The OHV 4.0L was a different animal than the SOHC 4.0. The SOHC timing chains were on opposite ENDS of the engine, with one sandwiched between the engine and transmission; if that went, and it ALWAYS did unless something else killed it first, that was the nail in the coffin due to the massive labor cost.
The ICE tends to turn off in the easier of conditions. It starts via a huge starter that's belt driven and has valving to keep the oil pressure up so hopefully the frequent start / stop doesn't have a meaningful impact. The biggest concern to me is that it starts and stops the engine before it's warmed up, though with exhaust heat scavenging it does get to temp faster. I'm just not a fan of seeing it do 3-4 start /stops before it's up to temp. That belt driven starter rips the engine to life though. It rocks the truck when it fires up.
Will be watching this. I believe that the bypass filter I have put on my engine will make a difference. My take on these is that a slow accumulation of particulates in them eventually slows things down or stops it. So will finer filtration make a difference? Am watching and observing.
My cousin was a good ford tech for 10+ years and uses amsoil every 3500 miles. I had always wondered why such frequent oil changes having owned coyotes and multiple gm ls and genv v8 motors myself. He had multiple 3.5s in a f150 and expedition and all got the phaser clack in the end anyway which led to him trading them in. That being said I still believe the oil changes helps them. He had since moved away from the 3.5 but did tell me to get one lolYou should really question yourself if disagreeing with me is "rare".
I want to be an optimist regarding the phasers in this Gen3 3.5 Ecoboost. So far, so good, it appears.
But I can vouch for quite a few guys with Gen2 3.5 phasers failing on trucks during warranty and out, and they are knowledgeable Ecoboost fellas with impeccable maintenance records. (Ecoboost forum for several years. Good guys)
The biggest fear of the phaser issues, for me personally, isn't the phasers themselves, but rather the repair procedure being botched and the truck being worse off after the fact. It's way too common and would give me pause. There's a fair argument for just ignoring the "coldstart clatter" (Gen2, NOT Gen1) rather than have the motor basically ruined by the dealership. They are notorious for not being accountable for the botched job.
See, I'm paranoid about it too. I hear a slight rattle during cold starts, and cannot convince myself one way or the other. A big part of this issue is that the truck is so quiet, the tires rolling (BFG ATs) are louder than the powertrain whether the engine is on or off: I'd ignore this sound on any other engine. I don't want to ignore an issue that will result in the valves meeting the pistons, but I also don't want to pay a bunch of money to introduce the valves to the pistons via a marginal repair. My last vehicle was the aforementioned SOHC 4.0L Exploder, which had 225k miles on it when an Austin driver sent it to Ford heaven. I lived with the knowledge that one day, I'd hear a bunch of banging and rattling from under the hood and that would be the end. A cam phaser shouldn't be able to do that much damage, but man I got the automotive PTSD.You should really question yourself if disagreeing with me is "rare".
I want to be an optimist regarding the phasers in this Gen3 3.5 Ecoboost. So far, so good, it appears.
But I can vouch for quite a few guys with Gen2 3.5 phasers failing on trucks during warranty and out, and they are knowledgeable Ecoboost fellas with impeccable maintenance records. (Ecoboost forum for several years. Good guys)
The biggest fear of the phaser issues, for me personally, isn't the phasers themselves, but rather the repair procedure being botched and the truck being worse off after the fact. It's way too common and would give me pause. There's a fair argument for just ignoring the "coldstart clatter" (Gen2, NOT Gen1) rather than have the motor basically ruined by the dealership. They are notorious for not being accountable for the botched job.
I don't have a good grasp of cam phasers beyond their basic job and how much of a pain they are to replace. My caveman understanding is that the Ecoboost uses MOSTLY oil pressure with some electronic control, and that the small oil passages are very sensitive to charcoal from cooked oil. Still, as others have pointed out, good oil in these engines is still perfectly fine by any objective standard at 5k miles. I don't want to spend money on the equivalent of a voodoo doll in my engine compartment, but I'm open to the idea that there could be properties that we aren't measuring (which seems odd....the SAE isn't composed of idiots and they've spent a LOT of time and money on lubricants).
This is interesting: I took my Mustang to the Ford dealer a couple of weeks ago and while I was there I asked about getting my transmission fluid and filter changed. It's got 69,000 miles on it. They told me it would cost $250, that's a lot of money, but I said I'd do it the next day. That afternoon they called me and said they'd made a mistake, it would cost $600. I told them to forget it.
Remember that after the warranty expires, if the transmission dies it means that you're buying a new vehicle. No OEM has a direct incentive to make their vehicle last longer than the warranty period. This is especially evident when you look at big diesels, where EVERYTHING is easily maintainable.
Bullshit (at the manual, not you). Don't go over 60k for trans fluids. Personally I suggest the suck whatever you can out of the pan ever 30k and replace w/ new fluid. You can do that pretty much until the clutches are gone and not have an issue. CVTs (typically in smaller vehicles) need full fluid replacement every 30k (not to be confused with powersport kevlar belt CVT).
