Reliability study shows EcoBoost 3.5L V6 on top

[HammaMan]

I don't block anyone, regardless of how much I may disagree with or dislike them. To be clear, I do like HammaMan. He's just very direct, and a lot of people take that as mean or rude

Haven't seen you around too much, hope all is well up there! Your SCCM and HVAC unit are doing well

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[dolsen]

Haven't seen you around too much, hope all is well up there!

It's good, I got rid of my F-150 back in December and got an Edge ST. I got laid off from one job and picked up another.

I am glad I got rid of it though, I did a short job in Mesquite, TX in Jan-Feb and one of my guys had his 2022 F450 KR stolen from the hotel. If I had my Platinum, it most likely would've gotten stolen too. Apparently no one cares about Edges

 

[Pelican]

I've personally owned 3 3.5ecos going back to 2017. Never had 1 issue. Only traded in to trade up. The 2021 I had had 56k on it when I traded it in 11.24. Did regular maintenance Not exactly a study, but I don't need one - i do my own homework and speak to my clients that use their trucks to make a living.

 

[JohnMcClane]

Doesn’t say anything about being the original engine. Just trucks that are still going after 150k. I know 2 people with new 6.7 in their 200k mile trucks.

I don’t think ambiguity was the researcher intention, but there’s definitely some confusion when I read the article.

“to run a query on trucks they had for sale by engine type and not brand or truck.”

If these are trucks for sale/sold in 2024, that leaves out a ton of data, I would argue it’s still a significant amount of data, but things like model year were probably in the data and would be interesting to see.

 

[Goldeneye36]

There have been a handful of blown up 3.5s on here. There have also been a handful of blown up 5.0s. I can find some examples of each. More likely your motivated bias gives you a keen eye for V8 failure threads. You just happened to gloss over the other failures because you didn’t want to see them

But what can we derive from this? Unless we can verify how many owners of each are here do we have an accurate ownership representation? 99.9% of owners aren’t on a forum. You really believe there haven’t been any 2.7 failures? The things recalled for failing but I can’t find an example here. Doesn’t mean it’s squeaky clean…the PowerBoost being berated doesn’t mean it’s unreliable….it just means high representation on the forum and more posted issues. I wouldn’t call your PowerBoost unreliable based on a forum metric.

Take a look at the forum views on a given day. Any day. BY FAR, this forum is made up of mostly PowerBoost or 5.0 owners. Both will be the most posted about, and have the most issue posted.

The 2.7 section never has the traffic the PowerBoost or 5.0 sections have. As such, no issues exist in the forums sphere for that engine. Nobodies here to post about it when it has one.

This is a really interesting point that seems to show, anecdotally, that people who buy 5.0s and PBs vs the other engines seem to be more likely to fall into the "enthusiast" camp and are more likely to argue with strangers on the Internet about how their trucks are the best. "I'm in this picture and I don't like it," lol.

Ford sells so many trucks every year and most people just drive them and probably don't have too many issues and just go on with their lives.

 

[Snakebitten]

I had no intention of expanding my truck forum participation beyond the Ecoboost forum when I first impulse-acquired my 2021 Platinum Powerboost. Afterall, it too was an F150 3.5 Ecoboost and I was already vested in that forum for a few years. (I purchased my first Ecoboost in 2015, and then another in 2017)

However, I was one of the very first with a Powerboost and suddenly had a truck that few of my longtime forum brothers simply couldn't relate to.

I stumbled on this forum and the rest is history. I have read a few theories about why Powerboost owners are more likely to join the forum, but I'm still not convinced of why they are so strongly represented here. It's now been 4 years and I'm far from the only Powerboost owner on the Ecoboost forum. So I'm not on an island over there. It's a great place too, for the gearheads that love the Ecoboost platform. But nothing compares to the amazing energy of the Powerboost collective that sprung up here. The amount of expertise and documentation and general culture of help is crazy.

Zero regrets owning one. And so much more than just another pickup truck that I acquired and daily'd to the office and back between real truck days. (towing RV's or hauling cargo)

 

[TopOMichXL]

[QUOTE="JExpedition07, post: 604050,
The 2.7 section never has the traffic the PowerBoost or 5.0 sections have. As such, no issues exist in the forums sphere for that engine. Nobodies here to post about it when it has one.
[/QUOTE]
2.7 owners just don’t have anything to bitch about for the most part.
Now I’ve heard about the connecting Rod issue, but there are a hell of a lot more powerboost owners here beating their chests about the most incredible powertrain that’s ever landed on earth than you will ever hear 2.7 owners complaining about their engines, I bet.
I’ve only been on these forums since I came to them to learn whether I wanted a 2.7 or not, based on current owners perceptions, and such.
You don’t hear owners of 2.7’s bitchin about them. I miss mine.
I have a local friend who bought an early, gen 1 3.5 ecoboost, lifted four inches, I think, and 12” wide tires. He had a rear end go out early that chaffed him pretty heavily, but put 250,000 miles on it and gave it to his daughter who now has 300,000 on it. I think that’s really cool.
I’m not surprised to see it on top, but I’ll stand behind that 2.7, proudly, and I’ll have more to say about my 5.0 after I have more than 6000 miles on it.

 

[Jmitchelltfo]

Stumbled onto this thread and even though I'm a newer member, I spent the better part of four months researching half ton pickups and the powerboost just blew everything else away for the usability.

I will say that I would not own any modern vehicles without a very good warranty to take care of unexpected repairs like LED lighting, other electronic issues........or God forbid the 10R80.

 

[Graygoose2021]

Sweeping generalizations FTW, lol. Nevermind that turbochargers have been been widespread use in marine and aviation applications for roughly 100 years as well as diesel engines for almost as long. If they really sucked that bad the industry would have trashed that idea a long time ago.

Don't get me wrong I love my 302 V8 in my Mustang, even if it's a pig by today's standards, but being open-minded isn't a bad thing. I think Ford's entire engine lineup currently is at its peak and you can't go wrong with any one of them.

Edit: also my mechanic brother disagrees with that statement as well

Oh I agree turbo's been around for a bit, just in this article its hard to say just because the information was grabbed off trucks sold, with 150k miles. Maybe guys with 5.0's don't sell them, they keep em. That'd change the parameters .
My sons and I have build plenty NA 5.0s' over the years, and best friend has done a twin turbod 427.
I never said turbos didnt have a place, IMHO just in the Ford F150 category, the NA would last longer, Again, IMHO

 

[Graygoose2021]

On the flip side I'd say 9/10 mechanics are idiots and can barely be considered a part swapper.

Dem v8s are more simpler and dey run fer ever

Possibly, but into days technology, shade tree mechanics aren't up to the 80's standards.
Warranty work must be provided by todays mechanics.

 

[Dizz]

IMO the latest gens of the 3.5 and 5.0 are both bulletproof compared to previous iterations.

However, for this study, I would say that the 3.5 has at least 50% more historical sales volume than the 5.0. Which means that the 5.0 is clearly winning here for rate of engines > 150K miles.

Too true but also it could be said for every F-150 built with a 2.7 20 were made with the 3.5
In 22 it was very difficult to find the 2.7 so this study truly has no relevance
No disrespect to the OP truly

 

[Yason84]

My '09 4.6 2V takes the crown over all these engines. Too bad it can't get out of its own way.

Yup. When I’m driving my in-laws’ 2010 Town Car, I‘m always having my foot to the floor, looking for more. I have to hit the O/D disable button on the shifter when driving in moving traffic below 55 just to have a little more torque on demand. That is the wrong vehicle to be in when you’re in a hurry. Otherwise it’s a fantastic cruiser, it takes the rough crumby streets of New Orleans like a champ!

 

[Yason84]

It's good, I got rid of my F-150 back in December and got an Edge ST. I got laid off from one job and picked up another.

I am glad I got rid of it though, I did a short job in Mesquite, TX in Jan-Feb and one of my guys had his 2022 F450 KR stolen from the hotel. If I had my Platinum, it most likely would've gotten stolen too. Apparently no one cares about Edges

How is that possible? Were the keys left in it or did someone figure out how to hack it like the Kia’s??

 

[dolsen]

How is that possible? Were the keys left in it or did someone figure out how to hack it like the Kia’s??

Apparently they’re very easy to break into. They slipped it into neutral and towed it away without even starting it

 

[Old tool guy]

This is hardly a “study”, it’s a poorly cobbled together article with ignored variables and poorly vetted information.

Maybe I’m splitting hairs ... the thread title and the flavor of the conversation is about the motors with the most reliability. However … the column heading in the data sheet is “popularity rank” … and those two items have no correlation. So either the author was sloppy with words, or the data doesn’t prove anything.

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