I was all set to buy a 2018 F-150 with the 3.5L Ecoboost, but have been scared off a little bit by my son's advice to avoid the ecoboost engines at all cost, due to the carbon build up issue and the need to install a catch-can system. He works for a land management agency, and has considerable experience with fleet management. He was at a meeting with other fleet managers so asked their opinions for me. They were all in agreement with him. I've searched this site high and low, and other sites, and it seems to me that this is may not be as big of problem as he describes, or perhaps been addressed with modifications in later years. Your thoughts would be very much appreciated. This seems like a good mid-range vehicle for about-town use and a couple of trailer trips a year. I plan to add the max tow package as well, as my travel trailer weights about 6500# loaded.

Thanks in advance!

 

Combined DI and regular intake injection should take care of the valve coking issue, and the catch cans are an overblown issue.

Nowhere near the issue that they appear on the forums.

If they were as big an issue as stated here, FoMoCo would be losing their shirts with warranty claims.

 

Just shut this thread down now and do everyone a favour!

 

Over 1 Million sold. If it was an issue, it would be all over the place, on the news, people demanding refunds, etc. The EB is a good engine, it has some quirks, but don't they all? The only thing I have found from owning 6 different ones, they don't like to sit and idle for long times, the oil gets saturated with gas. They also don't like short trips, they need the heat of a good run, or again, they get gas in the oil.

If you do a lot of short trips, then look at the 5.0, otherwise the EB is a very good choice.

 

Oh well. I put 199k on my 2011 3.5 eb, we have 29k mi on wife’s expy eb, and 26k on my gen 2 3.5. No issues yet. Ain’t skeerd.

 

I would have no problem with the EB engine. I got an amazing deal on this particular truck and it just so happened it came with a Coyote but I would have been equally fine with either engine.

Maintenance is key and if you plan to keep your truck past 100k miles, the EB will be more expensive to maintain.but I would still not rule it out as an option because of this.

 

Lol. Agreed.

 

Hi, for the fact that you, like me, plan to tow a trailer, the Ecoboost is the right choice. [my trailer GVWR is 6300 lbs.]

 

I went with a 5.0 not because I was scared of the durability of the EB, but because it just sounds downright beefy. To me, sound means everything. I don't tow often , so I didn't buy based on that need. When I do tow, 5.0 will do the job just fine. If I towed heavy weight fairly frequently, I would just go for an F-250 and be done with it. But I agree, this debate as a whole is old and plenty enough info out there now.

 

I bought a 2013 new with the ecoboost. I did only put 10,000 miles on the truck in about 5 years (garage queen) but I never had any problem with it, and performance was good.

The new truck I just bought (and ironically will drive 100 miles a day round trip to work) has the V8. I will say this.....if you look at a previous thread from me last week, I originally bought a different truck with the V8 last week. I had 158 miles on it when it broke down. Fortunately, the dealer took it back (no idea what the problem was, nor do I care now lol, so it may not have been engine related).

Either way, enjoy it!!