Yeah I did zoom in on it quite a bit...I just don't see it.

 

Try changing the angle of your screen....look slightly down at it. I just tried that and it's more apparent from a downward angle.

 

I see the lines: those are the intercooler itself. There certainly is no grille on any of them. It looks exactly like mine (no grille) - I see those lines - the intercooler.

Here is a zoomed pic of that trucks intercooler on the cover page, I am absolutely sure there is no grille:

 

Exactly!!!!

I just saw a bunch of 2012's up close and personal today...there is no grille on any of them.

 

The horizontal lines extend all the way to the right edge of the opening. If that is the intercooler you would also have to see those body colored lower brackets that sit in front of the intercooler (L-shaped on the left, reverse L on the right). Those brackets are very, very pronounced and forward in the opening. They aren't visible, so there has to be an insert. Or they somehow removed them, which opens the door for another interesting mod.

 

It's the intercooler itself as Flixden said. A grill would sit more proud and kind of flush with a slight offset in the opening.

I haven't noticed any performance or MPG's changes since I installed mine last summer but I'm removing it anyhow.

I think the gaping hole makes the truck look incomplete whereas the grill looks much better.

 

There is definitely no grill on that truck, ri_truck_guy is smokin something good, or at least he wants there to be a grill there so bad that his mind actually thinks it's there. You are seeing the intercooler plain and simple.

Mark

 

No, you would not see the brackets given the angle of that shot. There is no insert.

 

Alright guys....I concede....

 

There is lots of chatter on the F150 EcoBoost boards on the air charge cooler condensation. This was an issue on the 2008 6.4 PSD air charge cooler. Water would condense in the turbo air cooler. When the engine was rev up as in heavy acceleration, the water would be sucked into the motor, causing the sputtering. Ford redesigned the 2011 6.7 powerstroke to have a water cooled turbo air cooler to eliminate the issue.

What does this have to do with the F150 turbos? Same thing is happening.

 

That is the problem with early years of new designs. These engines are getting so technical that just a slight anything can cause issues.
I'm kind of following the EcoBoost engines out of interest to see how the turbos really hold up in the real world. As an old Ford Factory Trained Tech, Ford has had a lot of turbo issues over the years. I don't remember how many that I replaced or repaired on the Mustang back in the 80s.
Not that other companies don't have issues, The new Cummins sure do.
Anyway thanks for letting me stick my nose into this discussion.

 

I would seriously hesitate to say the guys at Ford don't know what their doing. A strong desire to plug up holes that just don't look natural or to our liking could create a serious issue when it's time to ask a dealer for warranty repairs.

 

I'm not sure what was changed on the 15's to allow the factory LP holder to go in front of the intercooler, but you could look into making these modifications if you are trying to keep a style. Of course, that may not solve the warranty problems, but it's your truck.

 

Is the 2015 intercooler in the same place as 2014?

 

I think it is, but there are some engineering differences. They made a point at a Ford event that you can have the LP in front of it now. That doesn't mean you can do it on the old ones, it means they changed something. IDK what, but if you found out you might be able to adapt it to yours.