All,

A close friend of mine just traded in his '04 Tacoma with ~240k miles on a 2011 F-150 EcoBoost XLT Screw 6.5' bed w/ 3.73's. Truck has ~75k miles He went the EB route after I was having the tick/tap issue with my 5.0 (yes... a 5.0 guy talked someone into the EB ). Actually was my first time in an EcoBoost truck and MAN is that thing quick, especially with the 3.73s.

Truck is very clean inside and out and was well cared for. He did throw a blinking CEL light (assume misfire) after a rainy highway trip, having to tip into the throttle to pass someone. I had already mentioned that might happen so he knew to expect it.

We are planning to do anything "non invasive" to prevent the issue (e.g. no IC drilling). We plan to swap out plugs and boots. Looks like plugs should be Motorcraft SP534 gapped to .030 and boots are Motorcraft WR6135.

Does anyone have the torque spec for the EB plugs? For my 5.0, spec is 124 in-lb.

EDIT: Looking like 133 in-lb from a couple of sources

Is there anything else we should be doing to prevent a missfire CEL in the future? He doesn't baby the thing and the CEL only happened the one time so far.

As threads are useless without pics:

 

So you are saying you are not going to drill the 1/16" hole in the CAC? I don't see why not considering it is a 2011.

 

Correct. Not planning to do that at the moment. Would like to get any and all other things knocked out and see if they is enough to prevent it coming back.

 

There is really no reason not to. If you really don't want to drill the hole, I would at least recommend removing and cleaning out the CAC.

 

Appreciate the feedback.

 

I drilled mine at 67K miles and only a small amount of stuff has come out. But, what's coming out isn't getting ingested.

My plugs and boots were changed at about 61K miles for the same CEL blinking. At 67K I needed a new coil on the #2 cylinder. Now at 75K and no further issues.

 

Thanks Tim, appreciate the feedback. Do you happen to remember if the plugs were gaped to .030?

Thanks!

 

Yes, gap is .030 and plugs to be changed every 30k. This will not solve your misfire problem though. The 1/16" intercooler weep hole is the only solution to prevent misfires.

 

I had the dealer do them as I working some stupid OT last summer. I'm guessing they were factory gaped at .030.

The TECH not the service adviser also told me that the dealers are recommending a 50K mile change out on the 3.5L ecoboost engines. People will come on here and give their opinions but I'm telling you what the tech said directly to me.

When mine flashed, it was a Sunday and I was 200 miles from home pushing her pretty hard through the mountains to get to my daughter's college softball game. I lightened up on her going home and she was fine.

 

Thanks Tim. We are going to do plugs and boots today. Truck is shuttering bad on highway (humidity is up). Will see how it is then might talk him into drilling the CAC hole.

 

The intercooler weep hole is the only fix for your condensate buildup. None of what you are doing eliminates the root cause of misfire other than the weep hole.
To prove this, drill the hole and go out to drive it. The problem will go away. Afterward, change out spark plugs so that everything is fresh.

Keep in mind that if this misfire was allowed to go on for years, you will most likely be replacing cats and o2 sensors. They will be fried since unburned gas was passing through them.

 

We change out the plugs and boots and drilled the hole in the IC. No liquid came out, even under load though probably good insurance to prevent it happening again. Cleared CEL and she ran great.

Of course, another problem as we were finishing - HVAC blend door actuator started clicking so we tore into the dash and replaced that as well. Luckily, the local parts store had one in stock.

Will keep posted on any further issues with this truck.

 

Even though nothing came out when drilled, assuming the lowest spot on the driver's side, keep an eye on the back of the air dam. Mine wouldn't drip, but the air dam would be coated in a slight filmy solution after driving in high humidity. Even more so in summer rain storms.

Now that it's drilled, pull off all the blocker plates on the CAC to achieve max cooling.

 

Appreciate the feedback

The PO didn't have the CAC blocker plate installed, so none to pull.

 

Curious, what is this blocker plate? I assume that was some attempt by Ford to fix the condensation issue? I don't appear to have anything blocking the front of my intercooler. Can't see the backside without pulling it.