2.3 Shaping up to be the better Engine?

[Saltlife4shore]

I think you just talked me into replacing my 33” stock Badlands with 35”s and getting an RC 2” lift when the rubber goes down enough to replace. I love my 2.3! Thanks!

I can't complain about this 2.3L. I've never had an engine this small in any of my vehicles. I came from a 6.2L GMC Sierra. This little engine moves, and gets good mpg. I may just skip out on my Wildtrack if it ever comes in.

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[Tricky Dick]

As someone who does most of their own mechanical work, and who forsees owning their Bronco for the next few decades potentially, the 2.3 is appealing to me simply for its more compact packaging. Both engine bays look cramped, but the fact of the matter is, the 2.3 has half as many headgaskets, overhead cams, turbos, intake/exhaust manifolds, etc. If I can get 95% as much power with 40% less engine to maintain, I feel like it’s a better choice for my quality of life, nevermind the extra money saved initially. Of course I could be entirely wrong and the overburdened engine wears itself out from highway driving on 35’s, remains to be seen but I suppose that’s the one silver lining of waiting so long.

Valves are the hot button topic now but wait til people find out what cam phasers are and how costly the repair is. Ford has all sorts of struggles with them on their V engines. The inlines fare much better.

 

[balber]

Valves are the hot button topic now but wait til people find out what cam phasers are and how costly the repair is. Ford has all sorts of struggles with them on their V engines. The inlines fare much better.

i know all about the cam phaser issues in my 3.5l F150. I’ve had a few gens of the 2.3l and in my experience, they’re tanks. Cast block can withstand lots of power, as others have said, I took a less is more approach. Happy with my 2.3l

I just wish I could get a good exhaust lol

 

[mpeugeot]

Valves are the hot button topic now but wait til people find out what cam phasers are and how costly the repair is. Ford has all sorts of struggles with them on their V engines. The inlines fare much better.

It's far less costly when you do the labor yourself... which you might want to be prepared to do, since most shops will tell you to F- off, they don't want to do the job in the first place.

Ford's cam phasers have been a problem forever now. You wonder why they haven't fixed the problem by now? The good news is that regular maintenance/frequent oil changes will help minimize the frequency in which these things are a problem; but once they go bad... Figure $1k in parts and $3k in labor.

Still both engines have positives and negatives. I have the V-6, but I still think that there is a lot to like about the 2.3l engine.

 

[ctandc]

Threads like this always amuse me.
There have been 45-46 2.7 engine failures documented on this forum? I wonder how many of those people googled "2.7 Bronco engine failure" and found this forum? (It's nothing new, I've been active on car forums for 20 years+ - I've seen it happen with multiple models / manufacturers).

Does it suck if you order, wait and pay for a new vehicle and the engine dies or has major problems?? Absolutely yes. Does it happens to pretty much EVERY manufacturer now and again? Yes. Hell - Honda had an oil consumption issue with brand new 4 cylinder engines in the Accords 10 years or so ago...

How many 2.7 Bronco's were made so far?

That being said - the 2.3 works just fine in the Bronco. It's not a TT 2.7 and it's not a V8. It wasn't that long ago that 300HP and over 300 ft/lbs of torque for ANY engine in a stock SUV (not to mention a 4 cylinder) would have been crazy.

I've had a ton of high HP cars / trucks over the years. I've built more than a few. I recently sold my '19 Mustang GT (bought brand new in '19) - that was 460HP STOCK (mine wasn't stock). Comparing apples to oranges is ridiculous.

We waited to order (our Bronco is my wife's DD) until we could actually test drive one. We test drove a 2.3 2dr with dealer added 35's. I had already pretty much decided to get the 2.7 when / if we ordered. The test drive changed my mind. My wife's daily was a 2.3 '17 Mustang Ragtop. The 2.3 impressed me in that car, for what it is, and it impressed me in the Bronco.

Ordered a '22 2dr BB with 2.3. I DID add 4.27 gears with rear locker. The price was less than it would cost me just for parts to upgrade gears later on down the road. I literally drove our BB from the lot when it came off the truck (5 miles) straight to the house, took in my shop and removed the crash bars, loaded up the wheels I'd already bought and took it straight to the tire shop. Went to 315/70/17 tires with correct offset wheels.

2.3 has zero issues. It's not a sports car, but it has no trouble passing cars on the interstate, going up steep hills and no trouble (even in ECO) tooling along at 80mph on the interstate.

I've got a '12 F150 FX4 with the 5.0 Coyote engine and a '95 Bronco with 35" tires and a V8. The 2.3 Bronco is not anemic.

Buy what you want.
It's a mass produced vehicle - like any other you might have initial issues, that's what the warranty is for.

 

[billcommando]

Quick question, I just picked up my Big Bend with the 2.3L on Saturday. Super excited. I noticed that upon the first start up in the morning, the engine is loud and has almost like an exhaust leak sound or a very loud ticking. Assuming it is the GDI nature of the engine. But, wanted to know if other members are experiencing a loud engine at start-up and quiets down after a few minutes of driving. You can still hear the ticking at idle but I guess that is normal. Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I have the hard top and the wind noise is pretty loud on the highway. Others experiencing this?

Thank you!

 

[DogHauler]

The 2.7L is kind of loud too, I don't think Ford cared too much about NVH given the off-road nature of the Bronco.

 

[thesocalexplorer]

Quick question, I just picked up my Big Bend with the 2.3L on Saturday. Super excited. I noticed that upon the first start up in the morning, the engine is loud and has almost like an exhaust leak sound or a very loud ticking. Assuming it is the GDI nature of the engine. But, wanted to know if other members are experiencing a loud engine at start-up and quiets down after a few minutes of driving. You can still hear the ticking at idle but I guess that is normal. Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I have the hard top and the wind noise is pretty loud on the highway. Others experiencing this?

Thank you!

Mine does the same on cold start (and ticking at idle). Injectors are just noisy due to GDI and lack of an engine cover.

 

[broncobase1]

Just curious what people think about both the 2.3 and the 2.7 since the Broncos release out into the wild.

I have no first hand experience with driving either engine in the Bronco but I did own the 2.3 in my Ecoboost Mustang. In short it was great in the Mustang.

So I ask this for a couple of reasons. It's seems in a lot of You tube reviews both the 2.3 and the 2.7 get similar 0 to 60 times when testing acceleration. Of course the 2.7 is a little faster but not by much. The reason being even though the 2.7 is more powerful it also weights more which negates the power advantage and makes the front end heavier. So it makes sense.

Another reason I ask is because for some still waiting for their Broncos order to be filled it seems the 2.7 is a major constraint and is the hold up. Switch to the 2.3 and boom your order will be filled faster and your Bronco will get built.

The biggest and most important reason I ask this is because of the recent issues with the 2.7s dieing. I don't know if this is because of the pandemic and Ford had to switch to a different 3rd party supplier for critical parts or what but it seems it's definitely a thing. Plenty of people on this very forum had their 2.7 engines fail. Reliability is pretty dam important when it comes to your engine.

I should note that my Bronco reservation and order is for the 2.7 as of now so I'm not cheerleadering the 2.3 or biased.

So with all this in mind is the 2.3 shaping up to be the better choice for the Bronco?

One thing to consider is the 2.3 being an inline 4 is less complex than a V6 (only one turbo, head, and many other parts a V6 had two of). The 2.3L has a conventional spin on oil filter and doesn't have a belt driven oil pump. Both pluses in my opinion.

 

[Coldsmoke]

44 out of 10,000's but if you think thats worth switching up knock yourself out

Go over to the forum on the 2.7 failures and type in that same response and you’ll be chewed up and spit out. The posters there go through a completely different calculation to determine the failure rate. Regardless, I wouldn’t make any decision based on the information on this forum alone. For any topic, there is a favorable viewpoint and a matching negative viewpoint much in the same as Amazon reviews for any given product. It’s entertaining at best.

 

[BD2OBX4]

I understand all this but my points are valid. Also I haven't heard about any issues with the 2.3. Zero. So even if it's only 10 people or so on this forum that have had 2.7 issues that's definitely 10 to many. That should not be happening to a brand new engine. And I'm willing to bet there's more 2.3s that got released then 2.7s so far.

I do agree with you if your going to put out this kind of money definitely get it built exactly how you want it. No doubt. I feel the same way. But if there really is something going wrong with the 2.7s is it really what you want in the end? I'm only thinking out loud. Because I too have the 2.7 on order.

I think the 2.7 issues were a supplier issue - still bad but not a indication of a problem design. That engine is awesome, as I have it in my f-150. Having stated that, the 2.3 is a little buzzy but has a lot of pep and is also very solid - as I have that in my Bronco. The real hidden gem is the sport mode on the 2.3 Bronco -it actually changes the overall feel of the vehicle - which is unusual in my experience with selectable drive modes.

 

[billcommando]

Mine does the same on cold start (and ticking at idle). Injectors are just noisy due to GDI and lack of an engine cover.

Thanks so much. That is what I thought. Just sounded loud and almost like an exhaust leak at the same time. Glad to hear that it is more commonplace.

 

[barracuda]

I would've ordered the 2.7 had it been available with the manual. As it is very happy with 2.3. My main takeaway is that I saved $1800 for very similar performance.

 

[BamaBronco98]

Quick question, I just picked up my Big Bend with the 2.3L on Saturday. Super excited. I noticed that upon the first start up in the morning, the engine is loud and has almost like an exhaust leak sound or a very loud ticking. Assuming it is the GDI nature of the engine. But, wanted to know if other members are experiencing a loud engine at start-up and quiets down after a few minutes of driving. You can still hear the ticking at idle but I guess that is normal. Any thoughts or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I have the hard top and the wind noise is pretty loud on the highway. Others experiencing this?

Thank you!

My 2.3l manual makes all sort of noises, especially upon startup. There's the buzzing, then the hissing, and an occasional rattle. I thought more about it initially, but I decided to just drive and enjoy it. The performance leaves nothing to be desired. The only thing it does that concerns me is this exact lurching problem, which I experience about 2-3 times per week:

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/thre...uttering-in-low-gears-between-2-3k-rpm.32392/

 

[billcommando]

My 2.3l manual makes all sort of noises, especially upon startup. There's the buzzing, then the hissing, and an occasional rattle. I thought more about it initially, but I decided to just drive and enjoy it. The performance leaves nothing to be desired. The only thing it does that concerns me is this exact lurching problem, which I experience about 2-3 times per week:

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/2-3l-7mt-—-lurching-stuttering-in-low-gears-between-2-3k-rpm.32392/

Thanks so much. Yes, I agree. I hear those things too. Also, the transmission does seem to hunt for gears. I drive mostly in eco and have gotten almost 24MPG over 200 miles. Wonder if that setup makes it a little weird on the shifts. I am going to go to the dealer next week to get the step bar installed and pick up the bag for the rear seat hard top panels (thanks to the $1,000 credit from Ford). I will check in there and have them take a listen to it. Appreciate your thoughts. Thank you very much.

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