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Spent 3 hours chasing a phantom misfire on a 2014 F-150
It was a 3.5L EcoBoost that would stumble under load. I swapped coils, plugs, and checked fuel pressure. The real issue was a tiny crack in the plastic charge air cooler pipe, only visible when the engine was hot and torqued in its mounts. I finally found it by pressurizing the intake with a smoke machine. Anyone have a good source for those plastic couplers that doesn't cost a fortune?
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lily_craig5mo ago
omg my buddy mark had the exact same thing happen on his 2015 eco. he swapped everything too, plugs coils MAF sensor, even the fuel injectors. spent like two weekends on it. finally took it to a shop and the guy just put a smoke machine on it and found a hairline crack on the pipe right where it connects to the intercooler. mark got so mad he just wrapped it in electrical tape and jb weld and it held for like a year until he traded the truck in. lol
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mary3097mo ago
Chasing a phantom for three hours over a plastic pipe crack? I get it's the principle, but is a tiny leak under boost really that big of a deal on a ten year old truck? Those EcoBoosts move so much air anyway, a little seepage seems like it would barely matter. Feels like we overthink these things sometimes, you know? Just drive it until something actually breaks.
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the_emery7mo ago
Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy's F150. He had a tiny crack in a charge pipe and said the same thing, "it's just a little leak." Drove it for a month like that. Then his engine started running super lean and he burned up a piston. Cost him four grand. That "tiny leak" let unmetered air in and the computer couldn't adjust fuel right. So yeah, I'd say it's a big deal.
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