Ford EcoBoost Engines Cruise 1 Million Miles in Testing, Delivering Fuel Economy, Performance

DEARBORN, MI – With grueling durability testing underway, a fleet of Ford's 3.5L EcoBoost V-6 engines is proving that this new technology is ready to deliver reliable V-8 power with V-6 fuel economy to customers when it goes into production next year.

To date, a fleet of direct-injection twin-turbocharged 3.5L EcoBoost V-6 engines have endured more than 12,000 hours of durability operation in Ford's Dynamometer Laboratory in Dearborn, which is equivalent to more than 500,000 miles of customer driving.

"EcoBoost is undergoing the durability and reliability tests that we put all Ford engines through, and the performance we are seeing shows the 3.5L EcoBoost engine meets or exceeds all our reliability targets and is deserving of Ford's five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty," said Brett Hinds, Ford's Advanced Engine Design and Development manager.

Ford's testing includes 20 individual dynamometer-level tests designed to push the engine to its limits. The testing protocol verifies the reliability of the complete engine system under maximum engine speeds and loads, coolant and oil temperatures, and customer driving patterns.

The Road Cycle Durability test, for example, is designed to replicate real-world customer driving and vehicle maintenance patterns. For this test, engines with EcoBoost technology were subjected to 1,000 cold starts, followed by sustained operation at peak torque of 340 lb.-ft. and peak power of 340 hp. During the course of the test, engine coolant temperatures ranged from 12 degrees Celsius (around 53 degrees Fahrenheit) to 95 degrees Celsius (203 degrees Fahrenheit).

In total, this single test required 1,000 hours of extreme engine operation, representing more than 60,000 miles of customer driving. Also, on-track exercises will rack up the equivalent of another 500,000 miles of customer driving, bringing total durability test miles for the 3.5L EcoBoost V-6 fleet to more than 1 million.

Prior to its debut on the Lincoln MKS next year, the 3.5L EcoBoost engine will have completed all of the same corporate standard durability tests that award-winning engines have endured, including the Duratec 3.5L V-6 available on the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX and the 4.6L V-8 available on the Ford Mustang GT.