The 2021 Ford F-150 5.0L V8 has a wet-belt-driven oil pump. What does this mean and is it something to worry about?
The 2021 Ford F-150 5.0-liter V-8 has several changes including cylinder deactivation and, now we learn, a wet-belt-driven oil pump. A viewer emailed Publisher Tim Esterdahl about this change, so he decided to do some research and share his findings on the F-150 V-8 oil pump change.
Until now, Ford’s trucks have used a chain-driven oil pump, so this is a new thing for the 2021 Ford F-150, and seems to be specific to the 5.0-liter V-8 model. This is the same idea behind the GM 3.0L Duramax Diesel engine found in the Silverado and Sierra. For that truck, the change was very controversial due to the placement of the belt: You actually have to drop the transmission to check the belt. And, GM’s maintenance schedule says the belt needs to be inspected at 150k miles. Yikes!
Esterdahl talks about how the new belt-driven system works and why we could see it used more in the future. A few pros for this system include a quieter ride and a more efficient oil pump.
Chains do stretch over time, and while we tend to think of drive belts that need regular checking and replacing, a wet-drive-belt actually lives in the oil pump and is constantly lubricated. Because of this, it may be less likely to stretch than a chain.
Esterdahl found it interesting Ford’s maintenance schedule doesn’t show any scheduled check for the oil pump belt. Does this mean they expect it to last for the life of the truck? Maybe so.
Is this oil pump belt on the F-150 5.0-liter V-8 a disaster waiting to happen?
It will be interesting to see if other truck brands follow suit and if we see this change on heavy-duty trucks too.
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The 5.0 isn’t the first f150 motor to go to a belt driven oil pump. The 2.7l went belt driven a few years ago. Ford is seeing failures in their 3 and 4 cylinder car engines that use this same technology. For those failures, Ford is blaming the failure on the belt tensioner.
I was under the assumption that the earlier 5.0 engines use a gear driven oil pump mounted to the crankshaft.