I missed it earlier that you bought this used. Hard telling what the previous owner did to it unfortunately. Could be your turbo just simple had problems at 94k miles, or could be there were other mods to the truck by the previous owner that contributed to its failure.
F150 ecoboost drilled my intercooler
- Thread starter jejeosborne
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Diamondpilot
Super Star Member
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Whole truck would be junk by 100,000 miles.
jwstewar
Elite Member
Yeah, we know, Fords are the greatest things on Earth and all GM products are junk. Yet, my Silverado will run circles around any 150 ever made.
sld
Veteran Member
Your Silverado must need an alignment! :laughing:
jwstewar
Elite Member
Now that is funny right there, I don't care who you are.
Seriously, it might. 140k on it and it has never seen an alignment rack. I've put 2 sets of tires on it and for various reasons I didn't get the alignment done at that time and then "forgot." Still no signs of weird tire wear.
sld
Veteran Member
Glad you took it as the joke it was! :drink:
tractorshopper
Veteran Member
Had a ton of transmission shudders on my '06 F-150 5.4 Triton and kept thinking I needed a new tranny. Would shudder in high gear when starting to climb up a hill. Would have to get into gas to drop a gear, then problem would go away or put in tow/haul mode to get out of that gear completely to get away from shudder. This went on for a while. I put in anti shudder, but didn't really help. Decided to change plugs that were misfiring when light finally came on and had read on Ford forums that this shudder could have been a misfire issue. Took about 2 months before engine light came on. Code said #3 and #7 misfire. At least it wasn't 4 and 8 I thought. Also bought a tester for the coils to check them while in there. They coils appeared to fine.
155,000 miles or so when I did that. Truck ran fine and had more normal power right away, just felt much better, but ever so slight shudder same as before in the 45-50 mph range in top gear going up hill.
Problem became worse again pretty quickly until it was back to full strength. Maybe 2 months or so max. This time the truck really felt violent and like it's timing was all off.
So changed all 8 plugs and all 8 coil packs while I was at it (they were much cheaper as a set then each one individually). Problem completely solved. No more tranny shudder whatsoever.
2 months later, problem comes back. I'm about to flip out, but this time check engine light came on immediately with problem. I get code read, #3 cylinder misfire. I can't believe it at this point. I just put all new E3's on based on the recommendation of O'Rielly and had brand new coil packs (did I mention the power was great again; better than new).
I hope it's just a plug at this point. I got another one, take it home, change it and the electrode of the plug I pulled out was missing completely. Never heard of that before, but problem fixed and going on 3 months now with no more problems at all and great power. Just putting this out there that what can feel like a tranny problem may not be a tranny problem at all. Also, this intermittent thing is frustrating. Went a long time with no check engine light and having misfire issues. Very strange to me.
155,000 miles or so when I did that. Truck ran fine and had more normal power right away, just felt much better, but ever so slight shudder same as before in the 45-50 mph range in top gear going up hill.
Problem became worse again pretty quickly until it was back to full strength. Maybe 2 months or so max. This time the truck really felt violent and like it's timing was all off.
So changed all 8 plugs and all 8 coil packs while I was at it (they were much cheaper as a set then each one individually). Problem completely solved. No more tranny shudder whatsoever.
2 months later, problem comes back. I'm about to flip out, but this time check engine light came on immediately with problem. I get code read, #3 cylinder misfire. I can't believe it at this point. I just put all new E3's on based on the recommendation of O'Rielly and had brand new coil packs (did I mention the power was great again; better than new).
I hope it's just a plug at this point. I got another one, take it home, change it and the electrode of the plug I pulled out was missing completely. Never heard of that before, but problem fixed and going on 3 months now with no more problems at all and great power. Just putting this out there that what can feel like a tranny problem may not be a tranny problem at all. Also, this intermittent thing is frustrating. Went a long time with no check engine light and having misfire issues. Very strange to me.
PJ The Kid
Bronze Member
As a Sr master Ford certified technician, with 2 years college in the Ford ASSET program and over 10 years experience, this makes my brain hurt!
That being said, I personally have never seen condensation cause a problem in any turbo system. Ford has been using air to air coolers since 1998 on diesels and before that in a couple turbo cars. If you make even the tiniest hole in the charge air system you will get reduced power from a boost leak. It would be ok if you really think this is an issue to drill the hole and tap some threads in it, but as I said, I have never seen this issue. If it is happening with a eco-boost building low boost pressure, wouldn't it happen worse on a power stroke building upwards of 40psi of boost? I would lean more towards fuel system, or exhaust system (ie cats restricted.)
That being said, I personally have never seen condensation cause a problem in any turbo system. Ford has been using air to air coolers since 1998 on diesels and before that in a couple turbo cars. If you make even the tiniest hole in the charge air system you will get reduced power from a boost leak. It would be ok if you really think this is an issue to drill the hole and tap some threads in it, but as I said, I have never seen this issue. If it is happening with a eco-boost building low boost pressure, wouldn't it happen worse on a power stroke building upwards of 40psi of boost? I would lean more towards fuel system, or exhaust system (ie cats restricted.)
There's no debating condensation was a problem for the F150 Ecoboost under the right conditions. Ford acknowledged it, released multiple TSB's with Band-Aid fixes, and eventually made several design changes to both the intercooler and the programming. It was part of the learning curve, but they seem to be over the hump after the first few years.
PJ The Kid
Bronze Member
They only real issues I saw as an engine mechanic on these engines were turbo's going out (not very often, but would fill the cooler with oil and excessive smoke, and lack of power) and water pumps on the early engines. Maybe in other parts of the country, there was an issue, but here in humid Mo I have never heard of it. Also, to ad to my prior statements, drilling and not plugging a hole in the charge system will also give you a misfire, check engine light, and poor fuel economy(eventually fouling the converters) as it will be running off the factory mapped fuel code and expecting full boost so adding full fuel (look up diesel smoke switch or clogged air filter on a diesel)
Snobdds
Super Member
The diesels never had the problem because the outlet to the intake was in the middle of the intercooler. The ecoboost had the outlet to the intake at the bottom of the intercooler where all the water pooled. Every intercooler has condensation in it, that's what it does.
I don't daily drive my ecoboost, I really only use it when I go skiing and on the weekends sometimes. I've never had the condensation issue because all the water evaporates in the intercooler before I drive it again. The turbos condense a lot of air over the cooler, in a way the intercooler is too efficient for the truck.
I don't daily drive my ecoboost, I really only use it when I go skiing and on the weekends sometimes. I've never had the condensation issue because all the water evaporates in the intercooler before I drive it again. The turbos condense a lot of air over the cooler, in a way the intercooler is too efficient for the truck.
Snobdds
Super Member
Thats not true. There are tons of people out there driving with a hole in the intercooler with no side effects. There was even an engineer that did tests to see the pressure drop from the hole. The results were negligible to a non drilled intercooler.
PJ The Kid
Bronze Member
So I guess the >1/16" hole in the intercooler I replaced last month for low boost codes wasn't the issue?
Snobdds
Super Member
There's a variety of reasons it could have low boost, but based upon the amount of people driving with a hole in the intercooler with no ill effects...I think it's safe to say the cause was not the hole.
OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
That is correct. The turbos are capable of making more than enough airflow/pressure to hit the cap limit the ecu allows. Here is the video I made to prove it.
F150 Ecoboost PSI intercooler test - YouTube
OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
I too live in the humid Midwest and have a lot of issues with condensation. Here is my video on that. I got about a 1/4 cup of water out after one day of towing. With almost 15,000 YouTube views I would say others too have the problem.
F150 ecoboost 1/16" hole in CAC drilled - YouTube
sld
Veteran Member
Might ask for a refund at whatever college you went to. The condensation issue is well known and well documented and a small hole has a negligible impact on performance.
BandannaMan
New member
The truck with the replaced electrical plug on the CACT/Turbo Pressure combo sensor did the trick! Towed for two days through Colorado Mountains and not a single misfire, no CEL, no Wrench. However, I am concerned that my engine performance may be off a bit now. Generally, when towing, it seems to operate down a gear, presumably because it cannot generate enough power (through boost) at the next gear up. So in situations where previously we were in 6'th towing, now it looks like it needs 5'th. Certainly, before the problems and the fixes, towing on a flat level road, it would get to 6'th gear pretty quick, now it can only do it in 5'th. Have to be going down a slight decline to get to 6'th now.
aczlan
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I might pull the battery cables off and touch them together. That should reset the adaptations and "self learning" that it did with the bad CATC/Turbo Pressure sensor (which could be throwing things off now).
Aaron Z
Diamondpilot
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My guess is the "tune" that's in the computer now after the reflash is the culprit.
Chris
Chris
