Ford EcoBoost engine

[Dr Mordrid]

Just had a chance to ride in a manufacturers car with one of these in it and WOW....how unlike an American engine it is!!

3.5l DOHC V6 with twin Garrett turbos running 12 psi of boost and Bosch fuel handling. 355 hp @5500 rpm. Electric power steering, auto park (they go together) and all wheel drive. Word is they want to replace much of their engine line with the EcoBoost system.

Zippy from the get-go and LOADS of power, yet it sips gas in normal driving. Also can cut out 2 cylinders and run as a V4. Q-U-I-E-T too.

Ford needs to put this in something other than sedans and the Flex. I hear a Taurus SHO is forthcoming with this in it. There is also talk of a 6.2l DOHC V8 Ecoboost "Boss" engine. Gotta be for the Mustang

[Mehen]

They started advertising the SHO on tv. I hate how they pronounce it "show" instead of S-H-O.

I own a '93 Taurus GL w/ 3.8 V6. A heart stopping 140hp And it probably uses quite a bit more gas than the new SHO with 355hp. Motors have sure come a long way.

(I do, however, have 215ftlbs which is enough for towing aluminum fishing boats)

[Kruzin]

They started advertising the SHO on tv. I hate how they pronounce it "show" instead of S-H-O.

Agreed. Back in the day, I worked at a F/L/M dealership, and it was S-V-O (Special Vehicle Operations) Mustangs (high compression (for the time) turbo 4cyl) and S-H-O (Super High Output) Tauruses (motors by Yamaha(!)).

NOT Svow or Show.

[Brian Ellis]

Also can cut out 2 cylinders and run as a V4

Honda go one further in their hybrids. On a slight downhill gradient or if you lift your foot off the loud pedal, they electronically lift all 16 valves and cut the fuel to the injection. The engine turns but does nothing, absorbing almost no power. A small amount of energy is used to charge the battery, to maintain speed on downhill, rather than accelerate. On the level, you can lift your foot several hundred metres before the red light and you still have to press the soft pedal to actually stop and charge the battery with a sock of amps. The motor stops turning altogether until you lift your foot off the brake pedal.

[Evildead666]

Nearly all fuel injected engines today cut the injection whilst going downhill and not pressing the accelerator.
Any Multi-point fuel injection ( electronic) really.
The weight of my mondeo keeps it going at a legal speed, without pressing the brakes or using petrol. (Downhill)

The 3.6L V6 putting ou 355bhp is very good,I didn't know they could cut two cylinders out on a V6, it would have to a round-robin style cut, otherwise it would need a variable crank shaft.
V8's (cadillacs great Nothstar engine) cut off 4 cylinders, and can run as a 4 cylinder using less fuel, and alternating the cylinders so it can run without coolant if needed...

Turbo-charging a big V8 defeats the purpose of keeping the fuel consumption lower...
Why are there no 2.5L turbo v6's ?
Are the Garret Turbos Variable Area Turbos ?, ie, they can be tuned to the engine speed.
Either that or twin, sequential turbos, like on the new BMW 6-ers. A small one for low revs, and a larger one for the high end power...

[Kruzin]

V8's (cadillacs great Nothstar engine)

Great?
I work at a Caddy dealership (on the back parts counter).
While nice in theory, I can attest that Northstar engines SUCK mossy rocks.
God help you if you ever need one rebuilt.
Every tech in the dealership avoids them like the plague.
Most aftermarket engine rebuilders won't even touch them.

They're great for me...parts are stupid expensive, and that = more commission on parts sales to me.
But would I ever own one? NO. NEVER.

[Brian Ellis]

Nearly all fuel injected engines today cut the injection whilst going downhill and not pressing the accelerator.
Any Multi-point fuel injection ( electronic) really.

Granted, but the point is that the valves are kept open. If you just cut the fuel injection, the compression still requires energy which provides the engine braking. The Honda engine provides no resistance other than friction. If further braking is required (either because going down a steep gradient or because the lights are still red), then the energy is absorbed by the motor/generator which uses it to charge the battery.

What is weird, to those used to conventional cars, is that the continuously variable transmission causes the rpm to appear unpredictable. Even going along a straight, level road at a constant speed may produce quite large rpm fluctuations as the engine responds to small external influences, such as wind gusts, slipstream from large vehicles and imperceptible variations in road surface or gradient etc. The rpm is also dependent on the state of charge of the battery; if it is low, then the rpm may be pushed up to charge the battery over and above the energy from braking, without changing the vehicle speed. If the charge is high, then the rpm is kept low. This effect is exacerbated by having long max ratios. With a high battery charge, the rpm may be as low as 1600 at 100 km/h (our legal motorway limit) on a level road but, come a slight uphill gradient, it may shoot up to over 3000 rpm with electrical boost at the drop of hat without changing speed. What amazes me most is the behaviour as I approach the top of a hill; it must detect the change of load as the gradient starts to flatten: it switches immediately from electric boost to electric generation while the rpm is still high and uses the engine inertia to top up the battery slightly before the rpm starts to drop as it passes over the crest. The software must be quite sophisticated: thank God the OS isn't Windows!

[Dr Mordrid]

As to my post about going to 4 cylinders that was based on what I was told - the actual quote being that "it drops 2 cylinders" in cruise mode.

Ward's Auto is reporting Ford will file 125 EcoBoost-related patents.

Seems the direct injection works at pressures ranging from 200 to 2,200 psi (most "normal" EFI's run at 40-60 psi) and can shoot fuel in multiple bursts at any point between TDC on the intake stroke and TDC on the compression stroke. Not exactly your standard setup - sounds more like some of the common rail diesel tech around today but at lower pressures. They say the mixture is lean everywhere but at the plug right before it fires.

Boost can range from 8-12 using 48mm fans and dual-walled insulated manifolds. Interesting way to keep the heat on. Also has variable valve timing/controls that can retard up to 20 degrees on the fly.

And I got a call tonight about a rumor that Ford will be making a crate engine (usually for rodders and racing) based on EcoBoost.

And this just showed up....

Ford EcoBoost engine wins Popular Mechanics award

New York, New York – Ford’s new, fuel-efficient EcoBoost engine has been given a Breakthrough Award by Popular Mechanics, the only automaker to be so honoured this year.
>
The EcoBoost engine uses turbocharging and direct gasoline injection to boost engine output, reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency by as much as 20 per cent. By 2013, more than 90 per cent of Ford’s North American lineup will be available with the technology.

[VJ]

As to my post about going to 4 cylinders that was based on what I was told - the actual quote being that "it drops 2 cylinders" in cruise mode.

Yep, Mercedes has similar technology on their more powerful engines. Nice to see it filtering down somewhat.


Jörg

[Evildead666]

Great?
I work at a Caddy dealership (on the back parts counter).
While nice in theory, I can attest that Northstar engines SUCK mossy rocks.
God help you if you ever need one rebuilt.
Every tech in the dealership avoids them like the plague.
Most aftermarket engine rebuilders won't even touch them.

They're great for me...parts are stupid expensive, and that = more commission on parts sales to me.
But would I ever own one? NO. NEVER.

Never owned a caddy ether, but IIRC this was one of the first engines to be able to shut down half the cylinders when cruising, and for extreme circumstances where there was no oil or coolant. It was pretty ahead of it time in the US too with 4 valves per cylinder and DOHC.

Power output wasn't too bad either, 350-450bhp i think....

[Kooldino]

Too bad the new Taurus weighs 4300lbs. :/

That said, a boosted quad cam six is remarkably tough to beat. The best of both worlds.

[GT98]

Too bad the new Taurus weighs 4300lbs. :/

That said, a boosted quad cam six is remarkably tough to beat. The best of both worlds.

Theres a guy who has a SHO with an experimental tune that did 12.75 in the 1/4 Mile . Yeah it weighs alot, but still has lots of get up and go with good MPGs...even better then a smaller/lighter WRX.

I'm looking at getting a Taurus SHO in about 2-3 years from now

[Elie]

Just watched a show on speed (a channel we get in Canada) about an uphill race between Mercedes, Maserati, Jaguar, Lincoln MKS, and BMW.

Let's just say the show was one big commercial for Ford, but basically the results were as follows...

1-BMW 550 170.00 seconds
2-Lincoln MKS 172 seconds
3-Mercedes 174 seconds
4-Jag 175 seconds
5-Maserati Quatroporte 177 seconds


What I didn't like about this test is the following...

First they tested these cars at the highest of altitudes. four of the cars were naturally aspirated, only the MKS was twin turbocharged. We all know that in the mountains you get less oxygen, therefore only turbo charged engine would benefit, so naturally the other cars with V8's would be slower.

Secondly, they would comment on each cars handling characteristics except when they raced the Lincoln, I wanted to hear why the fastest car (due to it's turbos) was second to BMW. My answer to that is it's poorer handling. BMW is famous for it's 50/50 weight distribution an amazing handling, but I wanted to hear their views on the MKS which they didn't say.

My views...Ecoboost may have it's merits, but it's not all about the engine, which Ford, GM and Chrysler tend to forget, it's the braking and handling as well that makes a car what it is.

[Dr Mordrid]

Road and Track tested the skidpad performance of the MKX at .90g - hardly trivial.

Edmund's got .89g for the 550i
Car and Driver got .89g for the Jag

Skidpad isn't definitive of course, but it sure is indicative.

And there is that turbo's aren't everything when it comes to high altitude performance either - gearing, timing and lean burn/not lean burn enter large into things.