Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives First ECOBoost Problem

I have a 2014 F 150 4X4 ECO Boost that I brought new. 66000 miles. Fuel economy had been 17.5-18 mpg since new. All of a sudden it dropped to 13 then 12. Took it into Ford dealer and they said it was carbon

build up on the direct injection port. They said Ford recommended a special flush to remove the carbon every 30K miles. $150 cost First I heard of it and the truck was only serviced by them. Did the flush 2 weeks ago and 11-12mpg now.

Now they are saying they have to pull the heads at a cost of $3500 o remove the carbon. Maintenance item so not covered by warranty. WTF! Anyone else hear of this problem.


Lefty C

https://youtu.be/9nUCx5IQZro

Interesting video where they ask Ford technicians which engine they would want in their own truck. Zero hesitation for most of them.... 5.0

I had a 2013 F150 with the eco boost that I sold with 80,000 on it. Never any trouble and I’ve never heard of a carbon build up that had to be dealt with every 30,000 miles. Sounds like BS to me.
$3,500 to deal with carbon on an engine with only 66,000 miles is ridiculous.
Have you called any other mechanics for a second opinion?

Drank the kool aid...……………………………….

Lefty C

Not yet but I will.

I have the 5.0 with 80k miles. My brother has the ecoboost with 80k miles. Neither of us have had a problem, both 2013. I am averaging 17.6 miles per gallon. See how hit goes in the long term. Good luck.

174k on my 2013 and I think it pulls harder now then new. Put your foot in it more. It will be better for the truck........

Prolly good advice. Sorta driving it like granny to get the mileage.

Lefty

I have the 5.0 with 72 K and zero problems. Gas mileage is the same as Calvin posted 17.5 avg.. Several of my friends have the eco boost with no issues other than tow mileage being less than anticipated.

The new 5.0 is a different engine than the 5.0 that was in my '89, but it still gets lots of its horsepower in the higher rpm ranges than the 5.4 in my newer truck. I can pull 18 mpg out of that 5.4 on the highway, but not overall. Blowing out the turbo seals twice in my old Saab turbo cured me from ever wanting another turbo anything. A shooting buddy bought that 3.5 EcoBoost and guaranteed he isn't getting near 18 mpg because his foot is in that turbo lots of the time.

I have a 2014, 4X4 Supercrew with the 5.0. On long interstate runs at 70 mph or less I can do 20 mpg. I drove it from GA to CO to elk hunt in this fall and averaged 18.9 on the way out. For what ever reason about 18.5 on the return trip. Around 14 while hunting, but that involved a lot of driving forest service roads in 4X4 in mud and snow.

With a combination of hwy, city, and towing for the past year I'm just under 17 mpg overall. On steep mountain passes in CO I locked out 6th and 5th gears, (both are OD) and cruised up in 4th gear running the speed limit at about 2000-2200 rpm's. I'm at about 66,000 miles as well with zero issues.

I'm not knocking the 3.5 EB. It will pull loads faster and in higher gears since it doesn't need the rpm's. But it doesn't get any better fuel mileage. And long term I still believe you'll spend less on the 5.0 to get to 200,000+ miles.

The ecoboost is a direct injection engine. This means the fuel injector sprays fuel directly into the combustion chamber rather then upstream of the intake valve. What this means is that in the direct injection engines, oil blowby that is picked up by the PCV valve and ported to the intake, builds up on the intake valve stems. Eventually to the point of blocking a lot of air flow. In the old engines that injected fuel upstream (or have a carb) - the fuel/air mixture tends to wash the build up off the valves as you run the engine. Various cleaners added to the fuel also can clean these deposits in the old style engines but that doesn't help you.

Anyway, Ford has addressed this in the 2017 and later ecoboost engines by adding an additional injector in the intake manifold with the express intent of keeping the valve clean (other brands also are doing this).

So, what can you do about it? Normal fuel injector cleaners don't do anything as the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber downstream of the valve, so no cleaning action. CRC and others make a cleaner that is sprayed into the intake (downstream of the MAF) that will soften the deposits. The engine is idled while spraying and then you drive it around to burn off the stuff. If this type of cleaner doesn't work, the intake manifold can be removed and the deposits blasted off with a walnut shell media and vacuumed out (you have to make sure the valves are closed on the cylinder you are cleaning, then roll over the engine to the next one, etc).

If it was mine, I'd try a spray cleaner a couple of times to see if that cured it, then if it didn't, find an independent shop that specializes in this.

Periodically running the engine to redline (like once a week or so) can help knock off the deposits. Keeping the oil changed with the correct viscosity and type of oil can reduce the amount of build up in the first place. The addition of a oil catch can in the PCV system can also help reduce the build up in the first place.

I hope this helps.

Tom,

Thanks for the real time info. Will look into the spray and the port to spry it in

Thanks again,

Lefty

This type of problem is common in boosted engines. We've had Audi and VWs with the carbon buildup and Audi even extended the warranty coverage to deal with the direct injection carbon problems (https://www.audizine.com/forum/show...-A-warranty-extension-for-carbon-buildup). The problem for those cars usually started to appear around 60k miles too.

I bought a used Audi TT about 10 years back, and on the first oil change, the oil was blacker than black. That engine didn't clean out until the ex busted the oil pan on a parking lot barrier. Enough sludge in the pan to overwhelm the oil when changed. Also, in some of the newer diesel engines in semi trucks, we are seeing lots of carbon deposits, related to longer and longer service intervals.

I wonder if these symptoms in the Ecoboost are related to the extended drain intervals, as well?

I'd pay little attention to what a technician says a lot of them if a code doesn't come up they don't know what to do.Big difference between a good mechanic and a technician

Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what spends the most time in the shop though

Right on Dutch about changing out the oil and getting rid of the dirt. Cheapest thing you can do to prolong the life of your engine. The increased sludge in my daughter's drain oil from even one or two thousand miles over mine was pretty significant. I use a white refrigerator crisper pan to catch the drain oil and sludge is real visible in that white pan. I'm no mechanic, but the service tech at my Saab fix it place told me that a turbo runs very hot because it is the exhaust that is turning the turbo fan and that my car at least used a bushing with the oil film supporting the turbo shaft because a bearing would not stand up to the heat and ultra high RPM. A product of combustion is carbon and that has to be some abrasive stuff in an engine. One of our road guys called me from the shop where he was getting his engine repaired when he had been running his oil for like 20,000 miles! I might be changing my oil more than the car manufacturer says that I need to, but they are the ones who want to sell me a new one too.

Known issue until 2017 where it was fixed by having an port and direct injection installed. The port injection "washes" the intake valves.

Exactly the reason that I bought the old proven low end torque last 5.4 in 2010 instead of the new 3.5 Ecoboost in a 2011. There's no replacement for displacement. My turbo Saab was fidgety fast while the turbo seals lasted, but they didn't.

I think Ford got the turbo and Ecoboost carbon issue solved with the 3rd generation engine. I don't think they will be offering V8 F150's in the future.

They are on the 2 GEN of the 3.5 ecoboost introduced 2017. I have yet to see anything on a GEN 3 ecoboost.

Under the impression the 2017 model year was change 3 , I might be wrong.

UPDATE

Did another flush.

Idle smoothed out, mileage back to 17.5


Lefty

I have the 2011 ecoboost with 100k+ miles with no problems. 18mpg running empty and 13mpg pulling. I would get a second opinion.

My 2016 work van transit 350 has the Eco boost 1 ton loaded to near capacity daily 100K between 13-15 mpg average zero issues