Those were nice, practically bullet proof engines. The one I was talking about was a joint venture between ford and mazda that was introduced in 2007 -2013 in the mazda speed 3 and 2006-2007 in the mazda speed 6.
They were apparently, 300+ rwhp in a 1000kg MX5 is not to be sneezed at.
Keep an eye on the oil pressure if you can pull up auxiliary gauges. I noticed 15-20 psi on the digital analog gauge at idle. I had over 60% oil life left, but it suddenly dropped to 0% after a service. I changed the oil immediately, and the pressure came back to a normal range of about 35psi at idle. The oil life reading available on the FordPass app is a complex algorithm that monitors driving habits, engine temperatures, idle time, and other parameters to indicate when to change the oil. It also reads oil pressure in its calculation, so it doesn't directly monitor viscosity, but alerts us with just "hey dummy, it's time to change the oil." Low oil pressure can cause Aeration(bubbles in the oil) from fast-moving parts, like the crankshaft. Low viscosity makes it easier for bubbles to stabilize in the oil through aeration. This happened to my Chevy 427 super stock race boat engine at 7,400 RPM. That motor went Kablammo! Thank god for the whirlaway V-Drive.
Windage is the term created by the assembled crank and rods moving through the oil vapor and air resistance within the crankcase. The drag creates aeration. Also, overfilling your oil will do the same when the crank whips up the oil in the pan by contact. The effect is more dramatic the higher the RPMs. The circular impact of parts breaking down rapidly increases aeration. A low oil level causes the oil pick-up to suck air during high g's from hard cornering directly. So maintaining the correct level is vital.
The Seventh Gen Mustang includes a windage tray to separate the crank assembly from the oil in the oil pan, which can rob horsepower, on both the EcoBoost 2.4 and Coyote 5.0. The Coyote in the Dark Horse enhances the oil system by adding baffles to the oil pan, creating a constant reservoir of oil around the oil pick-up for track use. The standard Coyote in the GT and the EcoBoost lack adequate baffling for track use or hard cornering. Aftermarket oil pans are recommended.
The Ecoboost 3.5 these days is arguably seen as being about as reliable than the 5.0, that wasn't the case for awhile, but I'm talking about newer ones that resolved most or all of the issues the 3.5 had. The 2.7 seems pretty solid, and the 2.0 in newer iterations isn't bad. I've heard the 1.0/1.5 isn't great but most engines with that displacement seem to be problematic across brands.
To be fair, I think the better question to ask a dealer tech is have Ecoboost engines gotten more reliable as they've received design changes? Most would say yes. You still have horror stories on forums, like we have here, but they exist for basically any vehicle you can find. Hell, I've found a lot of reliability horror stories on tundras and Tacoma's, and yet people say those trucks are unkillable. My truck, a maverick hybrid, has had pretty stellar reliability ratings from day 1, the hybrid 2.5 is probably going in the top 10 most reliable powertrains of any modern vehicle you can buy, it's that good. It's legendary for lasting 500k in escape taxis.
So far so good Iāve done over 500 miles on the 2.3 motor and oil and antifreeze levels are unchanged. It runs and sounds exactly like before so Iām hopeful this motor will be OK now. Actually Iām a little amazed that with all the complexities of the new vehicles it seems to be a successful motor transplant.
