Nice looking truck, there... Congratulations! If you like it now, put it in sport mode & you'll like it even more. It jacks the shift points way up & feels like you're driving a sports car. Well, you'll love it until you start pumping gas, at least. Salt... What else are you going to do when you get an ice storm? Or when you have steady lake effect snow and sub freezing temps with no sun for 3-4 days straight? At least if you have the sun, you can melt the stuff a day later. It's not like we like the stuff... We know what it does; it's just the most cost effective way to keep the roads open in our environment. With the '16 ecoBoost, I'm pretty sure that you have the Aluminum body, so rust shouldn't get you. I'm not sure that there is a definitive answer on what road salt does to the aluminum bodies yet. Or rather, if it does it visibly, and fast enough for us to notice. Yes, salt can corrode aluminum, but it's not like we see F-150's with white powder blowing off as they drive by. We're only 5-6 years into the F-150 aluminum bodies, so they haven't been around long enough to really know. The aluminum bed holds up to hauling wood pretty well - I wouldn't hesitate to use it for that, so long as you have a spray in bedliner to protect the paint. I'm on my 2nd ecoBoost. Took the first to 150k miles & this one is now at 140k. Full synthetic oil, changed every 8,000 miles miles. With highway miles, the truck computer says I have maybe 20% life left at 8k, so presumably the engine thinks it's OK for ~10k miles between oil changes. I've had times with mostly city driving, and the truck computer wants an oil change just before 8,000. No turbo issues with my oil change plan, but I don't tow more than a couple of times a year, so can't speak to what you should do towing. Probably the best way to see what the previous driver did is to look at the hour meter. If idle hours are under 10% of total hours, the truck was driven mostly highway. If idle hours are like 1/3 of total, the engine was used as a 300 hp space heater & air conditioner a lot. Gear ratios... If you have the tow package, you probably have 3.55, and I think that was the most common from that era of F-150. Not sure what Ford did with gear ratios once they got the 10-speed transmission. Congrats on the purchase!
Good info SloMoJoe the aluminum body was the main reason I started looking at Fords. Then I really liked the ecoboost, tow package and other new options my old truck didn’t have. your right about the salt, not much you can do unless you want icy roads!
Very nice truck......get yourself an undercoat gun and hit every crack and crevice you can find every fall. Corrosion X.
Horkn what gas milage do you get pulling your boat? my boats 3500 lbs plus gear and gas. First time I pulled the boat today and was getting under 10, closer to 8! I set the cruise at 82, it pulled it effortlessly, but I thought it do better than 8 mph!
I'd say that sounds about right.... with my trailer and gear loaded for Michigan I was getting around 12 at 70mph ... But coming back with a stiff... stiff south southwestern wind at 75 mph... I got about 9-10 mph.... and with my small 23 gallon tank that cost me almost 2 extra fill ups....
Well, I don't tow at 80 mph. I go country roads and 65 max. I think I get around 15 mpg or so. I go about 15 miles each way. So it's hard to get a good judge of it aside from the mpg-o-meter in the dash, while it's pretty accurate. I'll see what it reads this weekend with 90 ° temps, and ac blowing while towing.
Truck + boat is a lot of weight and bad aerodynamics to expect more than single digit MPG at 82 MPH I don't think I've ever towed anything much over 70 MPH in my whole life...
My boat is pretty aerodynamic. I have zero doubt that even at 82 mph that I'd get double digit mpg. The V8 4runner dropped a good amount, from 20 mpg freeway not towing the boat to 14 mpg or so while towing the same boat. Now, towing the 20' pontoon behind the 4runner dropped mpg around 10 mpg. That was a lighter boat, but no aerodynamics at all. Towing a brick.
