any thoughts on my last post with the idea to invert the intercooler so the inlet is at the bottom and outlet at the top so water sitting at the bottom stays and doesnt get sucked up all at once into the motor?

 

It has merit, but condensation could eventually pile up enough as you'll still have a slow-air zone, you could possibly be excacerbating the situation as well, as the slow-air zone will now have more air flowing over it to cool the air charge and cause the air to sweat more moisture. You'd have to deal with draining it eventually as well. Then you have the intake plumbing to deal with. I think the earlier idea of just a quick-drainage fitting (like an air tight fumoto type deal) would work pretty well, just drain every oil change or so. I wonder what would happen if you changed out the end tanks and had it so the air entered closer to the middle of the intercooler. Maybe add a little baffling in the end tanks to more-evenly distribute the air to begin with.

 

This was the same problem on the '08 Ford 6.4 PSD. Water collected in the Air Charge Cooler. The new Ford 6.7 PSD corrected this problem by using a water cooled turbo air cooler vs. the old air cooled design (same design as in the 3.5 EcoBoost).

I imagine Ford is working on a solution but it may be rolled out in the next major engine udpate just like on the diesel engines.

 

I've had this problem with my 09 F350 Lariat SRW Crew Cab 4x4 about a year ago. I found an older TSB on this site addressing the problem. The fix was to replace the "Cold Air Condensor". I took it to a dealer with the TSB in hand (I'd had it there several times before and was told they couldn't find the problem). They replaced the CAC and it cured the problem.......until about a month ago, It has started doing it again. Usually after a long run at a steady speed (Interstate), damp, rainy weather. When I slow down or stop then re accelerate to highway speed it would cough, spit, stumble at near full throttle blowing white smoke (I think it is steam) out the exhaust. I was pulling my 14k# 5th wheel.
I haven't taken it back to the dealer yet for this. I've just turned over 41k miles. Other than this I haven't had any problems with my truck. Been thinking real hard about tune/DPF Delete, but think I'll wait till the powertrain warranty is gone.

 

I'm following this issue. Wanting an EB.
Does anybody have a pic of the intercooler area with and without the deflector thingy?

 

I have a 2011 EB that just started having similar issues as described throughout this post. A while back I had an issue with the turbo's cycling on/off at lower speed with load which was resolved with a TSB. Everything has been fine until recently. Issue appears while cruising at 70-75 or so and you give it a little more gas to increase speed (not stomping on it). You can feel it surging almost like it did with the previous low speed turbo cycling issue, this time only at the higher speeds. I live in MA and it was a humid summer here. I don't do a lot of highway, mostly cruising, city driving and drive moderate to save fuel.

I don't want to get the TSB performed for this issue because I don't want them to reduce power (why the heck are they doing that to resolve issue...I bought it for the power!!).

My question is, after reading all the posts...has anyone taken the bottom intercooler hose off and attempted to suck out the water with a shop vac? Any other attempts to "fix" it yourself without voiding warranty (meaning, no major mods)?

Update...
I just looked at the TSB for this and it says:"Some 2011-2012 F-150 vehicles built on or before 5/24/2012 and equipped with a 3.5L gasoline turbocharged direct injection (GTDI) Ecoboost engine exhibit a steady or flashing malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with various diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) and drivability concerns."

My truck was built in Sept 2011...does this mean this issue does not apply to me and the issue I'm having is different??

 

the issue is really simple, air passes through intercooler and as it cools the moisture comes out of it (condensation) and while at low rpm (cruising) that moisture instead of going through the engine with the air and burning through as it would in any engine when its humid out actually pools in the bottom of the intercooler. Now after a long period of low rpm in an enviroment that causes this issue you developed a pool of water, the next time you get on the gas the greater movement of air pushes that water into the engine causing it to sputter.

I've read that it may be only 10% of ecoboost owners that develop the issue because the enviroment that creates it isnt very common across the US... probably doesnt help that it was tested by ford in freezing temps and dry desert (low amount of water in the air), but the other issue is once a good bit of water gets in there if enough gets in it can cause a bad enough misfire to set off a code that can have the computer try to put the motor in limp mode and back off power to protect it and when that happens you have a computer backing off power and turbos trying to make it which can cause some pretty pretty noticeable surging

Some people simply get on the gas let that water get through the motor and once its pushed through you're good to go like normal its just a matter of getting through all that water in there first. Another suggestion I was given was adding water out into your gas that way the water out comes into the cylinder with the gas and the water that came in with the air burns right through in the cylinders no issue.

 

your's is under the TSB since it was built prior to may 24 2012.

 

Thanks FordMan...boy I must have been somewhere else when I posted that last part...got my dates all mixed up

 

Ok so if you have a build date of August 2012 then maybe they cleared this issue up??

 

It doesn't get much more humid than Florida. As part of the initial testing, Ford pulled an 11,000lb trailer around Daytona for 24 straights hours at WOT.

Then the truck was driven back to the west coast. Clearly these tests were more about mechanical endurance an advertising than anything, but, Ford created endless opportunities to produce this symptom. I would love to believe that they addressed it and this is not a wide spread issue.

I've taken four 400 mile round trips this year in all weather, day / night / extremely humid and have not experienced any of these issues.

 

Great points....I think the WOT may have a lot to do with Ford not seeing this issue IMO. As I posted earlier, I was having possibly some of the symptoms of this issue. After I posted that, I went out and drove my truck again, this time (and for the first time since I've owned the truck) I mashed the right pedal to the floor a couple of times. After I recovered my face from an ear to ear smile...I noticed that there was a cloud of steam that came out the first time I held her at WOT. After which I did not notice any more "steam" and my truck actually seemed to drive a lot better. SO...as mentioned in some other posts, it appears that if I indeed had some condensation buildup, givin' her the WOT from a dead stop cleared it out. Hope this helps...

 

They will have a new designed Intercooler out very soon.

 

At least with in the next 4yrs or so, that would be soon in fords world..

 

From what I have heard, the TSB they came out with does not really fix the issue, but reduces power under certain conditions and makes the issue *less likely* to occur. That's what they are putting on the new trucks.