Prospective owner

[Echo9599]

Howdy all, I am prospective new Raptor owner that has patiently been perusing cars.com and autotrader for the last 8-10 months waiting for just the right deal. However, in a recent conversation with a friend who is a mechanic, he tried to get me to steer clear of them all together, mainly because of the ecoboost engine. He says he has to work on them more than most other makes, and tried to steer me to GMC (worth noting, he owns an independent shop and is a longtime friend, so I know he’s not being biased by any sort of financial incentive). However, I have driven a yukon for the last five years and was really set on making the switch to a Raptor. How reliable is the ecoboost engine? And for that matter, how reliable is the Raptor in general? Any reason I should avoid? While I am definitely looking to make the switch, I will say that I’ve not had any major issues with my yukon over the last five years and would hate to buy a new truck and have more issues. I realize being on a raptor forum, the responses may be biased, but any insight is appreciated! Should I go for it?

 

[DFS]

I cannot comment on reliability of ecoboost engines other than my personal anecdotes, which is 3 ecoboost's since 2015 with about 75,000 miles on two of them, and my Raptor with 25,000 miles all problem free. In that same time period I had two Yukon Denali's with a litany of transmission and electronics issues both in less than 10,000 miles. I personally have more faith in the Ecoboost than GM's, but that's based entirely on my own experience. Both GM and Ford dealership's are an absolute nightmare for warranty work from what I understand, so in your shoes I'd defer to whichever dealer you may have a better relationship with.

 

[Rep732]

My neighbor has a 2012 fx4 with the 3.5 ecoboost with 150k miles and the engine has never been touched. It's just like everything else it's the luck of the draw and the unfortunate scenario for your friend saying that is people only go to his shop when they have issues so he only knows what people bring him.

 

[FordTechOne]

Your average mechanic does understand failure modes and root causes. They replace the part that they see is broken and move on to the next vehicle.

F-150 is by far the best selling vehicle in the country. So statistically, shops are going to see more of them. The vast majority of EcoBoost failures are the result by a lack by of maintenance or poor quality oil or filters. There are thousands of 3.5’s out there with 200k+ miles without an issue, that is not an anomaly; that is the result of proper maintenance.

What is your mechanic claiming is so problematic?

 

[goblues38]

in a recent conversation with a friend who is a mechanic, he tried to get me to steer clear of them all together, mainly because of the ecoboost engine.

Your friend is an idiot.

the 3.5 Eco-boost in it's various forms is the most deployed engine in history outside of the 350 Chevrolet. Yeah...mechanics are going to see some of them when there are 20 million deployed world wide in 9 years.

Personally, I have direct experience with 5 of them over 350,000 miles. Not a single issue in any of those vehicles.

 

[Nex]

No issues with my raptor other than a tree falling on it. Wife has had the 3.5 in two different explorers, 2016 Limited and 2018 Platinum. No issues with any of those vehicles.

 

[JohnyPython]

What have you got to lose?

Get it checked out before you buy. Drive it. Maintain it. Enjoy it.

 

[catinthehat85]

Something interesting I’ve noticed over the years is every mechanic I’ve talked to always steers me away from the brand they’ve worked on the most. When all you see are the problems, it’s hard to realign your experiences with the big picture. If you base your decision off of your friend who has worked mainly on ecoboosts his whole career, you wouldn’t be making a decision based on the big picture. The reality is the ecoboost is one of the most successful engines ever created, and enjoys a massive marketshare over every other engine brand available. Of course he is going to see more ecoboost failures.

Now that that’s over with, welcome to the family your life just got a little better =)

 

[Echo9599]

I cannot comment on reliability of ecoboost engines other than my personal anecdotes, which is 3 ecoboost's since 2015 with about 75,000 miles on two of them, and my Raptor with 25,000 miles all problem free. In that same time period I had two Yukon Denali's with a litany of transmission and electronics issues both in less than 10,000 miles. I personally have more faith in the Ecoboost than GM's, but that's based entirely on my own experience. Both GM and Ford dealership's are an absolute nightmare for warranty work from what I understand, so in your shoes I'd defer to whichever dealer you may have a better relationship with.

Thanks for the feedback! And good to hear. 3 with no issues is a pretty good track record

 

[Echo9599]

Something interesting I’ve noticed over the years is every mechanic I’ve talked to always steers me away from the brand they’ve worked on the most. When all you see are the problems, it’s hard to realign your experiences with the big picture. If you base your decision off of your friend who has worked mainly on ecoboosts his whole career, you wouldn’t be making a decision based on the big picture. The reality is the ecoboost is one of the most successful engines ever created, and enjoys a massive marketshare over every other engine brand available. Of course he is going to see more ecoboost failures.

Now that that’s over with, welcome to the family your life just got a little better =)

Thanks for the welcome!! And thanks to all for the feedback, already feeling reassured, now I can confidently resume the hunt for a 2020 in Leadfoot grey thx again to all