Nah. Good motor. I've had the 2.7 and the 5.0. The 3.3 feels underpowered by comparison but reliable so far. The 3.5 I had as a loaner once and it's preposterous how fast it is. I really liked the 2.7.
General Let's talk cars
- Thread starter Wild
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The 3.3 in a naturally aspirated V6. Likely the most reliable engine available in the F150, just under powered in comparison to the other offerings.
My daily: 2012 GMC Canyon, 72.5k. Not a tank by any means but picked it up from grandfathers estate as I was looking for a small pickup at the time.
Wife's daily: 2013 Ford Fusion SE 2.0 ecoboost. 187k. Only items replaced have been lower control arm bushings(about $600 with shop labor), transmission cooler thermostat($100) & a sensor for the evap system($150). Fluids, tires, belts, brakes, just regular maintenance items really. Been a great car & can't justify getting rid of it.
1966 Ford Bronco. 170" I6, 3 on the tree. It's constant small issues but that's what you get with these project vehicles. It sat in a barn for decades. Poured penetrating oil down the cylinders, replaced entire fuel & ignition systems, drained oil & poured light weight oil down cylinders and let soak for a few days. Once I could turn the engine over by hand, drained again & refilled with 10/40. Primed fuel system, left plugs disconnected & hit the starter. Saw oil pressure, connected plugs & tried it again. Started, ran like crap for a few min then settled out. Changed oil/filter again & started again. Idled better than either of the cars above lol. Replaced fluids everywhere, new master cyl, brake lines, brakes, interior, paint, top, etc. Seriously considering a painless wiring kit for this thing but time has become a rare & valuable commodity as of late. Also need to get the original instrument cluster rebuilt & finish doing some undercoating.
Wife's daily: 2013 Ford Fusion SE 2.0 ecoboost. 187k. Only items replaced have been lower control arm bushings(about $600 with shop labor), transmission cooler thermostat($100) & a sensor for the evap system($150). Fluids, tires, belts, brakes, just regular maintenance items really. Been a great car & can't justify getting rid of it.
1966 Ford Bronco. 170" I6, 3 on the tree. It's constant small issues but that's what you get with these project vehicles. It sat in a barn for decades. Poured penetrating oil down the cylinders, replaced entire fuel & ignition systems, drained oil & poured light weight oil down cylinders and let soak for a few days. Once I could turn the engine over by hand, drained again & refilled with 10/40. Primed fuel system, left plugs disconnected & hit the starter. Saw oil pressure, connected plugs & tried it again. Started, ran like crap for a few min then settled out. Changed oil/filter again & started again. Idled better than either of the cars above lol. Replaced fluids everywhere, new master cyl, brake lines, brakes, interior, paint, top, etc. Seriously considering a painless wiring kit for this thing but time has become a rare & valuable commodity as of late. Also need to get the original instrument cluster rebuilt & finish doing some undercoating.
No. The 3.3 and 5.0 are naturally aspirated. The 3.3 is not common to find, I guess its mainly selected for fleet vehicles. WHen I found the truck, I had never even heard of it, so I went to digging around and found many posts online about what a durable motor it is.
One big reason no one buys it is, it has barely has more towing capacity over the 2.7 but significantly less power. So a guy is usually just going to get the 2.7 in that case.
When I first got it, yeah, it felt slow, but not dog ass slow or anything, just slower than the 5.0 I came from. I would say the 2.7 was perhaps even a bit quicker than the 5.0. Now that I have owned it for about a year, its fine, I have no issues with its acceleration at all. Plus I am getting 20-22 mpg with it.
Yeah thats what I have read.
Even with 75k miles on it, there are only two issues with the truck since Ive had it. The felt sound barrier underneath sort of half came off (Ive yet to crawl under it months later and fully remove it, lol, I just never think to do it). Recently I intermittently it wouldnt sense the drivers door was closed and ding at me and keep the dome light on. I removed the housing between the door and the wires there look fine, so its likely something within the harness which is behind the door itself. It hasnt done it now in a few weeks so I have again just left it. If it becomes a constant thing, I might have a mechanic fix it. It was a tedious fuckin pain in the ass dicking around between the door and I think I will spend the money to avoid hulk smashing the fucker.
I think the only reasons to get the 5.0 or the 3.5 is if you are truly towing big weight. Not a boat or some small utility trailer, but a real big boy trailer with several thousand pounds on it, and even then I think to justify it you would need to be towing that regularly.
Otherwise I think the 2.7 or the 3.3 is just fine. Getting the 2.7 is going to give you a more sporty feeling drive and its also dead ass quiet, you cant hear the motor at all (though you can slightly hear the turbo spooling up which is kind of a cool sound actually).
Otherwise I think the 2.7 or the 3.3 is just fine. Getting the 2.7 is going to give you a more sporty feeling drive and its also dead ass quiet, you cant hear the motor at all (though you can slightly hear the turbo spooling up which is kind of a cool sound actually).
My cruiser had a 3.0 twin turbo ecoboost, that thing had some get up and boogie to it, fastest I ever had it was 128, was an ass gripping moment the first couple times going 110 plus but it drove like on rails, I started enjoying it. My wife was getting mad at me because I was driving the F-150 the same. I have relaxed on that a bit.
The Ford V6’s got a bad reputation for the internal water pumps. Thing is, every rwd based version has a traditional external water pump that takes about an hour & $100 to replace. The internal water pumps on the transverse mounted V6’s take over 10hrs of labor (at a minimum) and hundreds in parts/gaskets to replace.
The 3.5 ecoboost is also very susceptible to sludge & varnish buildup. This will stretch timing chains, blow turbo chargers when their filter screens plug & ruin phasers. Some years also had bad phasers all together that would fail every 20-30k miles.
Some early 5.0’s had lifter issues. Newer dual injection versions had some teething issues as well as 10spd transmission issues.
If you’re in an area for rust, you’ll want to replace the transmission cooler lines & check all engine compartment crimps for cracks. If doing heavy towing you’ll likely want to upgrade the transmission cooler while there.
For my money, if shopping an F150 that’s 2010 or newer, I’d be looking at:
Any NA V6 model if not regularly towing. Great reliability, low cost of ownership & will haul typical suburban loads as good as anything else.
2011-2014 XLT/FX4/Limited/Platinum with the 6.2 V8. The “Boss” 6.2 is by far the most reliable “powerful” engine available in the F150 but was limited to 11-14 model years & only in higher trims. Some high mileage units have had valve spring failures or intake manifold IMRC failures. That’s about it. I’ve personally seen these engines with over 700k mi in the 250/350 that tow daily. They’re a commercial engine based off of the older 4.6/5.4 modular engines.
2nd gen 5.0/6R80 combo from about 15-17. This should be about the most reliable years of the 5.0 F150’s. Fully sorted MPI 5.0 with the sorted 6spd auto. I’m just not a fan of the additional electronics.
My favorite Ford trucks of the last couple decades is 01-03 F150 4.6/5.4 & 99-03 250/350 7.3 ZF6. Not all the frills & can put serious miles on any of them with regular maintenance.
I'm on the right with run flats
Yeah, that engine will make you sick when it grenades the bottom end.
Those things are why used 5.7 tundra prices have skyrocketed around me
I dont even wanna know what a new one costs. It aint in my price range, I can assure you.
You likely wouldn't have to worry too much as it won't make it out of warranty. Several haven't made it to their 2nd oil change.
There are several that do seem to "last" but I wouldn't trust them.
The interiors are bad ass
