So we had a major snow storm here today and my air filter filled full of snow and i got the message in the title, talk about poor engineering???

anyhow i called the service dept at ford and my service writer told me i should have gotten the grille cover when the truck is new??? even though she knows i boought it used.. so i just said ok, i dont have it but that is chinsey for a pricey truck what can i do now?

so what have you guys done, i dont want to cover the whole grill up with a tarp like the test trucks have when they try to hide them from the public.

let me know some ideas

thanks again
koboss

 

silly they didn't catch that in their trillion mile real world test isn't it

I couldn't believe the first time I read about the issue

 

Cabela's has a nice one. You can stick on the snaps or screw them on. Covers the grille only, has 2 vent flaps, and even has a bug screen if you want to use it the rest of the year. All for about $50.00. That's what I paid for mine anyway about 1 1/2 yrs. ago. Hope this helps.

 

yeah i was takin back when they told me i need to cover up my grill?? and drill button snaps in it yeah ok that will look good in the summer

what a joke.... gues they are waiting to steal an idea of how to stop it, like they did the delay on the wipers from that guy in the early 60's

ha

 

there is also a rubber insert that goes in the air box that may help. Ive seen it on the 09/2010 same air box same air filter

 

We got about 10" of the really dry, powdery stuff yesterday and I had exactly the same thing happen. This is the 3rd winter I've had the truck and the first time I've had the problem. The Ford engineers' ears should have been ringing yesterday as I dug the snow out of the housing!

Hopefully someone will post a better solution than the strap-on tarp.

Actually, I lined the backside of the grill with wire mesh cloth to keep the bugs and rocks out. This has worked very well as the heat exchangers have zero dings and the screen is invisible from the outside.

Guess I can install a covering for the winter behind the grill as well.

 

Have the Cabella one- the snaps don't look that great on a chrome grill surround, but the bug screen in the summer is nice as well. Never have seen a Ford OEM one on a truck, in a lot or on the street!

 

yeah and i have never heard of them giving it to you with the truck when its new??

oh heres the keys to your $78,000. truck and by the way if your going to be driving in any of the 49 that may have snow in the winter.. or god for bid CANADA you may want to drill this ugly tarp on your nice chrome grill for 6 months to keep your truck from calving on the side of the road in a freak snow storm, with global warming and all!!

ha thanks for the after thought

 

You are exactly right about the cause - Global Warming!!

The global warming is causing the snow to be drier and be sucked into the air...........

Sorry, almost chocked on my own BS.

 

they were suppose to be standard in the snow states is all I know.

 

Actually, any increase in average temperature has the general effect (lacking other factors) of increasing the amount of moisture / volume of snow. But because neither of us were invited to Copenhagen this week, I doubt we are qualified as experts on the issue.

But I am qualified to rant about heavy trucks that are disabled by dry snow.

Pathetic. I am stunned that Ford is not providing a remedy (other than a Sportsman's tarp) to owners free-of-charge.

I suspect that the packaging issues related to cramming the 6.4 and accessories into the styled front end deprived Ford engineers of sufficient volume to place an effective airbox.

Remember how easy it was to service the air filter on the '94.5 - '97 powerstorke trucks? Nice, big, long service-interval filter. 2 nice screw fasteners. Easy to open. Easy to clean. I loved that airfilter assembly and hated the smaller cliped airboxes that have come along since.

I suspect that engineers were given a finished truck design and told to make the mechanicals fit inside the design. Hence, no room for a functioning airbox.

And I suspect the desire to follow the Dodge design in 1998-2000 took a lot of space out of the fenders over the front wheels. The problem is, the Dodge design fit the I-6 motor pretty well. Still lots of room. It did not fit the intercooled 7.3 very well.

I wonder if the current symptoms relating to snow ingestion can be traced back to design decisions focused more on ascetic principles than upon quality engineering principles.

Just a hunch.

-mike

 

why not put it inside the fender? like the dodge never had a problem, or even my old 05 f250? i never had a prob with it either its just on the other side of the truck and it has that funnel type thing in front

 

This is less of a big deal than you think.

You can place a piece of rubber sheet in front of the airbox intake to serve as a baffle if you choose not to do one of the grill covers.

Resetting the air intake monitor is a simple matter of pushing the button.

This tends to be an issue with dry snow (like what you folks get) and highway driving or plowing.

 

My 09 came with a leather grill cover with the Ford Logo on the front. Held on with Velcro, metal tabs and straps. Used it last winter with no problems and none so far this year. It's an Iowa truck in XLT trim.

 

I never thought I'd run into this problem; I kind of assumed it would only happen to those in areas with frequent, heavy snow.


Well it seems that I got that exact type of heavy snow this afternoon while I was attempting to drive back to Columbus. After a couple hours of moderately heavy snowfall, I got the "Check Air Filter" message on my way into Wytheville, VA. I popped the hood and was surprised to see the intake scoop itself was relatively snow-free. The majority of the grille was iced up pretty good and it seems that ice built up on the left side of the CAC and likely obstructed the airflow to the intake.

I tried chipping a bit off and resetting the restriction gauge, but as soon as I got on the throttle and boost came up I got the dreaded message again.

I'll attack it with my ice scraper tomorrow and see if I have better luck. That is, if I-77 ever opens up so I can get HOME!