Richdem

Hi All,

As the title says I am looking to buy a used truck and this will be my 1st ever pickup truck I emigrated to Canada from the UK 10 years ago and trucks were not popular there unfortunately.

The purpose of this truck is going to be to tow our 19 FT travel trailer which has a max GVWR of 4,700 lbs and will be a recreation vehicle as both myself & my wife have our own vehicles. We have seen 2 trucks that fit in our budget a 2012 XLT 5.0L & 2013 3.5 Ecoboost XLT

Both trucks have the same mileage (220,000 KM's) We are leaning towards the Ecoboost as it was in better condition inside and out, We were lucky to be able to take it home overnight a couple of days ago so we could take it to our mechanic. It currently has what look like off road tires which are shot and need to be replaced, there's so much road noise compared to the other truck we drove which seemed a far more refined drive, I am hoping it is just the tires.. Although the KM's are quite high for the year we will not be putting too many on. I have a carproof report and bulk of the KM's (190K) were driven by the original owner in the 1st 3 years. From the report I also saw it was religiously serviced at the dealer. I called the service manager yesterday and he told me the warranty lasted to 150K and they then had a prepaid maintenance plan until 200K and he confirmed it never missed a service or fluid change. The last dealer recorded service was at 190K It also has the full towing package with 3:73 rear axle and factory brake controller. It needs the AC looking at as well as rear brakes but the owner is willing to deduct the cost from the price. Our mechanic concurs it's a pretty solid truck and we are potentially getting it for a good price. Even with the things that need to be changed it still comes in under the cost of the other truck we looked at.

On paper it looks perfect but I am just a little nervous about the 3.5 Ecoboost with 220,000 km's on it. How reliable are these engines as they get older ? I would love to hear what your thoughts are, I do not want to get into the 5.0L Vs Ecoboost debate,I have seen that can get quite heated lol

Thanks in advance for any help or advice to this newbie truck owner

Richard

Ssls6

130k miles is a lot of miles and either engine will pull 5k lbs fine.....so, I think if the 5.0L engine sounds good I would probably go that way. My reason would be around managing risk.

jdunk54nl

People have driven their ecoboosts over 300,000 miles. Not many but there are some and that number of high mileage vehicles is growing with time, just takes a while with an average of 15,000 miles per year for most drivers. So, even if it was an early 2011, most will only have an average of 120,000 miles on them.

If you were able to take it home, let it sit all night long and start it in the morning with no cold start rattle, it should be good. Especially if it has all of the maintenance records. You will, most likely, have a good vehicle with those maintenance records. I will always choose the vehicle that looks like it was taken care of better and has maintenance records over one that doesn't.


Good luck with the eco vs 5.0 debate not starting

Richdem

Thanks for the reply,

I certainly didn't notice any cold start rattle, is it very apparent? What does that mean?

According to the dealership & the carproof report in the 3 years the original owner had the truck he sent it in for maintenance 29 times in 190,000 km's. I do not think I have seen a carproof report with that many service records. I actually looked at a similar truck today, a 2012 F150 XLT and the owner showed me the carproof report with just 2 records of any service.

I spoke to my cousin today who has a buddy that is a Ford tech, he said pretty much the same as you. The only thing he mentioned is the known issue of the carbon buildup on the intake valves and that there is a special type of flush that is supposed to be performed every 10,000 km's. The good thing he said is that there is a good chance many of the first 3 years KM'a were probably highway

jdunk54nl

Richdem

OK Thank you,

I just saw an absolute mint 1 owner 2013 5.0L V8 SuperCrew with the 6.5 ft box, it only has 181,000 KMS and was under warranty until 150,000 KMS The asking price is very similar too and this doesn't require any work.

Granted with the 3:31 axle ratio (Code 27) it doesn't have the towing capacity of the EB I was looking at but our travel trailer is currently at 4,160 lbs minus the food and beer so with a rated 7,900 lbs towing capacity I will be more than happy. If I get the WAF (Wife Approval Factor) I will probably go for this truck over the EB. Also I am not sure what the difference is but I have driven 2 different 5.0L trucks and several EB's and the 5.0L seems to be a much more refined ride wheres as the EB's seem to be much more "Truck like"

white08gt

you need at least 3.55 gears or better yet 3.73 gears if you are towing. if the Ecoboost had 3.31 gears would probably be ok because of the torque they make. I would have to really check out the Ecoboost for sure, might end up putting a pile of money in it. it is crap shoot buying a used truck but a warranty would mean alot.

SoonerLS

It sounds like the EB35 has the Max Tow package, but it's not clear if the Coyote (5.0) trucks have the Tow Package. You'll definitely want that if you're planning on towing; if the Coyotes don't have it, I'd either go for the EB35 or keep looking. (The quickest give-away for the Tow Package is the +/- rocker switch on the shifter.)

5.0nly

Richdem

I am just outside Toronto,

We have been looking for a decent used truck now for quite a while. For whatever reason good used trucks that haven't been ridden hard and put away wet are really hard to find