I've now lived with my new 2015 F-150 since August and am still enjoying it very much.

The one feature everyone comments on who rides in it with me for the first time is the engine on/off function.

My son last night said, "Dad are you saving fuel with it?" And I said, "I don't know. Guess I'll have to turn it off for a whole tank and check."

Then we talked about is it/or isn't it harmful for the life of the components? That is, is it wearing things down more quickly than if it was not working?

Thoughts?
Opinions?

 

the 2.7l has a different starter and battery than the other trucks, they are more robust to account for the start/stop feature. Nothing to worry about.

 

Ding, ding, ding. Right answer.

Turning it off to prove that the engineers designed something to save fuel might be needed if you think maybe they added a feature to use MORE fuel, otherwise just keep driving and enjoy.


If you want to read some uninformed discussions:

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/2-7-a...t-stop-308712/

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/2-7l-...terest-317163/

 

Then again, if it wasn't more wear on the components, Ford wouldn't feel the need to include a "more robust" battery and starter, yeah? That being said, it's not something that would overly concern me.

One thing I've wondered about... What about the oil in the engine? I assume it stops circulating each time the engine stops? I realize when the engine starts again, it isn't a "dry start", but I wonder if there's any additional wear?

 

they have done something with that, it says to wait 15 minutes after you shut it off to check the oil level in the manual

 

Pretty sure that's with any engine. Not a big deal anyway, would probably take a heap of miles for the additional wear on the engine (if any exists) to be a problem.

 

I don't know that the OP was worried about not enjoying his truck. My son asks the same type of questions. I answered the same way. I explained to him that if I really wanted to know if I was saving fuel, I'd have to check by turning off the feature. I'm not going to do that, but that's certainly what it would take -- and I'd have to do it in a controlled fashion throughout the year to account for seasonal variations. Yeah -- I'm not going to do that because the answer really isn't that important.

As for wear on the components, I don't know if I'd use the word "harmful". It's a higher-use environment than a normal truck starter and so the starter was engineered for that. No big deal. The stop/start does have, I think, a timer and the vehicle will restart well before the oil.

 

Sorry, but far from uninformed.