Ford owners come school me

[frogfish202]

So my Tahoe fell victim to the DOD lifter issue at 210K. Well I’m not going to invest in a engine with that many miles so the wife and I decided to just buy a new truck. Long story short I am looking at a Ford this time. I know there has been a gagillion threads about 2.7 / 3.5 ecoboost or 5,0 but honestly I never read a single one as they were of no interest to me at the time. Looking at 16, 17, 18 with lowest mileage I can find. So y’all school me!

2.7?
3.5?
5.0?
Any inherent problems to look for?

[dean c]

The Ford Techs like the 5.0

[bshort]

If I was going to keep it for years and as many miles as possible...5.0. A turn and burn rig...I'd get the 3.5.

[printman71]

I have a 2018 F-150 XLT with a 3.5 Eco/10 speed/3.55 gears. Tows my BassCat Puma like isn't there, even in the mountains of North Georgia. 20 ish MPG for normal driving, 12.5 ish when towing. Has gobs of power, it will smoke the tires and accelerate faster than most anything I have ever had, and I grew up in the 60's driving quick cars. But, with that said, I would get the 5.0. My 3.5 had to have the valve train rebuilt at 55,000 miles, warranty yes, but it is a known issue due to the variable valve timing in the engine to gain an extra .0001 mpg. Be prepared to pay more than "normal" as is a sellers market.

[tlefire]

My 2018 has the 5.0. Mines been great. Only problem with the 5.0 was some were using oil, about 1qt every 2 to 3 thousand miles.

[lakefolk]

3.5, I put over 150k on my last one without issue.. truck never saw the dealer except for routine maintenance.
I did put 1 set of plugs and brake pads on all 4 corners at about 100k, the originals still had a lot of miles left on em but i did it anyway just because we were going on a mountain road trip in CO, WY, & MT and they had 100k on em lol!! The 3.5 going through all those mountains hardly ever downshifted and as far as pulling it's the best puller in a gas truck on the planet..

It was such a good truck i bought another one.............

[iabass8]

I've been towing my ranger for a few years /w the 2018 2.7. tows the big ol' girl like she isn't back there and it gets great gas mileage. no complaints.

[jg379]

I have the 2.7 and it has been great. Screw 4x4 lariat. Averaging 20.8 mpg for 32k miles. Pulls better than my 5.7 tundra. It's all about what u tow. If I towed something often besides my boat I would have got the 3.5. no regrets here!

[kcinnick]

5.0 is the best option IMO. 5.0 with the 10 speed and you should be set for a long time.

[Billydonwon]

3.5. The 5.0 is a dog compared to it. I sell these for a living and 9 out of 10 people want the Eco.

[opus dog]

5.0 is a solid engine and has been around since the 70's. It's now in its 3rd generation model. If you are going to have this for a 200,000 mile vehicle that would be my engine of choice and it is what I currently have. My ford is a 2015 with 140,000 trouble free miles. It tows really nice too. Drag a 20 foot glass walleye boat for hours at a time through South Dakota at 80 mph. The 3.5 is a fine motor too but I think it will require little more maintenance if your going the 200,000 plus. Joe

[BigSexyPhoenix]

Like the others have said, if keeping long term, go with the 5.0. If you plan to drive it to 100,000 miles get the ecoboost. Eco is a fun motor to drive but everyone I know with them has had issues. 5.0 is a pretty solid motor.

[grandbassslayer]

Good luck finding a low mileage, well maintained 3.5 or 5.0 that doesnt cost over 30k. They just made a bunch more 2.7s so chances of finding a nice low mileage example are better. The 2.7 will pull a bass boat better than the 5.0

[BeeNix]

According to a couple forums I check often, there is a TSB issued for oil consumption. I didn't know it was an issue until my neighbor's '19 Screw gave them fits. With less than 9k on the clock the dealer had changed his oil/filter enough times for a lifetime, sent oil samples to different labs, reprogrammed his PCM several times and even replaced it. His engine was going through a quart every 100 miles iirc...He was finally fed up and traded it to a '20 Ram. He told me several times he wishes he'd bought the EB in '19 and been done with it.
Just remembered, one of our customers got out of an '09 GMC with the 5.3, traded it for an '11 F150 with the 3.5 EB. He trades every other year or so, the newest one has the 2.7 EB which is his first 2.7. He tows a bass boat and a 24' Open Bow, nothing really heavy, and says he can't tell a difference in the two engines except the 2.7 gets a tiny bit better mpg in town.

[lakefolk]

Like the others have said, if keeping long term, go with the 5.0. If you plan to drive it to 100,000 miles get the ecoboost. Eco is a fun motor to drive but everyone I know with them has had issues. 5.0 is a pretty solid motor.

No one i know that has em has had em.... I know of many that have gone 200k+ without issue....

[baysdad]

I bought a 16 F150 3.5 Ecoboost new. There is plenty of power and it is a quick vehicle. Overall I'm not satisfied with the quality (door latches freezing first winter, anti theft alarm randomly triggering at 30k, bad wheel bearings at 35k miles, trans leak at 40k). All covered under warranty but now at 50k wondering what's next.

[basnbran]

I have a diesel superduty for pulling heavier and a 5.0 for rolling. The 5.0 gets 15 mpg with puma in tow and will jump to 90 plus in a heartbeat empty..I like it

[MidwestBoater]

The new 5.0 is nothing like the old pushrod v8s, it’s every bit as complicated as the 2.7 and 3.5, all 3 have dual overhead cams and variable valve timing, dual fuel injection systems (direct and port) the 5.0 just isn’t turbocharged. Previously I put 100,000 miles on an ecoboost 3.5 in an expedition, no major issues in all that time, but I just bought a 2020 F-150 with the 5.0. I have nothing bad to say about the 3.5 ecoboost, I just wanted a change, so I went with the v8 this time.

if you do get a used ecoboost, I’d recommend finding one with a maintenance history of full synthetic oil changes every 5,000 miles.. Twin turbo direct injected engines are really hard on oil, it gets diluted with fuel, and from that you get early timing chain wear, which causes them to stretch, which creates a really expensive repair bill.

[Jaredn]

5.0 is a solid engine and has been around since the 70's. It's now in its 3rd generation model. If you are going to have this for a 200,000 mile vehicle that would be my engine of choice and it is what I currently have. My ford is a 2015 with 140,000 trouble free miles. It tows really nice too. Drag a 20 foot glass walleye boat for hours at a time through South Dakota at 80 mph. The 3.5 is a fine motor too but I think it will require little more maintenance if your going the 200,000 plus. Joe

It’s the same in displacement only. It’s not an iteration of
the old 302 in any aspect.

[bware]

My favorite is the 5.0. Has a better track record in service shops, especially in the pre 2018 MYs. We did see a lot of timing chain wear issues in the 3.5. The 2nd gen 3.5 is better than the 1st gen, has dual port/direct inj too which reduces valve deposits. I think 2nd gen 3.5 started in 2018. 2.7 is okay, some oil pan gasket leaks but not a huge deal, has canister oil filter which is weird for me (supposed to wait 15 min after shutdown to check oil level). All 3 have good fuel economy. Unloaded the 2.7 is best but closely followed by the 3.5 then 5.0 respectively. But when you hook up the boat the 5.0 is slightly better than the 3.5 but not sure about the 2.7. Acceleration wise the 3.5 feels faster off the line but in drag races the 3.5 and 5.0 are a toss up with the 5.0’s power coming on stronger in the higher RPMs.
Also, if you looking at a 4x4 I suggest avoiding the ones with the Auto 4x4, look for ones that have only 2H 4H 4L selection on knob. In colder months we see a lot of noise issues in ones with Auto 4x4. Again, not a huge deal but is a common and annoying occurrence.