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1st generation 3.5 ecoboost reliability?

Poriggity

Poriggity

Ketchup Dog
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
45
Messages
709
Loc
Bates City, Mo
So, insurance has totalled my truck.. so I am looking at going to a half ton, as the heaviest I really tow is my 4000 lb travel trailer or my flatbed trailer with my ZJ on it. My budget puts me in a 2011 to 2014 Ford F150 or Dodge Ram 1500 of similar year. I'm seriously leaning toward the F150 strictly for back seat space, as I have 3 kids, two of which are in carseats. Fitting them all in my quad cab Ram was a challenge, so back seat space trumps bed space this go around.

I have been looking around at F150s, and have found quite a few with the 3.5 ecoboost, as well as some with the 5.0. I know the 5.0 is solid, and my dad has a 2nd gen ecoboost in his 2015 f150, but I have little experience with the first gen eco boost f150s, so I am looking for input from you all. This is a heavy contender currently.

Pic of totalled truck, just because..

Screenshot_20210204-204606_Brave.jpg


20210203_095550.jpg
 
I bought a 2014 3.5 4x4 crew a few weeks ago and went on a 10 day vacation in the mountains. The engine was excellent, no hunting for gears from the trans and plenty of power.
We may be returning the truck to Enterprise tomorrow. It sucks and we will likely end up in a 2020 with a 5.0 I am worried we wont like it after the 3.5. The option there is lariat with 5.0 or xlt with 3.5 not sure what we will do.
Anyway point of post...the 3.5 is great imho.
 
Mr.Ratbastard said:
I bought a 2014 3.5 4x4 crew a few weeks ago and went on a 10 day vacation in the mountains. The engine was excellent, no hunting for gears from the trans and plenty of power.
We may be returning the truck to Enterprise tomorrow. It sucks and we will likely end up in a 2020 with a 5.0 I am worried we wont like it after the 3.5. The option there is lariat with 5.0 or xlt with 3.5 not sure what we will do.
Anyway point of post...the 3.5 is great imho.
Click to expand...

Why are you thinking of returning the 3.5? Strictly because it's xlt vs lariat?
 
Mr.Ratbastard said:
I bought a 2014 3.5 4x4 crew a few weeks ago and went on a 10 day vacation in the mountains. The engine was excellent, no hunting for gears from the trans and plenty of power.
We may be returning the truck to Enterprise tomorrow. It sucks and we will likely end up in a 2020 with a 5.0 I am worried we wont like it after the 3.5. The option there is lariat with 5.0 or xlt with 3.5 not sure what we will do.
Anyway point of post...the 3.5 is great imho.
Click to expand...

WTF are you trying to say?

To the op, coming from someone with a 2015 ecoboost, which we love. Fix your truck, doesn't even look that bad.
 
It is a lariat, very nice lwb, 4x4, max tow etc. We left town right after buying it and I thought the transmission was slipping going from first to second so I called the dealership and he said we could repair of swap vehicles. I did a lot of research and found out it's just tge trans mount and a Raptor mount will fix it. Then I noticed the drivers side bed had been repainted and it's a little darker. The truck was expensive and we liked it so much I can see spending more for a newer one while we have the opportunity. We may end up bring it back home we will see how it goes.
Enterprise usually only has newer stuff, ours was traded in but it was clean enough tge put it out on the lot. The rest of the inventiry is xlt 3.5, lariat 5.0
 
YotaAtieToo said:
WTF are you trying to say?

To the op, coming from someone with a 2015 ecoboost, which we love. Fix your truck, doesn't even look that bad.
Click to expand...

Why would he fix his Dodge if you love your 3.5? What the fuck are you trying to say?
 
[486 said:
;n298487]meh, jack the roof up until you can fit a windshield back in there, junkyard driver's door/window/mirror, plexi screwed over the other window openings
it'll be fine
Click to expand...

Andrew?
 
I've got a 2011 that I bought at auction. With 180k on it the cam chain tensioners went out and at 150k I had to replace the molded lead frame in the trans. Right now its parked behind the garage because I'm not dropping $4500to fix the cam chain shit when my Tundra is far superior truck on all fronts
 
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Mr Stubs said:
You had room for one more RTT..
Click to expand...

There's only one on there now, so I probably could have fit another on the roof. Its the biggest rtt they make... fits my family of 5 comfortably. We actually never use the rtt anymore, but keep it and the truck was our bug out vehicle in case SHTF. It's really going to dissapoint you guys that the RTT is going on whatever new vehicle I end up with. :flipoff2::lmao:
 
Mr.Ratbastard said:
Why would he fix his Dodge if you love your 3.5? What the fuck are you trying to say?
Click to expand...

I'm saying fix the dodge. :homer:

I like our truck, it's a 2.7, fwiw. It tows lightish loads pretty decent. But I can't imagine going from a ~300-400hp cummins to it. Especially towing a ZJ. It's not a 3/4t no matter which way you slice it.

Poriggity said:
Trust me, the picture is making it look better than it actually is.
Click to expand...

So find a new cab,

Did you "buy it back"?
 
Did I miss the accident thread?

Have zero input on the 3.5, the old board had a big string on it in the towing section.
 
Hooligan said:
Did I miss the accident thread?

Have zero input on the 3.5, the old board had a big string on it in the towing section.
Click to expand...

There was no accident thread. It was a stupid move on my part. Solo incident. If you search hard enough through threads in chit chat, you can figure out how it happened. That's all I'll say about that.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I'm saying fix the dodge. :homer:

I like our truck, it's a 2.7, fwiw. It tows lightish loads pretty decent. But I can't imagine going from a ~300-400hp cummins to it. Especially towing a ZJ. It's not a 3/4t no matter which way you slice it.



So find a new cab,

Did you "buy it back"?
Click to expand...

I 1000% understand that an f150 is not a 3/4 ton with a cummins. I have not decided if I want to buy it back. Thier buy it back price is pretty ridiculously high, to be honest.
 
Did your dodge run upside down?

how long?

is the frame bent?

that is absolutely the easiest cheapest crew cab truck to cab swap around, thanks to 4.7s, 5.7s, sub prime and sub sub prime lending....

I rebuilt an 04 hemi BGTL in 2012, I think i paid $40ea for rear doors

I'm not kidding.

You're about to have to buy a truck in a fucked up market, what's the buy back on yours?
 
Projectjunkie said:
Did your dodge run upside down?

how long?

is the frame bent?

that is absolutely the easiest cheapest crew cab truck to cab swap around, thanks to 4.7s, 5.7s, sub prime and sub sub prime lending....

I rebuilt an 04 hemi BGTL in 2012, I think i paid $40ea for rear doors

I'm not kidding.

You're about to have to buy a truck in a fucked up market, what's the buy back on yours?
Click to expand...

Buy back on mine is almost 8k, payout is 17k. I can't see shelling out half of my payout for a trashed truck. I also don't have to buy anything right this minute. At a minimum to be straight again, the truck needs an entire cab, hood, drivers side fender, front bumper, rear tailgate and drivers side bedside. Plus I would need to find the time to do all of this. I honestly don't know if the engine ran while upside down, and I was unconscious after the incident. When I woke up, the truck was off.
 
8k is kinda high
kid I work with paid 14k for one of those (all in one piece) like 4 years ago
I still give him shit for mortgaging a fucking used 200k mile dodge, though I'm sure he could turn a profit on it these days
 
Yeah I plan on paying cash for whatever I buy. I don't plan on financing a used vehicle, that's for sure.
 
My buddy has a '14 f150 with the ecoboost. He's had it 5 years or so, no problems except some cardboard garbage that fell off the bottom of the engine. Mileage is about the same as my ZJ, but it gets there faster.
 
My brother's got an '11 with 220k, and it's towed 3-6k most of it's life. He's not real good about preventative maintenance. He's kept up pretty well with oil changes and, well, that's about it. Only issues he's had were a few coil packs, blend door actuator, and the factory radio shit out on him.

Radio was the most expensive repair.
 
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