[padgett]

I have a '12 Jeep Grand Cherokee 3.6 that is the best tow car I've ever had. VVT and a very flat torque "plateau" makes towing easy particularly with the factory trailer towing package even with the lightest (4475 lbs) GC. Is from the "Mercedes" period and have pulled both he biggest U-Haul made to a tandem axle car trailer. By itself it gets 24mpg of 87 at 70 and 18 mpg pulling a 27 foot RV.
Being a '12 it has no nanny devices except ABS. Of course it also have the Chrysler "lifetime" (2095 or 999,999 miles) service contract. It works for me.

[77 Canamman]

A catch can is a wise addition to fully direct injected engines. They do not have any amount of fuel in contact with the back of the intake valves, and therefore will eventually coke up with the consumption of oily crankcase vapors. I added a catch can to my LT-1 5.3. Over the course of a thousand miles, the can will collect a tablespoon of motor oil during hot weather. In the winter, it will fill up more quickly with a moisture/oil "milkshake". Not sure this is a thing on the Fords, but on some GM and other makes DI engines it is.

[Bob's GTO]

Originally Posted by TAKerry

Youre pulling a 16' trailer with a ford escape?
I have been looking for a new to me truck and keep shying away from the Fords with the ecoboost as I pull trailers on occassion. A friend of mine says it would be no problem, I suppose I should take his word on it.

He has an ecoboost twin turbo on his large family/cargo van. He showed me an aftermarket oil collector that he installed almost the size of a soda can. Said there is oil blow by that can do long term damage to the motor if not controlled. His can was half full after a thousand miles or so.

Kerry, I pulled my GTO to York GoodGuys in a 24 ft trailer with my 2019 F150 3.5 V6 Ecoboost and 10 speed. The truck pulled strong with the GTO loaded and barely knew the empty trailer was back there.

[GT182]

Just hope your new Ford doesn't have issues. Our 2014 Focus SE is at the Ford dealer and will be for up to 6 more weeks or more. A chip in the transmission module blew and they can't get a replacement. The factory that makes them burnt to the ground so only a few at a time are being made at a time.

As told to us by our service guy at the Ford dealer our Focus is at, the race track in Knoxville, TN has 25,000 Ford trucks that can't be moved or sold due to parts not being made. Finally after 2 weeks we got a loaner from them today to use until our POS is fixed. A 2021 Ford Edge with 120 miles on it, with a dealer plate. No charge except to bring it back with a full tank.

Padgett, I have a 2002 4.0L Jeep GC 4x4 and love it. Pulls whatever load I have on my trailer with no problems at all. All kinds of torque and get good gas mileage too... 16 around town and highest I've seen so far is 24 out on the big roads.

[bird72]

Originally Posted by TAKerry

I have been looking for a new to me truck and keep shying away from the Fords with the ecoboost as I pull trailers on occassion. A friend of mine says it would be no problem, I suppose I should take his word on it.

He has an ecoboost twin turbo on his large family/cargo van. He showed me an aftermarket oil collector that he installed almost the size of a soda can. Said there is oil blow by that can do long term damage to the motor if not controlled. His can was half full after a thousand miles or so.

Go to the F150 forums to see how many tow with it. It is obviously not a hauler for large trailers, but medium size, car trailer, etc seem to do fine. Test drive one. I really like my 19 F150 4wd. Supercab, 6.5 bed. I got the small 2.7 twin turbo. 325hp, 400lb tq. Nice mileage medium duty set up. Hill climbs excellent in 4wd. Only 10K miles so longevity test not there yet. There are some high mileage ones now though, out long enough.

[mgarblik]

My largest customer has been slowly replacing the fleet of 13 Sprinter Vans with Ford Transit 350's. These are big airport shuttle vans and are heavy. They have the 3.5L ecoboost V-6 engines and the 10 speed auto. One of the 2015 models just ticked over 300,000 miles and runs great. Overall, the fleet owner loves them and I do too. Fairly easy to work under the hood and mechanically reliable. The 300K mile one has needed a serpentine belt, 1 radiator hose, 2 sets of spark plugs and 2 sets of coil packs, and 1 valve cover gasket. Other than that, routine maintenance. I think that's impressive. The Sprinter vans were reliable to about 120,000 miles then became very expensive to maintain and needed constant, expensive repairs. The Ford cost per mile is less than half the Sprinter after 100K and the Ford is much quicker and gets slightly better mileage than the diesel Sprinters. BTW, they still have 1 ancient 2005 GM Express Van left with 323,000 miles on it. 6.0 Liter LS engine, leaks every fluid in it like it's marking it's territory, but it refuses to die. They are damn tough as well. So of course GM discontinues them.

[Doug]

Seems like a good place to mention my bad-bad experience with a Ford.

Bought a 2017 Ford Fiesta in Oct-2017. 3yr-15K mile warranty. Nothing exotic. Regular radio, disc player, sound system setup. Driven about 400 miles per month. Driven 2 or 3 times a week. Garage kept.

A few months later the battery was down when I went to start. We thought it may have been because my visiting 9-yr old grandson had opened a door and had not closed it back securely. Took battery to dealer. It was charged and worked fine for several months when battery went dead again sitting in garage. Charged battery and took car to dealer. Told them to check for a parasitic battery drain. Tests showed no problems. Dealer suggested that car needed to be driven 2 or 3 times a week to keep it charged because “that’s the way modern cars are”.

Sometime later, the heater blower switch failed. Dealer replaced. While in shop I asked them to check for parasitic drain. None found. Sometime later, blower switch failed again. Blower motor was bad and dealer replaced.

In September-2020, at end of 3yr factory warranty with only about 12,400 mileage, I purchased an extended 3yr-36K mile Ford warranty.

In April-2021, battery went dead again with car sitting in garage. Charged battery and took car to dealer. Told them to check for a parasitic battery drain. Tests showed problems was the audio control module component (ACM) of the sound system.

Dealer estimate to repair was $644.20 and the extended 3yr-36K mile Ford warranty did not cover it.

I declined, told them to pull the fuse to the sound system and put it in the glove box. I bought a new battery and have driven with no battery drainage since.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Doug

Seems like a good place to mention my bad-bad experience with a Ford.

Bought a 2017 Ford Fiesta in Oct-2017. 3yr-15K mile warranty. Nothing exotic. Regular radio, disc player, sound system setup. Driven about 400 miles per month. Driven 2 or 3 times a week. Garage kept.

A few months later the battery was down when I went to start. We thought it may have been because my visiting 9-yr old grandson had opened a door and had not closed it back securely. Took battery to dealer. It was charged and worked fine for several months when battery went dead again sitting in garage. Charged battery and took car to dealer. Told them to check for a parasitic battery drain. Tests showed no problems. Dealer suggested that car needed to be driven 2 or 3 times a week to keep it charged because “that’s the way modern cars are”.


Sometime later, the heater blower switch failed. Dealer replaced. While in shop I asked them to check for parasitic drain. None found. Sometime later, blower switch failed again. Blower motor was bad and dealer replaced.

In September-2020, at end of 3yr factory warranty with only about 12,400 mileage, I purchased an extended 3yr-36K mile Ford warranty.

In April-2021, battery went dead again with car sitting in garage. Charged battery and took car to dealer. Told them to check for a parasitic battery drain. Tests showed problems was the audio control module component (ACM) of the sound system.

Dealer estimate to repair was $644.20 and the extended 3yr-36K mile Ford warranty did not cover it.

I declined, told them to pull the fuse to the sound system and put it in the glove box. I bought a new battery and have driven with no battery drainage since.

That's a great example of poor dealer service. All modern vehicles have a huge amount of electrical content and that is the source of most of the issues. The first time the dealer said all modern cars have to be driven a couple times a week, that was a good sign they were a bunch of lazy idiots. If that was true, every car on almost every dealer lot would have a dead battery! Yes there is a constant battery grain, but if the system is working properly, it's under 100ma. This should give you 3-4 weeks of non-use and still start the car with a good battery. In Ohio, that car would have been eligible to begin the buy back process for 3 unsuccessful attempts to correct the same defect. That gets the dealers attention and gets the top tech on the repair, assuming they have one. I would have had the zone involved after the 2nd attempt to get it repaired. Sorry to hear about your ordeal, but it does happen.

[TAKerry]

Carb king, Sorry I misread your statement. I thought that was a bit ambitious to pull a trailer with that new car!

Glad to hear the stories on the eco boost. I dont think I am that afraid anymore
I have a 16 ft box trailer that gets pulled once a week for a yard I cut, and then on occasion. I do have a heavy flat deck trailer that a couple of times a year I may have to pull a skid steer. My current truck is an 06 F150 pushing 300k miles and it still runs really good. Also have an expedition closing in on 200k miles. Sure they have had some minor stuff but nothing major to complain about.

[Tom Vaught]

The same engine, 3.5L Twin Turbo, F-150 truck that did this video about 10 years ago
also raced in the Baja 1000 race and towed a dual vehicle flat trailer around a NASCAR track for 24 hours at max speed. All the videos are out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d1DA7XdsPo

So the ECOBOOST engine is not a POS ready to blow up after a few miles doing work.
I know of two with about 375,000 miles on them. Congrats on your approaching 300K with your current truck.

Tom V.

[OG68]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

BTW, they still have 1 ancient 2005 GM Express Van left with 323,000 miles on it. 6.0 Liter LS engine, leaks every fluid in it like it's marking it's territory, but it refuses to die. They are damn tough as well. So of course GM discontinues them.

Where did you hear that? My understanding is they're continuing production for another 2 or 3 years.
Planning on ordering one in a few months for towing my travel trailer.

[mgarblik]

I am mistaken. Those vans were supposed to be discontinued the end of 2014 and my primary fleet was looking at new replacements right then. The GM fleet manager they dealt with said they were not going to be continued so they went right to Ford. I just looked up 2022 Express and Savana vans and see they are still happening and look exactly like the old dog 2005 we are still running. I guess that may be an option for the smaller vans they run. Sorry for my incorrect statement. I learned something today. For the last 6 years they have been churning them out without my knowledge. They look so similar to the 15 year old ones, I didn't notice the newer ones on the road.

[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

The Chevrolet Express Van and similar GMC Savana Van have been out of production since 2015 I think.

Incorrect..

https://www.chevrolet.com/commercial/express