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Do turbo's last?


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I'm on track to get a 2019 Ranger, however, being rooted in the 60's, 70's, I have reservations about turbos.  They did not have good reputations.  I'm assuming today's turbo is better but.............  If given a choice in the Ranger, I'd buy the naturally aspirated engine for sure.  Am I worrying needlessly?  The Ranger will be a daily driver and used for towing about 50 miles per month.  

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When I turbocharged the 2.5L in my 2001 Ranger 2 years ago, I used a factory turbo off of an '86 Thunderbird turbocoupe. The old 2.3 SOHC of 80's Ford turbo lore is the same basic engine used in the Ranger until 2001, so it was a perfect fit.  It was well used and obviously never rebuilt when I installed it with the plan being to rebuild after I finished mockup, but it ran so good I never bothered.  Two years and several thousand miles later, still works good, makes 20 psi no problem.

So yeah, turbos seem to hold up about as good as anything else on an engine. I think the bad rap came from the really early carb'd turbo setups. Outside of certain dedicated race applications, turbos and carbs don't mix.  EFI keeps everything happy.

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Wanna know what else wasn't built well in the 70s? The entire damned car.

We could all rhyme off 100s of components that failed after 60k.

These new Ford turbos have hundreds of millions of real life miles in field. They've worked out the issues. No need to fret.

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11 minutes ago, ford-boy said:

Thank you all.  No more fretting here.  

Happy New Year and best wishes with your new Ford Ranger order ford-boy sir! I pre-ordered a 2019 Ford Ranger XLT 2WD myself. Initially had some of the same concerns as you about Ecoboost engines. After test driving Mustangs with the same engine and transmission and talking to mechanics who work on Fords, I'm confident that the this engine will hold up just fine.

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Today's turbos are vastly improved over those old days in every way. The center housings are now cooled to eliminate coking. The bearings are improved. The oiling system is improved. The lubricants used are improved. Control of boost is gnat's ass on, so compressor stall (a real killer) doesn't happen. Do we replace turbos occasionally? Yes. But the majority of those are too long on the oil change intervals or stuck/sticking wastegates and bypasses that are not serviced by Ford (but the aftermarket does). No need to fret. Follow your maintenance intervals and drive it. 

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5 hours ago, ford-boy said:

Thank you all.  No more fretting here.  

words of advice....buy an Oil Catch can...I installed one in the 1.6 of my ST...one of the issues with the DI engines is oil in the intake, after a while can build up...the can I empty every 3000 or so miles...and the amount, whilst small, isn't insignificant....

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Something to remember though,  if you’re planning to keep your turbo truck for ten years or so, you’re gonna have to work out your exit point versus being eventually being caught with “wear and tear”, eventual failure of major power train or suspension components. 

On the up side, the new 2.3 EB has been strengthened with steel crank and forged rods, so the foundations are strong if you plan a power upgrade, drive in drive out 70 hp 100 lb ft upgrade tune that a n atmo V6 can never match....

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14 hours ago, Deanh said:

words of advice....buy an Oil Catch can...I installed one in the 1.6 of my ST...one of the issues with the DI engines is oil in the intake, after a while can build up...the can I empty every 3000 or so miles...and the amount, whilst small, isn't insignificant....

Agree..can't believe they haven't upgraded all of the EB engines with PFI by now.

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1 hour ago, 70 Stang said:

Agree..can't believe they haven't upgraded all of the EB engines with PFI by now.

 

Not only have they not upgraded any of the I4 EB engines, they only updated the longitudinal versions of the 3.5L and 2.7L.  The transverse models in the Edge, MKX, Explorer, Flex and MKT don’t have dual injection yet.

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1 hour ago, akirby said:

Not only have they not upgraded any of the I4 EB engines, they only updated the longitudinal versions of the 3.5L and 2.7L.  The transverse models in the Edge, MKX, Explorer, Flex and MKT don’t have dual injection yet.

Well, since the Flex, MKT and 3.5L EB are "dead men walking" and Explorer is moving to CD6 and all its longitudinal glory..my guess would be that dual direct/port injection will be applied to all EB motors by 2020....

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2 hours ago, akirby said:

 

Not only have they not upgraded any of the I4 EB engines, they only updated the longitudinal versions of the 3.5L and 2.7L.  The transverse models in the Edge, MKX, Explorer, Flex and MKT don’t have dual injection yet.

The 2.0 that's being used today is Gen 2. I'm sure Gen 3 is right around the corner

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On 12/30/2018 at 10:09 PM, ford-boy said:

I'm on track to get a 2019 Ranger, however, being rooted in the 60's, 70's, I have reservations about turbos.  They did not have good reputations.  I'm assuming today's turbo is better but.............  If given a choice in the Ranger, I'd buy the naturally aspirated engine for sure.  Am I worrying needlessly?  The Ranger will be a daily driver and used for towing about 50 miles per month.  

GREAT choice on the Ranger.

I have a 2017 Escape Titanium with the 2.0-L turbo.   It's the most impressive engine overall that I've ever driven.  Ford's "Dual Scrolling" turbo kicks in smoothly at much lower RPM than old school turbochargers so there's almost no noticeable "turbo-lag".  Instead of waiting for the power to come on, it feels more like just driving a vehicle with a big power engine.  The power is just there.

I had the same questions before buying.   I was worried especially given that they engine has auto-shut-off for economy.  To me, that made no sense with a turbo as I'd always learned in the past that you needed to idle down and cool off a turbo before shutting a vehicle down.  These things just aren't true anymore.  The engine is designed for it, just like the starter and flywheel are vastly improved to meet the new challenges.

I've put 35k on mine so far and it's amazing.  I can pull 3500 pounds -- and have.  I've got a 750 pound trailer that I loaded with a full yard of damp loam and had no trouble with it.  If anything, I think the weight limit has more to do with stopping power due to the overall weight of the Escape.  Certainly it had no power problems.   

When I'm not pulling and I put my foot down, the thing leaps forward like a 70s muscle car and rockets off the line or when passing.

Driving in Northern Maine toward Canada on the long, empty, far northern end of I-95, I can set the cruise control at 85 and it runs smooth and quiet at only about 2300 RPM.  As long as I watch for moose, there's really nothing in the way (though at 85 the mileage does drop into the lower 20s).

On long drives, when I'm behaving, I've averaged 28 mpg round trip to D.C. (about 800 miles) and about 31 MPG to Michigan through Canada.  Slow down to 60mph and I get 31-33 mpg.  It really is amazing.  

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