I find this 6 speed idles too low at below 65 when towing. I usually shift to 5th when below 65 and get better mileage and more usable RPMs than if I leave it in 6th. That is, I think the truck lugs down when at 1500 or less RPMs and in 5th at 60 it will run at about 1800 and won't lug down if it hits a small hill or something. At 68 and up 6th is great. Tow/Haul mode will sometimes will do the same thing when it is on, but not all the time. I have never had it overheat and I pull a similar size trailer.

 

I agree with Prime81 that's total. There is no reason for your Eco to be overheating like that. All the stupid torture test videos, out towing other rigs with 10,000 lbs, you can tell Ford they need to fix the damn truck. Overheating with 5K lbs. is unacceptable, I don't care if you were pulling up a 10% grade at 60 MPH. Unless you ran bad gas, had a blocked inter cooler or have decided to leave out a few pertinent facts, this is unacceptable and should be resolved ASAP. Anyone remember the video where engine 448AA runs Daytona for I forget how many hours or out pulls the competition running 0-60 blah blah blah? F$%k them. Make them fix it.
*** hats. Enough of these Eco complaints. Seems like all I have read on this forum, the other F150 forum or consumer reports says the Eco is fantastic or a POS.
Glad I got the 5.0, no offense OP. I had a hard on for the Eco super bad. The lack of incentives swung me to the 5.0 as I got $12K off vs $2500 off on the Eco. Love the little V8. My friends with the Eco love theirs, no issues yet knock on wood. But Ill be damned if I haven't read one issue after another with the Eco. Love it or hate it, run it or park it, that seems to be the story for this little boosted 3.5. Hope they get it worked out because the concept is the way of the future. I guess one generation has to be the guinea pig right?

 

As my fellow IT professionals say, RTFM (Read the manual). In the owner's manual for the truck it clearly says that if you're towing with the Ecoboost you should be running premium unleaded. Not only will you get a boost in HP and torque (the engine's advertised figures are with regular Unleaded) the engine won't start detonating. That's the reason the OP has an overheating truck, he's using regular unleaded in a forced induction engine under a fairly decent load. The PCM can only do so much to prevent detonation under those conditions.

 

Ford spent a lot of typing hyping this

11,000 LBS at high altitude wide open.....I know what the manual says but I wonder if its what they did here?

 

I found this blurb from the manual:

Premium fuel will provide improved

performance for vehicles with EcoBoost®

engines and is recommended for severe duty

use such as trailer tow. ....

Doesnt say mandatory though. And 5Klbs still shouldn't cause those issues. If he put in 85 Octane then I could see this being an issue. Colorado gas sucks anyway.

 

He only had 3 post and disappeared. I guarantee you he had the wrong fuel for towing and altitude.

 

You know when I was much younger I used to own a couple Monte Carlo SS' from the 80's They weren't particularly high compression engines and the owners manual recommended putting 85 octane in it. That was fine some days, but most of the time I needed to put midgrade in them to keep them from knocking and running on after I shut them off. My point is often times gasoline should be the first place to look when performance problems arise.

 

Forget the altitude/octane thing. This is a forced induction engine. It needs the same octane at altitude as it does at sea level. So, 87 is BOTTOM END octane even at altitude. Buy the highest octane you can get when towing.

 

Unfortunately I've grown to love everything about this truck BUT the motor.
I made the decision to buy it after doing a lot of research, and of course there was no indication of the overheating problems back then. Again, I live in the mountains of Colorado and my EB overheats every time I go up a hill pulling my 4200lb trailer. I've tried all the great suggestions I've received and I've had it in twice now for the overheating issue, but they tell me nothing is wrong and Ford is not aware of any problem. My truck is currently at Lakewood Fordland again, got the call yesterday saying they couldn't find anything wrong (again) couldn't get it to overheat (they aren't pulling a trailer) and had no history of it overheating in the computer!? Which is BS...on June 27th (2013) I was coming up the back side of rabbit ears pass at 2pm, it was between 78-84 degrees outside temp, the truck went into engine overheat mode twice within a ten minute period, about halfway up the pass where it was 84, then again at the top of the pass where it was 78. I had tow/haul mode engaged and was doing between 55-58mph burning premium fuel, doesn't seem to matter, and the trailer I'm pulling is less than half the trucks capacity. Ford won't acknowledge the problem, let alone attempt to fix it. They did tell me however that the computer showed (at some point) that I was doing 90mph and the RPM's went to high and it overheated...This of course was news to me, while it is very possible I was doing 90mph, I absolutely guarantee you I was not pulling a trailer...maybe I need to start watching the temp gauge in everyday driving as well. Limping your Ford up a hill pulling a trailer hoping it doesn't overheat to the point of going into "conservation mode" or overheating simply by doing 90mph isn't exactly what I would call passing the "torture test" they seem to shove in your face when you walk in the door. VERY disappointed in Ford, this is the first, and quite possibly the last one I will buy.

 

Have you had the intercooler tsb done yet? If not i would possibly see if they would do it for you! Maybe something is wrong with it therefore its not getting the air it should? Maybe it has debris clogging it up?


Found this article about the 1.6 ecoboost overheating..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...boost/1759063/

 

Had you read ALL three posts...you would have known that I in fact admitted I was using the wrong fuel and switched to premium, didn't make a difference, but thanks for you're knee jerk uninformed response... disregard the facts and blame it on the owner....do you work for Ford? If not, maybe you should, seems you would be a
perfect fit.


Edited by Bluejay: we do do allow name calling and insults.

 

Thanks for the info King Ranch. I have not, pretty much leaving it up to Ford to figure it out, this truck overheated the first time I pulled my (4200lb) trailer when it only had 18,000 miles on it, I'm guessing now that's why it was traded in with such low mileage. I told Ford I will not come get it, I'm contacting my attorney and my finance company today to see what my options are. Seems this is becoming commonplace with the ecoboost, like the old saying goes, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is...

 

I did...As my fellow human beings with common sense would say...(read the posts), I admitted to using mid-grade and changed to premium and have been running it ever since, doesn't make a bit of difference. Maybe Ford should train their salesman to mention that little known fact when they're telling you how great the motor is. Not one person ever mentioned that you need to run premium in this motor the entire time I spent at the dealership debating on buying it. I made it very clear (I'm a retired fireman) that my intention was to pull a trailer and travel the country with this truck, not one person ever mentioned anything about running premium fuel or why...seems that would be an important fact to mention during the purchase of this motor given the consequences of running mid-grade...not like I was expecting them to tell me what my tire pressures should be...

 

Man i would really push for the intercooler tsb... Wouldnt it be great if you told em what the problem was and it fixed it? Id be pretty embarassed if i was the ford dealership.

 

One of the other things I think that the intercooler TSB does, is puts in a new catalytic converter because one of them gets damaged by the issue with the intercooler.
That could be causing your buildup of heat. I would definitely look into that.

I say hang in there and keep fighting. That truck should handle what you have with NO issues, I don't care what gas you are running in it, and what gear you are running. In T/H mode, it should be smart enough to know what gear is optimum for your speed. You should be able put it in T/H and drive, and go. You can go to manual and run it in 5th if you want to. I know some guys that like to do that.
I pull a 6ft by 12ft enclosed trailer that weighs about 4K, and while I have never pulled it in the mountains, I pull it 75mph on the interstate and never have a heating issue.
Mine is a 2013 that already has the intercooler TSB from the factory. I also force it to stay in 6th gear in manual mode so it will lug.

The other thing you might do is document your issue with video. Video your truck overheating literally as you are driving. Have someone in the back seat or beside you get video of the truck going into limp mode, and document the time and temperature and what road you are on and the date and take that back to them and say here is your proof. I know its a pain, but if they see that, they should do something. Also get a shot of the trailer as it is being pulled, so they know its the same one.

Good Luck. Keep us posted, I would like to know how this works out. I am battling with them on the sync system in my truck.