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My 2000 Silverado has been getting pretty rusty as of late, and after 6 years, I decided to get a newer truck. I started looking at GM trucks and just got tired of the same old stuff. Thought about the Dodge trucks, but decided to look at the F-150s. They've sold a gajillion of these things over the years, so there must be something right with them.

This is a 2014 F-150 XLT, 3.5L Ecoboost V6, 365hp/420tq, 6sp auto, 3.31 rear, 36 gallon fuel tank. Factory wired for 4/7 wire trailer hookups, and has a trailer brake controller built-in. In my config, can tow 9200# with weight-distributing hitch. The tailgate has a pull-out step + grab handle, and factory bed-liner. Bed also has a nice tonneau cover. 40/20/40 split seat up front, driver's side is power. Rear seat is split 25/75 and both sides can be folded up.

Weather has been lousy since I picked it up, so I'll get more pictures later this week.

-Dave

Looks good. How many miles on it and can it tow a race car trailer?

50k miles, and yes, it can tow a race car trailer!

-Dave

Nice upgrade! Did you trade the old truck in, or is it going to Craigslist?

GM

Nice looking truck. If I understand it correctly, that built-in trailer brake controller would be my favorite feature. I have never been satisfied with these aftermarket accelerometer based controllers and I have been told that Ford actually ties their brake controller into the hydraulic lines so the trailer braking will be directly proportional to the amount of pressure you put on the pedal - old school and proper. Ford will likely provide my next tow vehicle, partially because of that.

I finally got to use the F-150 as a tow rig and was not disappointed in the slightest. My previous two trucks, the 94 Silverado & '00 Silverado, both had the small V8 option and weren't very confident when towing. This truck is the complete opposite of that. Plenty of power, 6sp trans, great visibilty with the mirrors, 36 gallon tank, the integrated braking, and super-comfy (and quiet!) while doing it. The backup camera is *money* for hooking up a trailer by yourself. The camera is literally pointed down at the hitch.

Pre-race driveway selfie: Loaded up preparing to depart the team garage: Indiana's Welcome Center I'm not sure how heavy it all is -- the car is ~2200, on a 20ft steel trailer, with an extra engine + hoist on the trailer, another 10 wheels/tires in the bed, plus whatever was stuffed in the Saturn. 5000lbs? Got 13mpg on the way there, 12.5 on the way back going mostly 70mph. Going 75mph to/from Columbus this weekend with no payload, it got ~18mpg.

Oil/filter changed before heading to Indy, around 56k miles. Mobil 1 5W30 + AC Delco filter

All in all, a great truck.

-Dave

Guess I haven't written about this truck in a while, except for besting Paul's VW a few months back..

I feel like I'm staring to get the full F.O.R.D. experience.. a couple weekends back, while returning from Bair's Corvette, I went to make a pass on 322. As I'm going around, it started mis-firing like crazy, and the engine light started flashing, not just solid. It eventually went solid, but the engine didn't like taking much of a load after that without more mis-firing. Prior to this, I had already coil #1 replaced, now here we go again..

The first time turned out to be a little longer ago than I originally remembered, almost exactly a year ago (Jan 2020). I had that done at the local Sunoco station because this was before the covid and i was still driving to the office everyday, and the truck is my winter vehicle. When I got home from Bairs, it showed a code for Cyl #3 mis-fire. I checked my Sunoco receipt, and it had been #1 that was replaced. Ok, no biggie, but dang these coils seem unreliable (foreshadowing). Bought a coil from Rockauto and it was super-simple to replace. Took the truck for a test drive, everything was golden again.

A few days later, drive the truck again, get in the throttle and it's misfiring AGAIN. WTH!! My code scanner says P0301, mis-fire Cyl #1. Huh.. Checked my records, that coil has been on the truck for almost exactly 1 year, and probably less than 5000 miles. No towing, bunch of freeway miles, easy life. The truck only has about 66k total-- I bought it at 49k.

I'm probably spending more time writing this post than it will take me to change the coil, but I just felt like getting mad online on a cold night... I think I'm gonna order 2 coils this time, just to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's the way this works, right?? If I was more ambitious, I would replace the plugs too, but the maint interval is 100k. Maybe this spring.


-Dave

maybe get the replacement from somewhere else since 1 year is a crappy short time for a part to last. It seems the OE parts not so great nor is your current supplier

UF646 was the part number on the Sunoco receipt, so that was what I ordered from Rockauto-- no more than a week before that first replacement failed -- https://www.summitracing.com/parts/smp-uf646

The only thing in stock at Summit (since I'm stopping there tomorrow anyway) is that same Standard Motor Products UF646 or an MSD, https://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-8257 Having 1 MSD coil seems weird, though. I'll roll the dice. As long as failure rate is less than 33%, I should be good this time..

-Dave

Our salesmen at work drive the Fords F-150’s and they ALL have this problem. They’re
constantly complaining to me that the coils fail. Must be an issue with them. We also
have an F-250 with a 5.4 in it. The one employee sent me a video at night of the coil
failing and it looked like a miniature lightening storm under the hood. As irony would
have it, that coil still worked. We had a local shop do plugs on it lately and it sounds
like they were quite difficult to get out of the block. I’m hoping that doesn’t happen
for you.

GM

67,074 -- Oil + Filter change, Mobil 1, 5W-30. Air filter looked mint. Previous oil change was 63k in June 2020. Oil life indicator was showing ~ 20%

-Dave

70,915 Oil change + filter, Mobil1 5W-30 and STP gold filter. New NAPA front SilentGuard pads/rotors, Cooper Discoverer AT3 S4 tires.

A couple months back, my left front tire was showing excessive wear on the outside edge. I took it to Don's CARS here in Chesterland and Don said the alignment was indeed off a bit, and corrected it. The old tires were getting thin, LF had worn outside edge, and they were absolutely terrible in the wet. Spent some time on tirerack.com and saw what was well rated. I decided to head up to Mr. Tire just to see what they had. He said he had a deal on Cooper Discoverer AT3 S4 All-Terrain tires, which I had seen well reviewed, and a better price than TireRack. Sold. They told me my brakes were almost down to the metal on the front. Rears also need done, but I don't remember if they were as bad. They offered to fix them for and additional $700, but I figured I could take care of it myself.

This weekend, I pulled the official Tiresmoke Support Truck inside for a set of fresh front brakes. Tore it apart last night. Indeed, the inside pads were almost toast. I made a run this morning to Streetsboro (!!) NAPA to get a set of rotors. I've been happy with Napa brakes stuff lately, more so than Autozone, so I made the trip. It's amazing that front brake rotors for a friggin F-150 could be hard to get. Chester didnt have them, neither did Chardon. They said Twinsburg had some, but not open on Saturday. Streetsboro was my closest option. The guy at Napa said he used to get 3 pallets of brake rotors every week and half. Now he's getting a half-pallet every 2 weeks. Good grief..

I had seen the oil life indicator was down in the 30-something percent range, so I figured I would change the oil while I had it in the air. I hadn't checked my records, and it only had about 3k miles and was changed in April. 38% oil life seems kinda low for that usage, although there was the Corvette tow to/from Mid Ohio, and bringing the Maliboost home. Interestingly enough, in the oil life reset area, you can reset to it 70,80,90,100%. I've never seen that in a vehicle before.

There's a check-engine light on for an evap valve too. I'll get that resolved soon.
I still really dig this truck, it does truck stuff very well, and it's very quiet/comfortable when doing it.
I saw these on my adventure to Streetsboro. I was talking to BP on the phone, and was literally saying the word shitbox right before I saw the Fiesta and just started laughing.

"Wadaya lookin' at?"

So a week ago, I went to Chardon for breakfast with the crew and then back home, no issues. 40 minutes later, I went to leave again, no start. No nothing. All the interior electrical was working, but NOTHING when you turned the key. Tried charging the battery overnight, tried jumping it, nothing. With the truck in the driveway, no good way to move it to the garage, 2 engine-less cars in the garage, and snow all over the ground, I punted on this one.

Mason Healy towed it up to Don's Cars, and they replaced the starter. $85 tow, $170 starter, and $100 labor. Pretty reasonable. At least it had the courtesy to quit in my driveway. Found in driveway dead is much better than Found On Road Dead

-Dave

"Liked" In the olden days we would just hammer on the starter, ask GMJohnny how well that worked.