Taylor Pogue

Hey guys, just looking to start something here with facts about dos and donts while owning an ecoboost. I've never owned a turbo charged or direct injection motor, and I've seen a few rogue comments thrown around such as "you can't put any type of injector cleaners in the ecoboost, it will cause high egt's and damage the turbos." So if you guys want to chime in with tips it will hopefully help more than just myself enjoy these motors for a long time

todd92

You don't need to do anything special. I would use a quality full synthetic of the proper viscosity. As for injector cleaners, they really aren't needed in this or any other motor, as gasoline comes with adequate detergent to keep your injectors clean. If you want to waste money dumping extra detergents into your gas, it will not harm the engine. What will harm the engine is dumping stuff like Sea-Foam into the intake.

gonefishin776

drive it like you stole it

Minuteman3

We've had two Saabs over the past 10 years, both turbo V-6's. Our current 2011 9-5 Aero has 56k miles and has had no real turbo-related problems. Couple of things that I have learned that I will be applying to our new F-150 ...

1) Agree that a full synthetic motor oil is the best choice. Saab actually called for that in the manual. I'll pay the premium price for oil changes on the F-150 as I think it will add to the longevity.

2) A practice I've always done, and others have done as well, is to pause for a few seconds before shutting down to let the turbo cool a bit. I'm not **** about this, but I do try to take a few seconds especially after cruising on the highway. Not long, maybe 3-4 seconds.

3) Never heard anything about worrying about cleaning the injectors. I throw a can of Techron in every 4-5,000 miles but I'm not convinced it's really "necessary." Certainly doesn't hurt anything.

The only somewhat related issue we've had was on our 2011. Some Swedish engineer thought it would be a good idea to route two cooling system lines right over the top of the turbo, which gets quite warm when running. They put a little foil wrap over the hose to "insulate" it. Doesn't really work well ... I had to replace mine already for coolant leakage as the rubber dries out over time from the heat. Hopefully, the Ford guys have done a better job!!

In a somewhat related thought, I did setup the Turbo boost gauge on our F-150 and notice that it doesn't show boost being added nearly as much as the gauge on my Saab. Perhaps it's just a different methodology of measuring, or maybe the boost profile is different because this is a truck application and not a "sport" sedan.

Cheers!!

Ken

Ricktwuhk

The Ford Ecoboost is discussed over and over on these forums. You would be best served by doing some reading of existing threads.

Curmudgeon

'Broken record' advice...use recommended grade of full synthetic motor oil with the HTO-06 spec (check the back label) and Top Tier fuel. Don't attempt to second guess the oil formulations of lubrication engineers & chemists by adding aftermarket additives to the crankcase.

BStrummin

Don't: Don't attempt to convince the v8 diehards that it's more than "just a v6"
Do: Just take them for a drive, preferably in Sport Mode.

You may have to make "blarg blarg blarg" noises with your mouth to make them comfortable, but I find the drive is usually sufficient.

130428

these trucks, EB or not, are meant to be owned and driven by (under-)average Joe's who know jack**** about engine maintenance. So as long as you follow the maintenance schedule, use the right fluids, and dont do anything too stupid with it, it should last long enough for you to feel that you got a good deal.
even Ferrari's and Lambo's and the new NSX now are designed for housewives, so I'm sure your F150 will be alright!

Aj06bolt12r

I've been a professional mechanic for 15 years. I love to over analyse this stuff. Ill just tell you what I am doing with my truck. Take it for what its worth. ( free advise from an internet stranger)

1. Do your first oil change before 1000 miles. Use a motorcraft filter and full synthetic oil of the correct viscosity. Pennsoil Platinum 5-30 or M1 0-40 should be great.

2. After that change oil every 5 months or 5000 miles whatever comes first. Whenever you change the oil fill up your gas tank and add a bottle of chevron techron fuel system cleaner.

3. Personally I will only ever run "top tier fuel" in my ecoboost and will always run 93 octane. I do this to have extra insurance against low speed pre-ignition. I also want to have optimum tuning for power and mileage and the pcm will not allow that if it is pulling timing because it is sensing spark knock or pre-ignition.

4. I plan to change my spark plugs and transmission and transfer case oil at 30,000 mile intervals.

Other opinions will vary. Your truck will not blow up if you fail to follow my advice (probably not anyway). I'm just **** about this stuff and need to feel like my engine is performing to its potential at all times. Good Luck!

Troy32323

Oil and fuel detergents have come a long way. Follow the manual and change the oil with proper weight synthetic every 8-10K miles. Change air filter as needed. Nothing else needs to be done until 100K. Changing trans fluid at 30K is way overkill. Will not hurt but is such a waste of money and bad for the environment.