Most Reliable Ford F-150 Engine: 3.5-Liter EcoBoost V6 or Coyote V8?
Two F-150 owners tell their stories and share any problems they’ve experienced with two different engine offerings.
Truck buyers have more options than ever these days in terms of trim levels, options packages, and of course, engines. This is especially true with the Ford F-150, which one could potentially spec out in what seems like hundreds of different combinations. And engine choices are certainly plentiful too. The F-150 is currently available with a 3.3-liter V6, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, 3.0-liter Power Stroke Diesel V6, and 5.0-liter Coyote V8.
Each of these powertrains offers a varying level of power, fuel economy, and payload/towing capacity. But for many prospective F-150 buyers, the real question is how reliable are these various options? Nobody wants to buy a truck and have problems down the road, of course. So The Fast Lane Truck decided to tackle this hot topic in a recent video, at least in terms of the popular 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 5.0 V8. And needless to say, it’s packed with great information.
To gather some real-world information, TFLT leaned upon two existing F-150 owners, one with the 3.5-liter EcoBoost and the other with the V8, and got them to talk about their ownership experience thus far. This is particularly good info, because both trucks have over 230,000 miles on the clock. We begin with the EcoBoost owner, who’s experienced one notable issue over the years.
“At 60,000 miles I had a throttle body go out,” he said. “And at 70,000, it happened again. This truck just really likes throttle bodies. I’m on my seventh or eighth one now. It probably uses one about every 30,000 miles.” He’s also had a leaky exhaust manifold, along with a couple of other minor issues over the years. So really, other than the truck’s hunger for throttle bodies, it’s been pretty darn reliable.
Meanwhile, the V8 F-150 owner describes the reliability of his truck as “very, very exceptional.” In fact, he’s only had one engine-related issue over the years – a single cracked coolant hose. Interestingly enough, he also recently purchased an EcoBoost-powered F-150 with 170,000 miles that’s proven reliable so far.
These are only two examples of millions, of course. But they’re interesting nonetheless. TFLT is also asking F-150 owners to send in their info and any problems they’ve experienced with their trucks. So hopefully we’ll have a larger sample size of data in the near future.
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