Tow rig down. Lost the power steering on the F150 Ecoboost. :-(

[trayson]

So last night at the top of the boat ramp, the truck lost it's power steering. Upon a little research, the F150 Ecoboost uses an electric motor that's inside the steering rack and if you look through the forums, it's prone to failure. We've got 27k miles on the truck.

Muscling around those 35" tires on 20" wheels gave me a workout. And backing the trailer through our gate to the side of our house was as hard as it's ever been. I didn't even get the boat all the way back under the carport. It barely made it behind the gate before I gave up on jockeying it anymore.

Luckily the original owner of the truck had bought a 6 year/75k extended warranty that I was able to get transferred over to us, so we should be okay there (as I've heard it's a $1,500+ fix). It's got an appointment to go into the dealer Friday.

Symptoms started with a couple of weird fault codes (Hill Descent and Advance Trac) as well as the turn signals wouldn't stay on.

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u492/traysonh/Ford%20F150/20160724_220116_zpsjuali9er.jpg

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u492/traysonh/Ford%20F150/20160724_220056_zpsacmuf6aa.jpg

Then we noticed that these faults would show up in conjunction with a screech when the steering hit full lock.

I know there's a handful of F150 Ecoboost owners on here, so aside from the fact this happened while towing the boat, I figured it'd be of interest to some of you.

[smorris7]

So last night at the top of the boat ramp, the truck lost it's power steering. Upon a little research, the F150 Ecoboost uses an electric motor that's inside the steering rack and if you look through the forums, it's prone to failure. We've got 27k miles on the truck.

Muscling around those 35" tires on 20" wheels gave me a workout. And backing the trailer through our gate to the side of our house was as hard as it's ever been. I didn't even get the boat all the way back under the carport. It barely made it behind the gate before I gave up on jockeying it anymore.

Luckily the original owner of the truck had bought a 6 year/75k extended warranty that I was able to get transferred over to us, so we should be okay there (as I've heard it's a $1,500+ fix). It's got an appointment to go into the dealer Friday.

Symptoms started with a couple of weird fault codes (Hill Descent and Advance Trac) as well as the turn signals wouldn't stay on.

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u492/traysonh/Ford%20F150/20160724_220116_zpsjuali9er.jpg

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u492/traysonh/Ford%20F150/20160724_220056_zpsacmuf6aa.jpg

Then we noticed that these faults would show up in conjunction with a screech when the steering hit full lock.

I know there's a handful of F150 Ecoboost owners on here, so aside from the fact this happened while towing the boat, I figured it'd be of interest to some of you.


I'll share alittle about my experience. I owned a 12 F150 Lariat. The above issues are well known about the Echo Boost. I have had the same fault codes myself. Earlier this spring mine was misfiring at higher rpm's basically when I spun up the turbos it would fall flat on its face. Took it in for service and the dealer said I needed plugs and coil boots. (This is also common on the echo boost) picked up my truck from the dealer and a week later it was doing the same thing. Took it back in. Ran multiple test and started replacing parts. High pressure fuel pump, boost sensors. No go. Kept throwing codes. Dealership had to bring in Ford engineers to look at it. It took 2 months to finally fixed the problem. Needless to say after one month in I went and bought a new truck. Never Ford Never again!


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[beat taco]

The most important thing you can do is drill a pee hole in your CAC if you own an ecoboost!

[trayson]

The most important thing you can do is drill a pee hole in your CAC if you own an ecoboost!

That's certainly not going to help my Electric Power Steering Assist motor that's died at 27k miles...

Maybe the most important thing is having an extended warranty?????

[beat taco]

You can't do anything about that failure, a pee hole can save your motor. I won't own it without a warranty!

[KG's Supra24]

The best fix for a ford is obviously a GM.

[MJHSupra]

. . . I went and bought a new truck. Never Ford Never again!

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^^^ Yep! Went to GM.

[beat taco]

Gm?http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160727/8a4f52ba7779b855d60b2de49ac3e161.jpg

[mmandley]

The best fix for a ford is obviously a GM.

Idk if I agree, I think Ram is the way to go, but after 4 Ford Trucks I was done.

[icemanftr]

Idk if I agree, I think Ram is the way to go, but after 4 Ford Trucks I was done.

😊http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160728/78c1dd679df93630113a6a73854585e6.jpg


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[smorris7]

Idk if I agree, I think Ram is the way to go, but after 4 Ford Trucks I was done.

Yep Ram is the ticket!http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160728/4278e99ecff8978f1fc0f787336540b8.jpg


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[sandm]

dodge, ford, chevy... they all have pros and cons. for every ford issue, there's someone else with a gm or dodge issue.

just like supra, tige, nautique.

the difference is everyone posts the negative but no one posts the positive.

[5:00]

I will throw in a positive.
I have an '11 Ford Expedition XL with 97,000+ miles and I love it. It has taken my family as far north as Vermont and as far south as Orlando and all points between. So far I have changed the tires once and that is it. Other than the dent I recently put in the driver's door all is well. This comes from a multi decade Toyota guy. I towed my Moomba from SC to VA and trailered my WaveRunners all over. I used it like a pickup truck to gather materials for my basement remodel. Right now I have 18 bags of sand, an 8x8 post, bricks, rebar, tools and a Perception Tribe kayak in it ready to head to the lake. In the past I had owned Dodge and various GM products without a lot of luck. I waited years before going back to an American vehicle but I found the right one. It is the first Ford I have ever owned and I am getting my money out of this truck more than any vehicle I have ever owned.
There is your happy story.

[trayson]

So they're saying that the lift that is on the truck doesn't have any steering stops.

Also, they're saying how the truck is needing to have the axle seal replaced again, the rear pinion seal, and the gear for the Electronic Assist Steering motor.

They're saying that with the lack of steering stop (and the increased angle of the rear driveshaft with the lift) that it's aggravating my seals. I'm hoping that if we get steering stops put back in (I called Pro Comp and they got me a part number) that hopefully we'll be better off in the future.

The dealer is covering all this under our platinum extended warranty, but they said the next time around there'd be a decent chance that Ford would ask for pictures before they paid the next round of warranty and we'd be at risk of having it denied because of the lift/35's. Of course I know about how the lift complicates things. So I want to do my due diligence to minimize the complications from the lift since it's already on the truck. I'll at a minimum be ordering the steering stops. Hopefully it won't kill our turning radius TOO much.

[FlatLander7]

Such nice boats to be pulled by rams.. lol

[zabooda]

So they're saying that the lift that is on the truck doesn't have any steering stops.

Also, they're saying how the truck is needing to have the axle seal replaced again, the rear pinion seal, and the gear for the Electronic Assist Steering motor.

They're saying that with the lack of steering stop (and the increased angle of the rear driveshaft with the lift) that it's aggravating my seals. I'm hoping that if we get steering stops put back in (I called Pro Comp and they got me a part number) that hopefully we'll be better off in the future.

The dealer is covering all this under our platinum extended warranty, but they said the next time around there'd be a decent chance that Ford would ask for pictures before they paid the next round of warranty and we'd be at risk of having it denied because of the lift/35's. Of course I know about how the lift complicates things. So I want to do my due diligence to minimize the complications from the lift since it's already on the truck. I'll at a minimum be ordering the steering stops. Hopefully it won't kill our turning radius TOO much.

If that was my Jeep Wrangler under warranty I know they would not cover it. A lack of steering stops is a serious mistake on a lift.

[MJHSupra]

They're saying that with the lack of steering stop (and the increased angle of the rear driveshaft with the lift) that it's aggravating my seals.

Ouch. Brings back the discussions from my buddy who worked as a mechanic at a Chevy Dealer for 20+ years. I would talk about truck lifts, rims, and tires, he would tell me “about changing the angle on the driveshaft causes bad things to happen . . . . the trucks were not design for the stress . . .”

So what I do, lift my truck b/c I like it . . .

[Pound]

This conversation is timely.... I just had to have my rear transfer case seal replaced. The only lift i have on my truck is a 2" leveling kit on the front. The truck sits pretty damn tall from the factory. I don't know what could have caused a premature failure on this seal, but I can't imagine a leveling kit could have caused it. The truck only has 52k miles. That part is not scheduled for service until 120k miles. Could have just been a bad part?

[rdlangston13]

Bad parts are bound to happen, that's why companies issue warranties, so when one of the hundreds of thousands coming down the assembly line is bad, you can get it repaired.

I show some Ford love too, had a 1995 ranger 4cyl 5spd, never had an issue minus an alternator and heater control valve. Drove it to 219,000 miles. 2003 ford ranger 3.0 auto drove to 169,000 miles, no issues.

Currently have a 2015 expedition with the ecoboost, racked up 20,000 miles since we bought it last August and no issues as of yet. Pulls the boat way better than my 2006 dodge 1500
Hemi. Tons of power and can maintain 70 mph without constantly hunting for a gear.


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[mmandley]

I'm not bad mouthing Ford at all, but with 4 trucks, 2 gas, 2 diesel I had a good reason to switch brands.

Ram has 23k and a lot of that is towing millage. No issues at all, only issue I had was caused by the dealer after a recall software update.

All trucks have issues just some are talked about more then others.

[moombadaze]

All trucks have issues just some are talked about more then others.

that about sums it all up right there

[yearround]

I have been driving dodge/ram 1500 for the past 4 trucks, since 2001, collectively close to 800,000 miles. currently a 2013 ram, purchased 3 years ago this month, 99200 on it now. no significant issues with any of the trucks. I just have not found a dealer I like.

[PuraVida]

I used to have an eco boost, similar tire size and lift too. Pulled great but 4-6 mpg was disgusting. Get ready to replace your timing chain as well. Ford finally redesigned them after October 2014.

[trayson]

I used to have an eco boost, similar tire size and lift too. Pulled great but 4-6 mpg was disgusting. Get ready to replace your timing chain as well. Ford finally redesigned them after October 2014.

Boat and trailer together weigh 6,250. We get 7 to 9 towing. Not great, but we still like the truck overall.

[icemanftr]

I used to have an eco boost, similar tire size and lift too. Pulled great but 4-6 mpg was disgusting. Get ready to replace your timing chain as well. Ford finally redesigned them after October 2014.

4-6 mpg towing? You going uphill both ways? My hemi gets 13 avg towing and I'm no light foot. Can't imagine the ecoboost doing any worse than my hemi.


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[trayson]

4-6 mpg towing? You going uphill both ways? My hemi gets 13 avg towing and I'm no light foot. Can't imagine the ecoboost doing any worse than my hemi.


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with the 6" lift and 35's we've never gotten over 9 towing with our ecoboost.

Someone once told me that you get "eco" or you get "Boost", just not both! LOL.

[rdlangston13]

At 65 mph our ecoboost gets 12 mph pulling the boat compared to 9-10 in our 06 Dodge Hemi. Speed up to 70 and ecoboost drops to 10

And I'm not bad mouthing Dodge, truck has been great minus the known AC blend door issues and my magical disappearing coolant for the lake 80,000 miles.


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[mmandley]

with the 6" lift and 35's we've never gotten over 9 towing with our ecoboost.

Someone once told me that you get "eco" or you get "Boost", just not both! LOL.

I can see this all day, in my Eco we were getting 10 towing the Mojo, no lift but similar weight.

The thing we have in OR is mountains, and lots of them. I have seen in every truck I have owned when I get out of OR my mileage increases.

If your getting 10+ hauling a boat with a Gas engine, feel very lucky honestly.

When I towed from OR to GA we averaged 12-13 entire way and thats with a bed full of heavy gear we brought. best mileage I have ever gotten with any of my trucks towing.

[onoitslolo]

I can see this all day, in my Eco we were getting 10 towing the Mojo, no lift but similar weight.

The thing we have in OR is mountains, and lots of them. I have seen in every truck I have owned when I get out of OR my mileage increases.

If your getting 10+ hauling a boat with a Gas engine, feel very lucky honestly.

When I towed from OR to GA we averaged 12-13 entire way and thats with a bed full of heavy gear we brought. best mileage I have ever gotten with any of my trucks towing.


I drive a 1993 Silverado k1500 z71 with 235K miles and get 12mpg, towing or not. Minor problems, but she has treated me well. They just don't make them like they used to.

[icemanftr]

I drive a 1993 Silverado k1500 z71 with 235K miles and get 12mpg, towing or not. Minor problems, but she has treated me well. They just don't make them like they used to.

That's what's up! Imagine the beer money I could have going with a good ole truck like that! The old square bodies were sharp looking trucks for their time.


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[onoitslolo]

That's what's up! Imagine the beer money I could have going with a good ole truck like that! The old square bodies were sharp looking trucks for their time.


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For their time? They are still some of my favorite!

[icemanftr]

For their time? They are still some of my favorite!

As the 90s was full of ugly automobiles, but Chevy and ford still had nice looking trucks being put together. I do like the big cabs they put out these days, it was always hard to find extended and crew cab - unlike in the current market.


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[jtatexc]

At 65 mph our ecoboost gets 12 mph pulling the boat compared to 9-10 in our 06 Dodge Hemi. Speed up to 70 and ecoboost drops to 10

And I'm not bad mouthing Dodge, truck has been great minus the known AC blend door issues and my magical disappearing coolant for the lake 80,000 miles.


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I have a '15 ecoboost and get about same. I'm about 12-13 towing 65mph with same load and 18 or so normal with a light foot. I did notice a slight decrease in mileage when I put my leveling kit and knobby heavy ass 33s on. Exact reason I didn't do 35s. I had a 6" lift and 35s on my last Titan and I felt it was just over built for a half ton truck towing. Diesels are another story I just can't justify owning one for the minimal driving I do (about 6 to 8k miles a year)

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[onoitslolo]

As the 90s was full of ugly automobiles, but Chevy and ford still had nice looking trucks being put together. I do like the big cabs they put out these days, it was always hard to find extended and crew cab - unlike in the current market.


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Mine is a 2 door extended cab. People always comment when they see my boat behind my old truck. Guess it is hard to understand why someone would own a boat that is worth 10x what their truck is. But it works for now haha

[trayson]

I have a '15 ecoboost and get about same. I'm about 12-13 towing 65mph with same load and 18 or so normal with a light foot. I did notice a slight decrease in mileage when I put my leveling kit and knobby heavy ass 33s on. Exact reason I didn't do 35s. I had a 6" lift and 35s on my last Titan and I felt it was just over built for a half ton truck towing. Diesels are another story I just can't justify owning one for the minimal driving I do (about 6 to 8k miles a year)

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Same with us. the truck only gets 7k to 8k miles a year. so MPG isn't all that important when you're not driving it that much.

[rca]

Loved my 07 Expedition XL. Finally sold it this year with 127K on it, we just weren't driving it anymore with the kids at college. Started pulling the boat with the 4x4 Pink Escalade instead. Honestly, the Expedition rode better and all i had to do in the 9 years I owned it was fix the A/C, which isn't bad since it ran whenever we were in the car in Texas. The 4x4 Escalade is nicer than the 2x4 Expedition at the ramp though. Used to get 12-15mpg with the Expedition towing in Texas.

[MJHSupra]

I drive a 1993 Silverado k1500 z71 with 235K miles and get 12mpg, towing or not. Minor problems, but she has treated me well. They just don't make them like they used to.

350 or 454?


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[onoitslolo]

350


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[Pound]

I've owned ford, chevy, gmc, dodge and ram over the years. 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, 2wd, 4wd, gas, diesel... none were perfect, none were lemons. The only thing i haven't owned yet is a dually. That may be next, lol.

I mentioned having my rear seal on my transfer case leak at 52k miles on my current truck (Ram). Heads up for others who may have similar issues... looking around on the innerwebs, it seems like a lot of people end up having theirs replaced multiple times... (not just Rams, but chevy, ford etc). well, i thought i was in the same boat (no pun intended). mine was still leaking after it was changed. but come to find out, the subsequent leak was just residual ATF that had collected inside a frame cross member that was impossible to clean out properly, as well as a small amount that gets in/around the dust cover/boot/yoke when changing the seal out. I was like WTF!!! it's still leaking, but i've cleaned up under there in these two areas for about a week since it was changed and the "leak" progressively stopped completely. Anyway, like I said, heads-up if you ever have a transfer case seal replaced and you think it's still leaking afterwards.
...none of the explains why it was leaking after only 50k miles though.

Trayson, I might have missed it in this thread, but did you get your problem fixed?

[trayson]

Trayson, I might have missed it in this thread, but did you get your problem fixed?

They replaced the steering rack, the axle seal, and the rear pinion seal under the extended Ford Premiumcare warranty.

I have also ordered the Pro Comp steering stops designed to compliment the 6" lift that we have on the truck. Hopefully the steering stops will protect things from overextension and seals and gears will be less prone to failure.