Well, been following this post since I bought my truck. When i first learned about the cac TSB, I had to go out and check my own. I have a 6/12 built truck which had the deflector already installed. I must make the assumption that my truck was built using the information from the TSB to correct the problem before it hit the lot, since an oasis report on it made no mention of having any repair related to this issue before it was sold. This then prompted me to inquire about the current ecu programming and if there were any power losses to be expected because of the deflector. What I had read was that the new flash being done along with the deflector also reduced the amount of boost commanded to try and curb the ingestion of any potential water build up from the cac. Of course my dealer said that the truck remains true to what ford has advertised with regards to power(which in the back of my head I expected anyways). As with many purchasing the Ecoboost, I purchased mine to tow. That being said, the thought of less boost which equates to less power still lingered in the back of my head. So, I decided to hook up my dashboss this past weekend(bought for my old 6.0)and log some data from my errand trip(which I forgot it could do). The one thing I would like to note is that there appears to be no decrease in boost. I recorded a peak of 16.2psi during a WOT run I made just before the tranny shifted. For now, I surmise that the motor is still making the claimed power(since I had read about 15psi was max boost), but still wonder if I will experience the wrath of the cac. I do believe driving habits and styles greatly affects this problem, and only time will tell if the problem will become more widespread.

 

My truck has this issue. I had the first part of the TSB in August. The intercooler was on back order and has been since. I am going to start another thread to explain my issues. Not good!!

 

Newb but I joined the forum because i'm VERY interested in the EcoBoost. I put a remote turbo kit on my SUV that had the same condensation/going into limp mode issues. Here is something I learned while troubleshooting with the local tuner.

My MAF sensor would "freak out" when I drive in the rain. In more technical terms, the MAF would send more than maximum voltage to the ECU just before limp mode. I've been thinking about that. My MAF is a 2 wire "heated" MAF. The more air flowing over it, the cooler it gets that tells the ECU how much air is going in the engine.

Think about that a second, if there is condensation in the intercooler and some droplets of water hit the maf...the water is going to remove a lot of heat from the MAF and cool the wires VERY fast. I still fight that with my set up and I have a suspicion that is what Ford is fighting. If any of you guys have a scanner, can you track the MAF sensor? See if it goes over 100% (or see if any of hte other signals goes over 100%) when the ECU starts limping.

Condensation will happen because when you compress air, it heats up, heated air holds more water, then you run it through an intercooler. When you cool air, cool air can't hold as much water so it precipitates out. Can't change physics...they just need to drain the darn thing.

IMHO - The water gets blown up onto the MAF wires, super cools them (in the eyes of the ECU). The ECU thinks the MAF is toast because the MAF is sending an "out of range" voltage to the ECU and to save the engine the ECU goes into limp mode.

This explains some things....
- Some guys with turbos blow a lot of water in their engines to cool the charge, but typically it's done AFTER the MAF sensor onto the throttle body and the engine runs just fine.
- Fords deflector and smaller intercooler will cause the intercooler surface to be hotter in hopes of burning off the condensation.
- Guys get the deflector and intercooler TSB and the problem goes away for a while....well, during the TSB they dry the intercooler out so it runs good for a while until the condensation builds up again.
- "Intercooler is too efficient" - I've seen that Ford says that. Well...ya thats what you want. If they go to a water cooled intercooler, they are not as efficient because the cooling agent, the antifreeze from the engine, is still pretty hot coming out of the radiator...say 140 degrees (guessing I have no idea). Where as the cooling agent for an air to air intercooler is at MAXIMUM 140 degrees and most likely a lot less so the charge gets cooled down to a greater degree.

I don't know all this stuff for sure, but on my setup, I have to clean the intercooler out after it rains (my air intake is near the rear of the car underneath so I pick up mist from the road...i'm looking for another location). I get water and some oily coffee looking goop in it. This is ok for my setup becuse it's a hacked together add on. But totally unacceptable for a factory product.

I stick a shop vac on the bottom end and run some WD-40 through it to clear out the coffee colored goop, clean the MAF and run strong until the next rain storm. I also clean the MAF because turbos always use a bit of oil no matter how high quality. The oil vapor and water mix up to create that "coffee goop" that sticks to the MAF. Be careful with the MAF and ONLY use MAF cleaner to clean it. They are a bit fragile and expensive.

I think Fords "fix" is BS...all they are doing is shrinking the intercooler or blocking it's flow in an attempt to heat up the surface enough to burn off the condensation.

I'd love to have an ecoboost with the air to air intercooler but it needs a drain. It's just an engineering change that they seem unwilling to invest in.

 

good thoughts ... but ... ecoboost is a speed density system.

 

I wasn't sure what the ecoboost used. But maybe the water is messing up another sensor, like air temp or something. I found this in another post. Guy says they used MAF up until 2012. Again I can only go by what I read, by experience is with a rice burner SUV until I can get an ecoboost

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BTW these are listed in the catalog as Emission Control Sensors.

2011 MAF


2012 MAP


2011-12 MAP sensor on intake tube


2011-12 MAP sensor on intake manifold


2011-12 intake manifold temp sensor


Post edited for hyperlinks to Ebay and Amazon.
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(Long Post.. sorry) I had the IC TSB done after "going Limp" three times, in high humidity conditions after driving flat highway speeds then trying to accelerate. This was especially scary on a two lane road when passing a slow tractor- trailer. After the deflector was installed,with the updated flash, my truck lost a lot of spunk. I took it back to the dealer and was told that The deflector, combined with my lower grill, and bull bar fog lights "might" be reducing airflow to the IC and not allowing normal boost. His recommendation; "remove everything, starting with my additions and then the deflector." Very disappointing. I tried an SCT tuner, with three canned tunes and three custom tunes, but all 6 tunes made it shift too hard and reduced traction control to the point where the tires spun on tip-in on wet roads. Guess I'll go to my local tuner and try that. Hate throwing money at the problem, but that's where we're at. Question for the smart guys.... Does the amount of IC airflow change the amount of boost? or Are they independent of each other?

 

It raises the inlet air temp. Hot air makes less power than cool dense air

 

I have a truck built in 9/12. I have the cooler air dam and its winter here so I haven't experienced the problem. If someone with this problem could drill a hole in the bottom of the cooler it might drain enough water without bleeding off air pressure. Maybe a 1/16" hole. Best, CB

 

Im thinking someone could try this. If it does bleed off too much you could always just put a screw in the hole and plug it back up. Then remove it along as needed.???

 

Direct injection systems are very precise on how they meter fuel. I don't know if ford's ecoboost has redundancy sensors like GM's turbocharged ecotecs did (they had a MAF and a MAP sensor and some neat programming to reconcile the two, so people were able to put on vent-to-atmosphere blow-off valves and the computer could quickly compensate for the sudden loss of air). If Ford's system doesn't have that redundancy, you will force the engine into a rich running condition and will lose fuel economy along with getting fuel into the oil. If anything, having an air tight screw/bung that you can occasionally open would be the better option.

 

I posted this one in the ecoboost forum but figured it may get more ideas here...

So I talked to my service manager and he told me they had to do the swap because as it was explained to him, the left side cat can get clogged and fail rendering the truck un-driveable.

Now I am torn between doing it and keeping my cat or not doing it with the intention of doing a proper intake and programmer and removing the cats altogether.

My warranty is over at 60,000 km if I am not mistaken on the emissions portion and I am already at 40,000 so I may not care about warranty?

Any thoughts peeps?

 

sorry but the newer eco's are not a
speed density system

 

i have 2012 eco boost 4x4 truck 3.5 v6 shaking while pulling my boat. it is in job and they said they are talking to ford. it is not showing codes or check engine light either

 

is anyone having this problem

 

Unfortunately, quite a few. Search forum. I think old Prince has it.