I am currently shopping for a 2011-2013 ecoboost 3.5L, with which I will tow a 7200lb boat all around AZ and SoCal. Almost anywhere we tow it there are long grades to deal with, and the temperature is rarely under 110* or so.

Watching youtube vids (ike guantlet, etc) I had myself convinced the Ecoboost was the right truck. I was actually headed to a dealership this afternoon to possibly buy one.

Then I started reading all of the threads about overheating on these trucks when pulling any sort of grade. Did this get fixed?

If I am going to need to spend another 3k on new intercooler, CAC, radiator, trans cooler and oil cooler, I want to know before I buy the truck!

 

I would avoid...stay with the 5.0

 

My 2014 Ecoboost with the Towing Option runs much cooler than my old 2005 5.4L did while towing. And, I live in Arizona were we have long (12+ mile), 6-7% uphill grades and high summer temperatures too.

I WILL admit that my trailer is not as heavy as your boat. It weighs 3500#, but I've NEVER seen coolant temperatures above 206 degrees and my transmission temps are also steady in the 200-208 range.

In my old 5.4L, the trans temps easily went above 225 on those grades and the cylinder head temps were also in the 225 range.

The overheating issue you speak of does not seem to be a true overheating. Rather, it is a "forced power reduction" under high load. It's never happened to me. On the long uphill grades I've mentioned, my truck stays in 5th gear at 65 mph. The old truck would drop into 2nd gear to hold 65.

- Jack