I own a '02 Explorer XLT with the 4.0L V6 engine. Lots of miles. Can a Ford dealership install a new 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine into the vehicle without too much trouble?

 

Did you ask a Ford dealership? There may be issues with engine warranty, and I bet that the bill you'll get for all the labor and parts will be comparable to the current market value of your truck.

The change will likely involve changing wire looms, electronics, dashboard connections, rerouting electrical, cooling and A/C circuits and other parts in the engine compartment and under the dashboard ... lots of custom work.

At the end of the day, I very much doubt that any dealer will bother undertaking this while they're swamped with service issues on factory-equipped vehicles. You need to find a dealer who's getting bored or needs work badly (good luck with that ...), and who has very skilled mechanics who are willing to delve into a custom job like this.

If I were you (and assuming I had a very good reason to swap the new engine in), I would look for a totalled truck equipped with it, harvest it along with the tranny and all the related goodies, and make this a big project for after-hours and weekends.

Not sure if this is what you wanted to hear, but this is my 2 cents' worth of thoughts. I hope more senior people here can comment as well ...

Good luck!

 

I work with these Ecoboost engines on a daily basis, I also know alot about them because i was working on them during the prototype phase a few years ago. The ecoboost engine will NOT work in any vehicle its not equipped with without major modifications to the vehicle and replacing all the wiring and modules etc...The engine is direct injected so the fuel system would have to be updated also. Althou anything is possible, its not something you should attempt. Your better off buying a vehicle with that engine equipped. Recently we had updated a 2007 expedition limo to 2012. We had to replace every single wire, module, dashboard, HVAC unit, cooling modules, lines, seats, crash sensors and hoses, basically everyting so that it would work. And that was with the same size engine just newer. So sorry for the bad news, but no it wont work and i doubt you will find a dealership to attempt it.