2014 GM trucks recalled. DON'T DRIVE!

[yelbike]

Chris, imagine a world without GM. Its serious business with all the spin off industry. I drive fords and a Lincoln. I've had a chev and served me well. Ford didn't need the same hand out as GM which is the only reason why the didn't take the money.

 

[terryknight]

Trollin Trollin trollin Keep them doggies movin

 

[Larro Darro]

yes, but the TDI is a diesel and the Prius is a hybrid. I expect those type cars to get good mileage. When are they going to make a truck that can get 40MPG and still be able to have a decent tow rating. Diesel cars have been around for a while and are known for decent mileage. A friend of mine had a diesel Cadillac a few years ago that got 25 MPG city and over 30 highway. I think diesel vehicles is the way to go to get higher mileage, the problem is the EPA approving them for emissions.
Gas vehicles are a different animal. They can only do so much to maintain the proper air / fuel ratio. More gears in the transmission would help keep engines in the most efficient HP to torque range. Mfgs. have been slowly making those changes going from single and 2 speeds of years gone by to 6 speed autos in trucks today. Some cars now have 8 speed autos. Weight reduction is about all they have left to increase mileage.

I think transmissions is the best way to save fuel at this point. My '13 Camry has a 6 speed, and gets 33mph. That is with my bad late for work problem. But I have heard good things about a hydraulic hybrid program being tested by some buses, city trash trucks, UPS vans and other things that stop and start a lot. They get rolling with hydraulic power, then use the transmission normally. Even with the normal sized motor, there was serious fuel savings. The system did take up some cargo space, about the size of a 55 gallon drum. If this was put on a 1/2, 3/4 or 1T truck the size would be much smaller, maybe about 5 gallons. Our Prius was a novelty when we bought it in '05. These days you can't sling a dead cat without hitting one. So in ten years, this type hybrid might be as wide spread as the Prius is today.

Larro

 

[Diamondpilot]

Is Ford "doing what's right" by the ecoboost F150 customers that have had problems?

So 60 plus % of the F150 trucks sold the last 3 years were Eco Boost. I know at least 25 people with them including my father and uncle and not one have had a minutes trouble. So where are all these issues you speak of? If you are talking about ice in the intercoolers there are less than 10 reported cases in nearly a million.

Chris

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Well, Eric, thats a lot of beating around the bush to say, simply, Ford took tax money to build cars that are supposed to get better fuel mileage.

Bottom line is there are Fords built with tax money.

Notice that Ford and Nissan did not take the money in order to be bailed out or continue as an on-going business concern.

No Ford built to this day has been built with money from the EPA $5.9B loan.

That said, do you hold equal distaste to the food industry because the entire food industry has been and continues to be subsidized with "tax dollar money"? In point of fact, do you loath eggs and bacon and milk and orange juice as you seem to loath Ford for taking a loan from the EPA? Does hatred of subsidies dull the flavor of grass-grown beef because the producers of such goods, at the least, never paid sales tax? Why is your focus on Ford willingness to try to develop new technologies for the greater good, a bad thing in your eyes, when there is no mistaking that your eggs and bacon have been partially subsidized by our "tax payer money" for the greater good of all US consumers?

 

[MinnesotaEric]

So 60 plus % of the F150 trucks sold the last 3 years were Eco Boost. I know at least 25 people with them including my father and uncle and not one have had a minutes trouble. So where are all these issues you speak of? If you are talking about ice in the intercoolers there are less than 10 reported cases in nearly a million.

Chris

Chris,

FWI, the EB problems are not just the intercooler issue, but a cold warm up issue that dumps excess fuel into the oil in colder climates, thereby diluting the oil, causing timing chains to prematurely fail and engine damage. The intercooler thing just clogs up the left side catalyst and puts the engine into limp home mode and all attempts to fix the issue have lowered the overall mpg because Ford richened up the mixture and decreased the gaps on the spark plugs in an attempt to fix the intercooler pressure drop related water misfires. Sadly those attempts to fix the intercooler problem exasperated the fuel oil contamination problem which is why For is currently testing 22 F150s with aftermarket catch cans.

What Ford should have done is decreased the spark plug gaps as they eventually did, drill a weep hole in the bottom of the intercooler induction where water is collecting, tapped that hole into the pcv system, and stuck with the original and awesome lean burn injection ratio they had puzzled for the marvelous performance and economy in the first place.

Ford declined to replace this timing chain under warrantee, ordered the dealer to put the engine back together and a week later the timing chain broke shelling the engine. Ford has a revised design that is stronger but still has yet to sort out the underlying problem of cold engine warm-up allowing fuel to contaminate engine oil. Now the early timing chain on start-up rattle is the tell that the chain is getting ready to fail and if a customer smells gas on their oil fill cap (a precursor to stretching the timing chain), Ford has a TSB directing a new block-heater design and instructions to use it always below freezing.

 

[wawajake]

Thankyou Eric..........your post is the kind of post that makes TBN the very valuable place that it is. Just facts and actual details , without any of the useless rhetoric seen in others posts.

 

[ruffdog]

So, no Ford being built from the $5.9 billion? READ THIS...

Officially, official: Ford gets $5.9b from DOE in ATVMP funds for 13 greener cars

 

[dave1949]

Thankyou Eric..........your post is the kind of post that makes TBN the very valuable place that it is. Just facts and actual details , without any of the useless rhetoric seen in others posts.

X2. Actual info is always useful and greatly appreciated.

"Sadly those attempts to fix the intercooler problem exasperated the fuel oil contamination problem ... "

Exacerbated is the word you were looking for: make (a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling) worse. I'm sure the Ford engineers and bean counters are exasperated.

 

[jejeosborne]

Chris,

FWI, the EB problems are not just the intercooler issue, but a cold warm up issue that dumps excess fuel into the oil in colder climates, thereby diluting the oil, causing timing chains to prematurely fail and engine damage. The intercooler thing just clogs up the left side catalyst and puts the engine into limp home mode and all attempts to fix the issue have lowered the overall mpg because Ford richened up the mixture and decreased the gaps on the spark plugs in an attempt to fix the intercooler pressure drop related water misfires. Sadly those attempts to fix the intercooler problem exasperated the fuel oil contamination problem which is why For is currently testing 22 F150s with aftermarket catch cans.

What Ford should have done is decreased the spark plug gaps as they eventually did, drill a weep hole in the bottom of the intercooler induction where water is collecting, tapped that hole into the pcv system, and stuck with the original and awesome lean burn injection ratio they had puzzled for the marvelous performance and economy in the first place.

Ford declined to replace this timing chain under warrantee, ordered the dealer to put the engine back together and a week later the timing chain broke shelling the engine. Ford has a revised design that is stronger but still has yet to sort out the underlying problem of cold engine warm-up allowing fuel to contaminate engine oil. Now the early timing chain on start-up rattle is the tell that the chain is getting ready to fail and if a customer smells gas on their oil fill cap (a precursor to stretching the timing chain), Ford has a TSB directing a new block-heater design and instructions to use it always below freezing.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JxYrDN00KI

Just did a YouTube search for "ecoboost timing chain" and it resulted 3 videos. One was just audio, one by someone who was oblivious to engines.

As popular as YouTube is plus the more than 500,000 ecoboost trucks on the road plus the diehard V8 gear heads hoping for ecoboost failures......A statistician would expect a sum of more than 1 legitimate video. Really?

The diluted fuel issue in cold climates has a TSB to correct the issue.

Every engine from every manufacturer will have its individual issues. If the issues are major and widespread, they will not be made, desired or purchased in the future.