The 2021 and up Ford Bronco is available with the 2.7-liter “Nano’ V6 twin-turbocharged “EcoBoost” engine. Here it produces 330 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque on premium fuel, 315 and 410 respectively if you use regular fuel.
Here it is mated to Ford’s in-house designed and built 10-speed automatic transmission and a full-service four-wheel drive system. As equipped with the Badlands package it’s rated at 17 mpg city, 17 highway and 17 combined.
You can also find the 2.7-liter EcoBoost in the Ford F-150 and in a number of other models. It features robust build creds like a composite graphite iron block, forged internal rotating assembly, a dual-chain timing drive with variable cam timing and aluminum heads with integral water cooled exhaust manifolds.
If we follow the airflow, the intake charge starts at the front coming through a rubber snorkel into a large air-filter box. From there it splits into two directions to each of the mono-scroll turbochargers. The passenger side is easiest to see. The driver side turbocharger and its plumbing is buried a bit more out of sight.
Boosted charge then travels to the front of engine compartment to an air-to-air intercooler behind the front bumper before making its way back into the engine bay. From behind the radiator the intake air routes up to the single throat throttle body and into a composite plastic intake manifold.
Fuel is delivered by both port and direct-injection, both intake and exhaust cams feature variable timing. After combustion the exhaust flows through the turbochargers which feature electronically controlled waste-gates.
The 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 is not at all related to the larger 3.5-liter engine, rather gets its lineage from the German designed line of Ford V6 engines. This is most evident by its top-mounted oil filter, much easier to service than most American designed Ford engines. Checking and filling the oil is easily done at the driver side top of the engine. Here, the 2.7-liter V6 has a larger than average capacity of 7 quarts.
The brake fluid reservoir is found at the expected location at the drive side firewall. Forward of it is the main fuse panel which is easily accessed by popping three small clips. Ahead of that is the large 12-volt battery neatly wrapped in a thermal casing.
At the passenger side rear of the engine compartment is the main engine coolant reservoir which is easily inspected and topped off. Just ahead of it is the windshield washer fluid reservoir. The engine ECU can also be seen just to the front of that.
Changing the air filter requires removing a number of Torx bolts which is a bit more effort than most in today’s realm which hold the top cover on with a few clips.
Notable items in this engine bay I found were that the radiator support is actually made of cast aluminum where most today are made of plastic. Hanging in it are of course the radiator which features some pretty large electric fans. Also notable is the pretty thick sound deadening pad on the bottom of the hood in lieu of a sound-absorbing engine cover.
