Trying to decide if this issue is a transmission or intercooler condensation. I'd appreciate thoughts from people that have experienced the Ecoboost intercooler condensation issue.

I stuffed the throttle around 35 mph and the truck downshifted, ran up to 5K rpm and wouldn't go any further. Transmission would not upshift and engine wouldn't climb past 5K rpm. Didn't notice what gear it was in. I let off the throttle quickly and the trans upshifted to 6th and the truck began to stutter. It would stutter for a couple seconds, drive smooth for a few more seconds, stutter, and repeat process multiple times. Meanwhile, I had barely enough power to maintain traffic speed and worked my way to the right lane in case I needed to escape to the shoulder. Things sorted out and I drove another 200 miles. No check engine light. I had driven through cold rain (high 30's degree F) for the last 2 hours.

I'm trying to discern if this could be a transmission issue or if it is spot on what people experience with the CAC condensation issue? Just seems odd that there could be multiple misfires without a check engine light. And unfortunately I do not have my scanner with me to check. Never had any intercooler condensation problems over the last 3 years and 35K miles and I live in a wet & humid region of midwest, but I guess there is a first time for everything!

 

I experienced something very similar to this, going up north in northern Michigan, cold and rainy, temps in the mid 30's, went to pass someone on a two lane 55 mph speed zone, and about 8 seconds into it the engine stopped accelerating and made a popping sound, I immediately backed out of it as I had completed the pass and was over 70 mph, the engine didn't sputter or idle funny after the episode and never missed a beat afterwards, I had been on the road for 4 hours at that point, no problems in the month since, so I believe this was directly related to cold air charge problems, I don't encounter these conditions in travel often, so I am going to ignore it, new plugs going in this spring at 34,000 miles, so I will see what happens next!

 

It might be worthwhile to have your dealership check things out, QwkTrip. How many miles are on the truck?

Keep us in the loop, j.grif; I'm here if you need any assistance.

Crystal

 

Yes, I know how to talk to a dealer. I'm using this community to compare notes with other owners. Honestly, I wish you would stop interrupting every conversation with, Talk to your dealer. Sometimes we just want to talk things through with each other, even if we're using a dealer. I think you're most appreciated after things go to hell in the relationship between customer and dealer.

 

Thanks for sharing. That does ease my mind a bit.

I'm going to start carrying my scanner with me. If it is a CAC condensation issue then the last thing I would ever do is go to a Ford dealer for their half-assed worthless "fixes". I'll just buy an aftermarket intercooler from Full Race. I'm almost out of warranty and was considering pumping up the power anyway.

I've been watching the development of their twin turbo kit but will probably choke at the price when announced. We'll see.

 

QwkTrip, you will find you have less troubles of this type if you feed in the throttle instead of "stuffing it." Even through the ecoboost is a gas engine, it behaves more like a diesel. Max power is achieved around 2000 rpms, not 5000. You also need to give the turbos a second to spool up. Turbo lag is really small with this engine but not gone.
I'm not say you don't have an issue but I see this scenario a lot with people driving their ecoboosts, expecting instant power and not getting it.
Just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks Crystal, trying to stay away from the candy store right now, Merry Christmas!

 

It had already accelerated through about a 25 mph gain when it ran into a wall at the top of the gear. That's when things got abnormal.

 

You are seriously misinformed.

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...boostchart.png

Notice Max torque on at about 2300 rpm and holds flat.

 

In your original post you said power, not torque.

Even so, I still don't know what is your point. Horsepower continues to increase beyond peak torque and it is well worthwhile going to 5K RPM if my objective is to outrun the other guy.

The problem I had is the transmission didn't progress to the next gear and engine temporarily stopped running correctly.

 

This almost exactly the way it had happened to me, had already been accelerating quite briskly when it just stopped accelerating, I had been anticipating that this might happen because of the few threads that I had read through, in those threads, it seems as though the person just couldn't believe that this was happening and left there foot in it, to the point that the check engine light began flashing and causing other problems down stream, I agree that the tsb's leave a lot to be desired, for me its a no sale, at some point the aftermarket will step up to the plate and start making/selling performance upgrades, as for where the engine is most powerful in the rpm range, its between where peak torque and peak HP, this is where the engine will accelerate the fastest, the 3.5 ecoboost torque curve is what makes this engine drive like a Chrysler 440 big block. Merry Christmas!

 

Ah! You just hit the one thing I found puzzling... No check engine light. So apparently it can take time to initiate and people like you and me that are on top of things right away might avoid the warning light. You've made me feel even better about it not being a transmission issue. Thank you for your input!

The Full Race intercooler will eliminate the problem but it is an expensive item. It is of more interest to people that want to make power or use a front bumper winch. I think the other low cost option is Wagner, but I've not followed results because I'm not interested in such a small intercooler. One way to make a repair "fun" is to take an upgrade at the same time and offset parts cost with my own labor.

 

I'm throwing out an idea as all. Torque is an aspect of acceleration where as HP is mire about top end speed.
There are a couple of tsb's concerning CAC condensation issues. Might be worth a trip to the dealer to see what codes show up.
Good luck.

 

This CAC condensation issue is one time when I won't be going to the dealer for help. Ford has not tackled the real issue, and in fact created other problems with their lousy "solutions". A lot of people would conclude the engineers are idiots. I doubt it. They're probably hamstrung by the capital expenditure for the project and can't come up with a fix within the allowable spend limit. In other words, the business (engineering managers) would rather eat the warranty costs than give you a proper solution. This is a case where I can do a better job on my own and won't be taking it to a dealer.

Concerning torque vs. horsepower, you went wrong when you try to promote one over the other. The two concepts go hand-in-hand because an engine is a rotating system in motion. Power is simply derived (a mathematical function) from torque and speed. More torque at a given speed is also more horsepower. So saying horsepower is merely for top end speed is spreading the wrong idea.