OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
Dup post
F150 ecoboost drilled my intercooler
- Thread starter jejeosborne
- Start date
- Views: 88659
OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
It may be psychological but with my hole plugged, the truck seems more responsive today after plugging the hole yesterday. Again, it could be my brain messing with me.
I would recommend drilling a 1/32 hole after seeing the volume of air that came out of mine with not much load on the engine. I agree that vacuum doesn't exist at the intercooler but ambient pressure does. I am going to put a 1/8" barbed nipple on mine so I can put a section of fuel line on it with a small check valve from tower hobbies used for RC planes. I'm debating on a rotary valve as well or just vent with a 1/32 hole. It would be easy enough to route the fuel line thru the cab and back out so the valve could be inside. Still pondering.
wwest
New member
The best solution is a hose connected from the "weep" hole to the intake manifold downstream of the throttle plate. Use an inline lawn tractor fuel filter and then a restrictive flow aperture to limit any possible intake flow to just a tad below that needed for HOT idle.
MinnesotaEric
Super Member
Intercoolers used to come from the factory with weep holes. I also believe I'm the guy who first told the internet to drill a hole in the intercooler to fix the problem.
http://www.f150forum.com/f70/psychopathic-ecoboost-condensation-135148/index4/#post1621818
Copperhead
Veteran Member
Just a thought to add to the mix here. On my regularly aspirated GM engine, I installed a oil trap "catch can" system on it. It is amazing the amount of oil and moisture that flows thru that PCV line back to the intake. On heavy commercial diesels, once the EPA demanded closed crankcase ventilation systems on them, the OEM's installed, at the factory, oil and moisture trap filtration systems on them to address similar issues as is being discussed here.
Have no experience with the Ecoboost engines, but it causes me to wonder, if an owner were to put a filtration system on the positive PCV line, if it wouldn't also trap the oil and moisture that would make it to the CAC (intercooler as some call it). Just a thought. No idea where the PCV hose gets introduced to the intake on them. On a Jeep Liberty Diesel I had, it was introduced into the intake tube just before the turbo. Man, when that turbo spooled up, it would draw a lot of oil and moisture out of the crankcase. I put a trap on it within the first 1000 miles I owned it. Never had near the problems everyone else had. Might be an option for folks here to consider.
Have no experience with the Ecoboost engines, but it causes me to wonder, if an owner were to put a filtration system on the positive PCV line, if it wouldn't also trap the oil and moisture that would make it to the CAC (intercooler as some call it). Just a thought. No idea where the PCV hose gets introduced to the intake on them. On a Jeep Liberty Diesel I had, it was introduced into the intake tube just before the turbo. Man, when that turbo spooled up, it would draw a lot of oil and moisture out of the crankcase. I put a trap on it within the first 1000 miles I owned it. Never had near the problems everyone else had. Might be an option for folks here to consider.
OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
Catch cans are very popular on the ecoboost just as it is with other high output motors. It is also an advantage to help keep intake valves on direct injection engines cleaner. They are expensive for boosted motors.
MinnesotaEric
Super Member
Here is my catch, the largest RX can that also uses check valves, so that what goes in, cannot come back out. I relocated my horns to the left side from where the catch can is mounted so that a 30" light bar that is mounted directly behind my grill had enough clearance to close the hood.
Scott65
Silver Member
For the few of you that have actually experienced the misfire, have you done the updated tsb from ford? There were 2. One required a shield be put on the top portion of the ic, the second tsb had you remove that one and stick one on the bottom. It's supposedly working better. And now there is a new design ic, different part number, doesn't require any mods but I haven't seen one in my shop yet.
Someone mentioned the egr causing some issue. I can't vouch for every single model, but I haven't had one yet that had an egr.
People are confused about this issue. I think some aren't realizing that in the right conditions, as the op stated, condensation is being created inside the intercooler. At the right dew point, this water is always there. When it becomes a problem is if you are cruising and accelerating in just such a way to allow it to build up, then blast it into the motor all at once. I would venture to guess this is happening with diesels as well. But they have a much better chance of passing it thru, plus are noisy enough that you never know it. And the third reason brings me to my next point, and a big difference in intercoolers. If you look at most (not all) big diesel intercoolers, the inlet and outlet ports are towards the middle. On the eb, they are at the very bottom. In my un-engineering-degreed opinion, ford might go a long way by just flipping this thing around to move the air in and out at the top and let it boil or vaporize out as the conditions allow.
And somebody also had allot of misfire and cracked plug problems. There's a tsb on this as well. If you've already replaced the plugs, make sure they were the right part number as indicated in the tsb. With boost from twin turbos and 2500 psi of fuel, the wrong plugs will not run this engine correctly
Someone mentioned the egr causing some issue. I can't vouch for every single model, but I haven't had one yet that had an egr.
People are confused about this issue. I think some aren't realizing that in the right conditions, as the op stated, condensation is being created inside the intercooler. At the right dew point, this water is always there. When it becomes a problem is if you are cruising and accelerating in just such a way to allow it to build up, then blast it into the motor all at once. I would venture to guess this is happening with diesels as well. But they have a much better chance of passing it thru, plus are noisy enough that you never know it. And the third reason brings me to my next point, and a big difference in intercoolers. If you look at most (not all) big diesel intercoolers, the inlet and outlet ports are towards the middle. On the eb, they are at the very bottom. In my un-engineering-degreed opinion, ford might go a long way by just flipping this thing around to move the air in and out at the top and let it boil or vaporize out as the conditions allow.
And somebody also had allot of misfire and cracked plug problems. There's a tsb on this as well. If you've already replaced the plugs, make sure they were the right part number as indicated in the tsb. With boost from twin turbos and 2500 psi of fuel, the wrong plugs will not run this engine correctly
OP
jejeosborne
Veteran Member
I have not had tsbs done because the "fix" makes the intercooler LESS efficient.