Since my off-road bumper affects airflow to the intercooler and it's now warming up again, I'm hoping to figure out if the relationship between the ambient air temp, intake air temp, and charged air temp match up with "normal' or if there's any indication I need to work on improving the airflow to the intercooler (which would involve some ducting, I believe; the open surface area on the front of the bumper is similar to or greater than the OEM opening with a front plate installed).

Anyhow, I tried googling for "ambient air temp vs intake air temp" and got a whole lot of different answers, which seem to be largely vehicle specific. I'm most concerned with low-speed situations, as that seems the most likely for heat soak to occur. Does anyone have any real-world data? (I'm assuming Ford hasn't published any "expected' difference publicly).

For what it's worth, after an extended drive under 10 MPH (forest-service road, "high-clearance only"), I was seeing an outside air temp around 50 degrees and an intake air temp as high as 120 (both in Fahrenheit); once I got back on the pavement (70 MPH two-lane), the difference closed up very quickly. I didn't have the charged air temp displayed, nor did I actually log any of the data (need to figure that out, I thought I was logging it).

 

Interesting question. I imagine the delta T would vary quite a bit. I wonder if a "range" might be a better thing to watch. In other words, what would be the max you'd want to see, or if it matters the low. The delta T across the CAC would only give you how well it's heat exchanging capacity is working.

 

You understand that when you put a turbo charger in the mix the compressing of the air and moving through the very very hot turbos will increase air temps. That is why we have intercooler. For intercooler a to work, air to air like we have in our trucks, you need to move air across the intercooler for it to cool. If your driving 10 mph, your airflow is already going to be greatly reduced and increasing air temps.

I am not sure there is any formula which you can say at X speed and the ambient temp your intake temp will be Y

 

Don't overlook also that intercoolers are typically right next to engine coolant and AC radiators. That air has a lot of heat to take away.

 

Not entirely sure on a Egoboost. Are you picking up more heat through conduction from the turbos, or more heat just due to compressing the air?