williaty Posted April 8 Share Posted April 8 My '14 just ruined my vacation by breaking down and the repair would be more than the van is worth. I'm looking at replacing it with one of the last remaining '23s I can find in the state but the engine is concerning me. In my '14, the 2.5L REALLY struggled pulling our camper up mountains in West Virginia and you can forget about keeping up with traffic on the interstate. The new 2.0L engine is the same power but less torque. They could have made up for the reduced torque by using shorter gearing to take advantage of the power. However, I fear what they actually did is to make the gearing taller to maximize fuel economy to meet their CAFE targets. Has anyone driven both the 2.5L and the new 2.0L while towing or otherwise heavily loaded so I can get an opinion on which engine is better at it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Nickels Posted June 1 Share Posted June 1 What actually broke on your 2014 that is not worth fixing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted June 2 Author Share Posted June 2 2 hours ago, Double Nickels said: What actually broke on your 2014 that is not worth fixing? The nail in the coffin was the BCM and associated fuse panel/wiring harness going out. Additionally, it needed the mid-level roller arm replaced on both sliding doors, a major leak of the rear doors fixed, the parking brake cable assembly needed replaced (which requires removing a huge amount of stuff to get to), the rear glass sprayer hose blew up inside the rear unibody so it'd flood the car if you used it, and the AC was leaking. Most of the stuff was ignoring, but when the BCM went, that forced the issue since it was undrivable. The big issue is just how shockingly little the 2014 was worth. It didn't take a lot of repair bills to exceed the value of the van according to KBB. Also: Ford really did a shit job choosing the ratios for the new 8F35 transmission in the 2.0L vans, so it is MUCH, MUCH WORSE at towing than the older 2.5L vans with the 6F35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Nickels Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 I don't think a front where drive with a small engine is engineered for towing. I wouldn't tow with a Ford Maverick either. After all, these vans are really just bigger versions of an economy car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted June 3 Author Share Posted June 3 21 minutes ago, Double Nickels said: I don't think a front where drive with a small engine is engineered for towing. I wouldn't tow with a Ford Maverick either. After all, these vans are really just bigger versions of an economy car. Yeah in America, this is an unusual idea. There rest of the world tows with the small FWD cars all the time and wonders why we're so weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pezdyspensr Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 My '19 has the 2.0 and 8F35. I have a small utility trailer for odd jobs and have pulled up to roughly 1200lb without any feeling of concern. I have not done any long highway towing however. I have really wanted to pull the trigger on a pop up but when I add up the dry weight plus camping items and family members it starts to be eerily close to the GCWR. I do feel bummed how Ford dropped the ball on this series of vans. They could've put the 2.0 ecoboost and AWD in these and kept up with building them in the Maverick factories - maybe even offering the tow package that the little truck has. There are too many horror stories already popping up about the 8F35s as well, though I would like to see how many early failures were also zero-fluid change situations. There's a Ford tech on YouTube that goes by Big Ben that specifically works on Focus's and the like, and his takeaway on this transmission is that the fluid is likely heat sensitive and breaks down prematurely. There's also a captive filter so preemptive fluid changes are paramount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtn Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 17 hours ago, williaty said: Yeah in America, this is an unusual idea. There rest of the world tows with the small FWD cars all the time and wonders why we're so weird. Towing is limited to 50-60 mph in Europe for most areas, thus the tongue weight is insignificant compared to the one in the US, so you don't need a souped up rear suspension or tow packages for the extra weight or speed. It's a combination of physics and insurance matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted June 16 Share Posted June 16 On 6/4/2024 at 11:55 AM, mrtn said: There rest of the world tows with the small FWD cars all the time and wonders why we're so weird There are some corners of the US that are doing a lot of towing with small front drive cars to fight the weirdness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtn Posted June 17 Share Posted June 17 Not my quote :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 Sorry I copied it from your post. But it is still worth while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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