior? Did they fail close in time and following the same oil change?

I can not confirm both turbo's failed or failed @ same time. I am going off what Ford dealership advised.
However, I'm moderately mechanically inclined and understand how these work and agree w/ your question--makes no sense for both turbo's to fail @ same time.
I am "assuming" one (drivers side) turbo failed and Ford warranty replaces turbo's together as a single unit. Thus, making sense why dealer said, "both turbo's failed...."

Additionally, I had a noise from early on (1,300k) that didn't sound like normal Ecoboost turbo noise. I am attributing all of this to a bad turbo from day one and it took roughly 14k for a failure to occur.
I broke the engine in properly w/ easy going up to approx. 1k miles.

As for oil changes, I changed oil @ approx. 14,5k miles and within 1k miles is when failure occurred. I perform my own oil changes, running Pennzoil Ultra Plat. 5w-30 w/ Motorcraft filter. Also have samples sent to Blackstone @ each oil change. No OA showed issues.

Hope this helps.

 

[amschind]

My vote is for bad turbo from the factory. I think that it's worth recalling that turbos live EXTREMELY hard lives in the best circumstances, and a "fatal defect" doesn't mean "the bearings were finished with a hand file and one of the blades was bent" but "the disc contained some imperceptibly small crack which was there from the moment it was forged". I crap on Ford A LOT, but for all of their engineering goofs and inexplicable failures, there area huge number of things that they do exceptionally well. Assembling and/or sourcing a ton of parts with space program tolerances and having the vast majority live long lives despite cave man maintenance is an exceptional achievement.

Sponsored