What to do with my mustang ecoboost. Young driver needs help.

[imnewhere]

I hope I put this in the right section of the forum. Anyways, I bought a 2015 mustang ecoboost base model automatic about 8 months ago for pretty cheap cause I’m only 17 and it’s my first car. It was around 16k after taxes and stuff. I was wondering if there were some things I should worry about and whether or not I could put a ford performance tune on it. The car is 300 miles short of 150k and most of the car seems just fine. When I first bought the car I had it taken to a ford dealership for a full check up. They put new spark plugs in and did some other stuff and the total came to about a grand. One thing that worries me is that they said the oil in the transmission hadn’t been changed since the 20k miles mark. They said that we shouldn’t change the oil in the transmission because it could do more damage to it than good as the transmission is used to running on that old oil. With all this in mind I was wondering what you guys think about me possible putting a ford performance tune on it and what you guys think about the condition of the car overall. I rarely floor the car and take good care of it and it also seems that the last owner did too other than the transmission. My questions are: Would it be too risky to put a tune on it or would it be fine considering that the tune still keeps cars under warranty so it may be less dangerous than other tunes (obviously my car is not under warranty)? Also would it be safe to run the car in sport mode or should I just always leave it in regular mode?can I put an exhaust on it? Did I make a bad purchase with the car and will it explode soon or have some pretty big repairs needed or will I be fine? What preventive maintenance should I do? Thanks for any advice that you guys can give me and it would be really appreciated since this is my first car.

Edit: Just finally found my info from the dealership service. It says they did a brake flush, spark plug changes, cooling system flush, rear diff service, complete fuel system service such as throttle body and injectors, diff flush.

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[ORRadtech]

Bottom line is you have an 8 year old car with 150k miles. It could give you another 100k or die tomorrow. Your guess is as good as ours.

Preventative maintenance I'd suggest is a brake fluid and coolant flush. The transmission fluid is your call. Some say the friction material in the fluid keeps it shifting. Others say it doesn't matter and to change the fluid and filter. I lean towards changing the fluid and filter.

Personally I'd not tune the car but I'm not big on modding a street car. If you do, be prepared to have a plan for when things start to break. Ecoboost engines can make a lot of power but they garnered the nick name Ecoboom for a reason.
With an Ecoboost car of that age and milage I'd recommend looking into having the intake walnut blasted. I'd bet you pick up a good bit of lost performance. I'd do that way before I'd consider a tune.
As for drive modes, drive it in whatever you like. It's what it was designed for.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

There will be no warranty if you get the ford performance tune. The warranty is structured so it goes into effect the day the car was sold new and put into service and you get 3/36 from there. You're at 8/150 so the warranty will be null and void. If you were leaning towards the ford tune because of the warranty, you can get a better one now because there is no warranty.

The 6R80 is a good transmission and more than good enough for a lightly modded ecoboost.

The 2.3 eco is an open deck design engine, and the focus RS has that engine pumped up to 350 hp from the factory and on the RS is was prone to blown head gaskets. Most likely because under higher hp/boost levels the top of cylinder walks around and breaks the seal of the head gasket.

My advice, don't open up that can of worms, just do regular maintenance and leave it stock and enjoy the car.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

Preventative maintenance I'd suggest is a brake fluid and coolant flush. The transmission fluid is your call. Some say the friction material in the fluid keeps it shifting. Others say it doesn't matter and to change the fluid and filter. I lean towards changing the fluid and filter.

I agree with this 100%, I would also throw in a rear diff fluid change.

 

[CrazyHippie]

Congrats on picking up an awesome first car! With 150K miles on it, I'm in agreement with others - leave it stock, catch up on preventive maintenance, keep it clean and looking good, and drive it gently and safely! Save those dollars for other things. You'll have an opportunity for performance mods later on, with a platform that doesn't have so many miles on it.

I'd go ahead and get the transmission oil changed, and I agree about changing the brake fluid and coolant. Glycol-based fluids absorb water and break down chemically, generating acids that aren't good. They should be changed every two years or so. Definitely explore the various driving modes and be cautious until you're comfortable with how the car behaves in each mode.

Again, congratulations and I hope that you enjoy the car!

 

[Wolfys11]

I hope I put this in the right section of the forum. Anyways, I bought a 2015 mustang ecoboost base model automatic about 8 months ago for pretty cheap cause I’m only 17 and it’s my first car. It was around 16k after taxes and stuff. I was wondering if there were some things I should worry about and whether or not I could put a ford performance tune on it. The car is 300 miles short of 150k and most of the car seems just fine. When I first bought the car I had it taken to a ford dealership for a full check up. They put new spark plugs in and did some other stuff and the total came to about a grand. One thing that worries me is that they said the oil in the transmission hadn’t been changed since the 20k miles mark. They said that we shouldn’t change the oil in the transmission because it could do more damage to it than good as the transmission is used to running on that old oil. With all this in mind I was wondering what you guys think about me possible putting a ford performance tune on it and what you guys think about the condition of the car overall. I rarely floor the car and take good care of it and it also seems that the last owner did too other than the transmission. My questions are: Would it be too risky to put a tune on it or would it be fine considering that the tune still keeps cars under warranty so it may be less dangerous than other tunes (obviously my car is not under warranty)? Also would it be safe to run the car in sport mode or should I just always leave it in regular mode?can I put an exhaust on it? Did I make a bad purchase with the car and will it explode soon or have some pretty big repairs needed or will I be fine? What preventive maintenance should I do? Thanks for any advice that you guys can give me and it would be really appreciated since this is my first car.

Do fluids. Ecoboosts NEED good oil. At your milage id do high quality synthetic 5w40 every 4k miles.
Give the car some high rpm full throttle often, they like to be beaten on once in a while to get heat and clean themselves.
Consider a new turbo, theyre super cheap ford oem, if its original it wont last long at 150k miles.
Do your fluids, otherwise continue to drive. It could blow at any time but babying it wont help, it needs normal use so i would drive it easy, drive it hard, like any other motor. Consider new timing if it hasnt been done. Otherwise theyre pretty decent motors if the oil is changed and plugs are good

 

[wingnutt]

I would change the trans fluid…because the dealer tracking seems off, why would someone change that fluid at 20k miles?

and you don’t know that a previous owner didnt do it of his own accord at 100k-ish miles with no reporting of same…I just did mine at 50k, told nobody and will do it again at 100k

As for the tune…if she is a daily driver and you would be in a bind if she popped a gasket on the tune, then don’t do it

if you have another car, or can absorb the cost to fix…then send it

 

[ORRadtech]

As for the tune…if she is a daily driver and you would be in a bind if she popped a gasket on the tune, then don’t do it.

Keeping in mind that it's nearly impossible to find a shop that will do a head gasket on these 2.3s. It's pretty much a dealer or DIY (which requires special tools to time the cams and a torque wrench that will do degrees for all the torque to yield fasteners).

 

[imnewhere]

There will be no warranty if you get the ford performance tune. The warranty is structured so it goes into effect the day the car was sold new and put into service and you get 3/36 from there. You're at 8/150 so the warranty will be null and void. If you were leaning towards the ford tune because of the warranty, you can get a better one now because there is no warranty.

The 6R80 is a good transmission and more than good enough for a lightly modded ecoboost.

The 2.3 eco is an open deck design engine, and the focus RS has that engine pumped up to 350 hp from the factory and on the RS is was prone to blown head gaskets. Most likely because under higher hp/boost levels the top of cylinder walks around and breaks the seal of the head gasket.

My advice, don't open up that can of worms, just do regular maintenance and leave it stock and enjoy the car.

would it be fine if I put an exhaust on it? I can’t decide on an axle back or cat back.

 

[imnewhere]

Congrats on picking up an awesome first car! With 150K miles on it, I'm in agreement with others - leave it stock, catch up on preventive maintenance, keep it clean and looking good, and drive it gently and safely! Save those dollars for other things. You'll have an opportunity for performance mods later on, with a platform that doesn't have so many miles on it.

I'd go ahead and get the transmission oil changed, and I agree about changing the brake fluid and coolant. Glycol-based fluids absorb water and break down chemically, generating acids that aren't good. They should be changed every two years or so. Definitely explore the various driving modes and be cautious until you're comfortable with how the car behaves in each mode.

Again, congratulations and I hope that you enjoy the car!

Thanks so much for the advice I’m actually pretty sure I did get the brake fluid and coolant changed at the dealership but I can’t find the paper right now.

 

[imnewhere]

Do fluids. Ecoboosts NEED good oil. At your milage id do high quality synthetic 5w40 every 4k miles.
Give the car some high rpm full throttle often, they like to be beaten on once in a while to get heat and clean themselves.
Consider a new turbo, theyre super cheap ford oem, if its original it wont last long at 150k miles.
Do your fluids, otherwise continue to drive. It could blow at any time but babying it wont help, it needs normal use so i would drive it easy, drive it hard, like any other motor. Consider new timing if it hasnt been done. Otherwise theyre pretty decent motors if the oil is changed and plugs are good

Are you saying that the turbo could explode soon and send shrapnel into the engine or are you saying that it may just fail in some less exciting way. Just wondering how urgent it would be to get a new turbo.

 

[I Bleed Ford Blue]

would it be fine if I put an exhaust on it? I can’t decide on an axle back or cat back.

Yes, you can put on a better sounding axle or cat back, it won't hurt anything. Just stay away from upgraded turbos, cams, tuning, etc. anything that deals with the engine. You've so far got a good engine, take care of it with regular maintenance and don't abuse it and it should last you another 100K

 

[Wolfys11]

Are you saying that the turbo could explode soon and send shrapnel into the engine or are you saying that it may just fail in some less exciting way. Just wondering how urgent it would be to get a new turbo.

More like the seal lets go and starts leaking. I mean its possible the turbo shrapnels if it has shaft play, but 99/100 times it leaks oil into the intercooler before it explodes like that on stock tune. I wouldnt say rush it, but i am saying i had one replaced for 450$ with a 300$ core charge from a ford parts website. Super cheap. Fairly easy to do if you work on cars, if not then i dont think its that crazy expensive, its fairly roomy there for working on

 

[imnewhere]

More like the seal lets go and starts leaking. I mean its possible the turbo shrapnels if it has shaft play, but 99/100 times it leaks oil into the intercooler before it explodes like that on stock tune. I wouldnt say rush it, but i am saying i had one replaced for 450$ with a 300$ core charge from a ford parts website. Super cheap. Fairly easy to do if you work on cars, if not then i dont think its that crazy expensive, its fairly roomy there for working on

Thanks for the advice and clarification I was kinda worried you were saying that there would be a high chance of catastrophic failure.

 

[imnewhere]

Yes, you can put on a better sounding axle or cat back, it won't hurt anything. Just stay away from upgraded turbos, cams, tuning, etc. anything that deals with the engine. You've so far got a good engine, take care of it with regular maintenance and don't abuse it and it should last you another 100K

Thanks for the advice. I’ve gotten the oil changed every 4K miles or less, I always drive a lot just for fun so I don’t have to worry about the amount of months I have to wait as miles always come first. But anyways I will keep taking as good of care of it as possible.

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