CL21BHS and Highlander

[whoofit]

One inescapable fact, at least in aircraft, is that's there's no free lunch. The turbos simply require additional expense, both in routine maintenance and in repair and eventual overhaul costs. Of course, part of this is ameliorated by less time spent in the air on any given trip.

Similarly, in a turbocharged truck or SUV there is simply a little more to go wrong. Of course, this may not ever come into play for any given truck or SUV over a reasonable lifespan - and I personally don't worry about it on our boosted Flex.

This is exactly why I decided against EB's and spent the extra money for the V8 for my application.

My F150 is primarily a work truck. In my instance, a work truck sees a lot of loaded stop and go. When you load it in such a way to require boosting a small engine from the time you leave the driveway till you stop it for service calls at many points per day the oil in the bearing portion of the turbo stands heavily overheated. Multiply this by eight to ten events per day, times 300 days per year, then again by ten years and the results can't be good.

It is the turbos that I feared. Ford put a lot of work into the pistons, rings, connecting rods, head pressures and cooling but they did not address the turbos to my comfort level. I may be wrong but figured it was best to not find out.

A lifetime consisting of mostly highway driving or an extremely under loaded truck (maybe a commuter aircraft?) would probably not see this problem as much.

[whoofit]

For the drag racing, do they turn off the traction control? I know on my 5.0L, if you stomp the throttle hard with traction control turned on, the traction control cuts your power way down to prevent wheel spin. Really annoying when you need that power pulling out into traffic, but I usually forget to turn it off...

The speedway guys seem to use traction control off. I know when I'm being bad my 5.0 will spin out in second and chirp into 3rd with no contractor cap, Cargo Glide, supplies or tools in there.

Noting that, to stay on topic, either of these trucks have far more oomph than is required by any Camplite travel trailer.

This is how some "almost stock" F150's will typically perform side by side 0-100mph. 2.7L EB vs 5.0L here:

[video src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa8nQxWbV7Y"][/video]

[gnies]

[quote timestamp="1470434256" source="/post/23668/thread" author="@charliem"]

I was looking at the F150 on the net.

They sell a version with a 2.7 Ecoboost, that seems to be getting the same MPG as my Sienna!!     
This truck is supposed to be able to pull 7500 pounds, what do you thing about it as a tow vehicle for a 21BHS?
It 2000 pounds over the GVWR of the 21BHS, but still only a 2.7 litter engine. 

Thanks!

[font size="3"]As David alludes to, and has been said by many others, there's no substitute for cubes when towing. I doubt you could tell the difference in MPG in the real world between the 2.7 and 3.5 outside the lab or test track, however you'll definitely tell the difference in performance ahead of the trailer. With the 21BHS on level ground at sea level the 2.7 is probably OK, but the first hill or several thousand feet of elevation will tell the story. BTW, MPG while towing is almost entirely a function of the trailer, not the engine pulling it. There is even some evidence that a small engine is worse, maybe because it's working so hard for its size. Also note that Paul is towing a 13 footer with his 2.7, not a 21. [/font]
[/quote]I agree for the 21 it would be better to get the 3.5L EB, I personally wanted the 3.5L EB at first but there was no 3.5L EB equipped like I wanted on the lot when I visited the dealership and tried that 2.7L anyway I liked it a lot! And I knew I only had a 13 ft so I wasn't worried a lot

[daplumbr]

[quote timestamp="1470544968" source="/post/23689/thread" author="@billmoore"]For the drag racing, do they turn off the traction control? I know on my 5.0L, if you stomp the throttle hard with traction control turned on, the traction control cuts your power way down to prevent wheel spin. Really annoying when you need that power pulling out into traffic, but I usually forget to turn it off...[/quote]The nannies babysit too much sometimes, don't they. I really appreciate ABS and VSC, but straight-line traction control can be very frustrating. With my Highlander, if the TC decided proactively the wheels even might spin, it would cut power completely, so it was possible to get stuck on a boat ramp! I would rather decide power control myself rather than have it decided by a Toyota software engineer (who isn't sitting on the boat ramp unable to go). So, yes, any full acceleration (drag-racing or not), it's good to have TC off. 

[whoofit]

[quote timestamp="1470544968" source="/post/23689/thread" author="@billmoore"]For the drag racing, do they turn off the traction control? I know on my 5.0L, if you stomp the throttle hard with traction control turned on, the traction control cuts your power way down to prevent wheel spin. Really annoying when you need that power pulling out into traffic, but I usually forget to turn it off...

The nannies babysit too much sometimes, don't they. I really appreciate ABS and VSC, but straight-line traction control can be very frustrating. With my Highlander, if the TC decided proactively the wheels even might spin, it would cut power completely, so it was possible to get stuck on a boat ramp! I would rather decide power control myself rather than have it decided by a Toyota software engineer (who isn't sitting on the boat ramp unable to go). So, yes, any full acceleration (drag-racing or not), it's good to have TC off. [/quote]I think they babysit too much too. Thankfully the Bart Simpson's of the world are hard at work.

If you guys hate traction control and would like to drive a stake in the heart of that power sucking TC vampire through the TCM and PCM you can buy a 5Star tuner. Then the TC button on the dash is a non-issue. There are plenty of other goodies in there to futz around with as well like adding some 35 to 55 more horses, eliminating limiters, changing shift points and firmness and much more. Have a look: http://5startuning.com/product/1-ford-livewire-ts-5015-devices/

TC button On. Only at 5Star so far as I know.
[video src="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09vjPYg3J-o"][/video]

[daplumbr]

When we bought our Subaru Outback, one of the deal-breakers was it had to have an off button for the TC. TC is a non-issue on my Land Cruiser; the engine control software is programmed perfectly for our needs. I sold the Highlander, but boy were those nannies assertive! You could not get out of line, literally and figuratively.