Yesterday (Jan.17,2008) I made a trip from Milwaukee to Minneapolis via I90/94. About an hour into it I ran into moderate blizzard conditions but the highway was very icy since the temperature had dropped from 36 to 15 in a matter of less than an hour. I was able to keep up with the semi rigs at 45 mph in 4 wheel drive. Without the 4wd it was almost impossible to keep the rear end from fishtailing. (I was not towing anything). Snow was blowing from the northwest, i.e., striking the left front quarter of the truck. Visibility was limited to about a quarter mile which is really not too bad compared to other blizzards I've driven in.
Anyway, besides the fact that I counted 23 vehicles in the ditch and median (and probably lots more in the ditch on the other side which I couldn't see) the trip was uneventful except that about 3 hours into this stuff I got a message from the truck telling me to "Check Air Filter". Cripes! that would be all I needed, an engine stall with a string of 15 wheelers behind me all the way to Chicago and virtually no shoulder to drive onto except by feel. So I just "pressed on regardless" with my crossed fingers and words to the truck about how sweet I would be to her if she just kept on truckin'.
When I got home I found that the intake end of air filter housing was jammed up solid with snow-ice except for a little inch and a half area circle at the top opposite the warm alternate air intake. (Glory be, and my thanks to the Ford engineer who thought of that little touch.) Anyway, the main air intake appears to be via the little chrome grill on the side of the fender but this was internally blocked by snow where the filter case passes though the inside fender wall.
I think Ford needs to put some baffling or something between the fender and the fender wall to prevent this kind of thing. It must be quite suseptable to plugging the way it is because the snow wasn't even blowing against that side of the truck.
Best Regards.
(And it's nice to be home and talk to you guys without having to tell you that the truck is rolled up into a ball somewhere; several of the 23 vehicles were pickups and one was a semi, another was 5th-wheel recreational trailer.)

 

I am heading north tomorrow morning into central PA and expecting white out conditions. I have maybe one ton in the bed. My concern is the effectiveness of my grille cover. I have a cover which covers the entire upper grille. Not the lower grille. It is a lot neater than the FORD product. With the trouble you encountered, did you have a grille cover? Do you think it would have made a difference? Do you remember if your engine temperatures climbed with the air blockage? Thanks for info. I plan to pass on my experiences Sunday or Monday, hopefully.

 

Not to Worry rmosso1, I'm IN Central Pa and it's gonna be cold but NO snow conditions expected

 

The same thing happened to me about 2 months ago. At that time I went to four different dealers. Two said ford has a "Winter cover" coming out in a few months to address the problem. So rahter than park my 450k truck and wait two months to drive it again, I went to rona and bought a piece of fine mesh bug screen and doubled it over and tied it to the grille. So far no problems and it cost less than $20. I consider the bug screen tied to the front of my new truck a testament as to how Ford cares for their customers who live in winter climates.

 

My old mans came with the cover, pretty sure most of them are coming with the winter cover now. He got his truck in November

 

I bot a front cover. Ford will only supply on job 3 trucks that VIN home in 12or 14 northern states. It shows on their web brochure site.

 

Thanks, Guys. I'm going today to see if I can find a winter cover. I must have been wrong about the little grill on the side of the right fender being the air intake. There must be one on the front too if these covers and/or bug screen fix the problem. If so, that would explain how all the snow made it right into the filter housing itself.
Regards,
P.S. In my opening remarks I wrote "15-wheelers" - I know Wisconsin people can sometimes be wierd but I think they still put 18 wheels on their rigs over there.

 

I bitched to Ford about mine and they gave me one (winter cover)Free!
Call the Ford Call Center!

 

aeI like how you have to bitch at ford for your truck to work properly... Makes no sense. If they had any sense of customer service they would send you one next day, or at least call you and tell you to pick it up.

 

That grill on the side is NOT where the intake is, it's behind the headlight on the right side of the truck.

Someone make an aftermarket CAI that uses the fender badge, but stock it's just for show.

 

I really like the one from Cabelas. looks good and seems to work fine .the engine does get up to temp quicker which is what I wanted. when the cold stops there is a bug screen to put in the place of the vinyl cover.

 

GA to WVA today. 550 miles. Rain most of the way. 38 degrees when we stopped. I buttoned up the front grille cover. Stopped for fuel twice. 10.9 calculated and on pewter. Covering up grille allowed temps to run consistently to the cool side of dead center on gauges. I still have not experienced any regen. Weighed at Flying J and have 1,500 # cargo, plus 9,000 # truck. The tailpipe is clean as a whistle. This truck is a killer coming up VA mountains. Maintained 75 mph. No one passed this FORD!

As info, the second Flying J heading north on I-77 & I - 81 at Wytheville, VA, DOES NOT HAVE ulsdf. They only have lsdf. Mgr. tells me no ulsdf for months, as they need new tanks. Hess, on east side of ramp has ulsdf.

 

I called Ford at the only number I could find 800-392-3673. Got a person who took some time to "research this" came back on line and told me that Ford did not know of this ice-up problem, thought something must be wrong with my truck and that I should take it to my dealer for "inspection to determine the cause of the problem" I told her that the dealer would find the truck was perfect now that the ice has all been melted (heated garage). She said it does not matter because Ford has "no technical phone service" and this is a technical problem so it has to go to a dealer.

I should have asked, but didn't, if Ford would suddenly find a technical phone number if I said I was going to send word of this problem to Toyota.
Looks like Ford's customer service has gone the way of so many American companies these days.

 

Tom:
Don''t panic. Ford is there. How would you like to lose billions of dollars. I have 4000 sh. of Ford stock and just lost about $5K in the last three weeks. If I were Ford, I would cut half the phone lines! Seriously, our AMERICA need people like FORD owners to stand up. Whoever you like, vote, don't matter, I 'm not apolitical, but we gotta get the train back on track.

 

Ok here is the scoop! Special Service Message 19967 6.4L Air induction snow Restriction. Effective Date 11/12/2007 Part number 8c3z-19A414-A

Who ever you talked too was probley from India or someware like that.
I called that number a bitched till they had a REAL Ford person call me.
Then all of the sudden there was a problem with the filter plugging with snow!!
imagine that. 1 week later a Free winter cover waiting for me at the dealer
And the dealer put it on!!!!!!

I also told them that I do T.V. shows for outdoor channels who are sponsored by Ford
and my truck has been filmed many times. I wonder how it would look with a big piece
of card board zip tied to the grill!!!!!!