2013 Ecoboost disappoints vs. 2011 Ecoboost :HELP
03-24-2015, 08:30 PM
#161
Senior Member
I felt the same way with my 13, each flash made it feel like it had less low end power. At WOT it was still good though. Only way to solve that is with a tune IMO.
03-24-2015, 10:09 PM
#162
Senior Member
I know this is an older thread but it sounds just like my current truck.
Old truck was a 2012 FX4 screw 5.0 with 3.73's. Drove over a year completely stock. Truck ran strong. Would lay rubber from a stop, chirp at a 20 mph punch, and averaged over 16 mpg daily driving. Best of 21.9 on a trip. I later leveled it and ran 34" Trail Grapplers. While performance went down some, it still pulled almost every interstate hill in 6th.
Fast forward to my 2014 FX4 screw Eco with 3.55's. I drove it 1500 miles and then leveled with 34" Duratracs. The first 1500 miles average mpg was 13.9. Truck would not spin the tires without a boost launch. Would pull 6th on the interstate but had about the same reserve before downshifting the 5.0 did stock. The truck honestly feels the same with the Duratracs as it did stock. At low throttle input you can hear it just dumping boost. Give it more and it switches to a whistle. Full throttle it feels ok but runs out of steam just before it shifts. No misfires, codes, etc. just feels weaker than it should. My wife drives an Explorer Sport and its a rocket. Engine behaves completely different. The explorer has zero lag and the truck lags like it has a huge turbo waiting to build boost.
I plan on tuning as it simply feels like it is being held back.
Old truck was a 2012 FX4 screw 5.0 with 3.73's. Drove over a year completely stock. Truck ran strong. Would lay rubber from a stop, chirp at a 20 mph punch, and averaged over 16 mpg daily driving. Best of 21.9 on a trip. I later leveled it and ran 34" Trail Grapplers. While performance went down some, it still pulled almost every interstate hill in 6th.
Fast forward to my 2014 FX4 screw Eco with 3.55's. I drove it 1500 miles and then leveled with 34" Duratracs. The first 1500 miles average mpg was 13.9. Truck would not spin the tires without a boost launch. Would pull 6th on the interstate but had about the same reserve before downshifting the 5.0 did stock. The truck honestly feels the same with the Duratracs as it did stock. At low throttle input you can hear it just dumping boost. Give it more and it switches to a whistle. Full throttle it feels ok but runs out of steam just before it shifts. No misfires, codes, etc. just feels weaker than it should. My wife drives an Explorer Sport and its a rocket. Engine behaves completely different. The explorer has zero lag and the truck lags like it has a huge turbo waiting to build boost.
I plan on tuning as it simply feels like it is being held back.
03-25-2015, 01:23 PM
#163
Senior Member
Thread Starter
From my experience (I'm the OP of this thread), I believe your 2014 is just as powerful as any stock Ecoboost truck.
Since 2013 the drive and boost characteristics have been changed to address some issues.
These include the condensation in the CAC issues but that is not all.
They changed shift patterns, turbos, boost patterns, and other things to reduce the "turbo lag" feelings done drivers experience.
In other words they are trying to made it shift, rev, and smooth out the bottom end torque curve so that around town it drives like a more conventional V8 motor/transmission combo.
The stock ecoboost was always shifting up into high gears during slow driving, using its huge low end torque to putt around. Then when you wanted to accelerate you had the choice of pulling along in that high gear at low throttle low rpm or step on the gas and force a down shift, drop 2 gears and then boom.... Kick in the pants jump. Like huge turbo lag but really only transmission lag because it wasn't ready to accelerate and needed a couple down shifts to answer the call for more go fast.
This characteristic of the 11s and 12s was not desirable to many drivers used to other motors.
I liked it being a diesel man craving bottom end torque.
What really bothered me was the highway towing and the dropping to 5th or 4th when I could always tow the same load and hills in 6th in my 2011.
Now with 5*warranty tunes (87p/t) I kick butt on the 2011 in every driving situation. I also had non-warranty tunes for a month and they were great, warranty tunes seem to be identical in real life experience.
I have my torque back, shifting back and more power for a towing beast.
The only thing I don't care for with the power/tow tunes is empty winter driving. They are a little temperamental until engine is fully up to temperature and they can be hard on the Blizzaks with the huge low end power.
I run the economy tune or stock during the worst winter months, I don't need to power then.
Since 2013 the drive and boost characteristics have been changed to address some issues.
These include the condensation in the CAC issues but that is not all.
They changed shift patterns, turbos, boost patterns, and other things to reduce the "turbo lag" feelings done drivers experience.
In other words they are trying to made it shift, rev, and smooth out the bottom end torque curve so that around town it drives like a more conventional V8 motor/transmission combo.
The stock ecoboost was always shifting up into high gears during slow driving, using its huge low end torque to putt around. Then when you wanted to accelerate you had the choice of pulling along in that high gear at low throttle low rpm or step on the gas and force a down shift, drop 2 gears and then boom.... Kick in the pants jump. Like huge turbo lag but really only transmission lag because it wasn't ready to accelerate and needed a couple down shifts to answer the call for more go fast.
This characteristic of the 11s and 12s was not desirable to many drivers used to other motors.
I liked it being a diesel man craving bottom end torque.
What really bothered me was the highway towing and the dropping to 5th or 4th when I could always tow the same load and hills in 6th in my 2011.
Now with 5*warranty tunes (87p/t) I kick butt on the 2011 in every driving situation. I also had non-warranty tunes for a month and they were great, warranty tunes seem to be identical in real life experience.
I have my torque back, shifting back and more power for a towing beast.
The only thing I don't care for with the power/tow tunes is empty winter driving. They are a little temperamental until engine is fully up to temperature and they can be hard on the Blizzaks with the huge low end power.
I run the economy tune or stock during the worst winter months, I don't need to power then.