msgtord

With the shutters unplugged, i saw no difference in fuel mileage, only longer warm up times in the winter. With the a/c on, the shutters default open. And considering that its hot here more months of the year than it is cold, i plugged the shutters back in.

msgtord

To answer your main question, its because of moisture accumulation during heavy rain in the intake. The first generation ecoboost would collect alot of moisture in the intake while cruising on the interstate during a heavy rain. The idea of the shutters is to keep the air warm enough to dry the air.

Napalm

The moisture in the intake on the earlier ecoboost's was not from driving in the rain. It was from the condensation in the intercooler because you would get to a point where there was too much cooling - condensation forms - and goes down the intake pipe.

It was not from rain water.

most common occurrence - run hard up an on ramp to get on interstate - once at 75 mph - OAT below ____, and pressure drops because RPM drops off at cruise - cooling of the intercooler is enough for condensation to form up and run down the pipe.

BMack37

I'm really not seeing a downside to leaving them plugged in, so why would you unplug them?

Pecasthecat11

X2!!

Knot Now

For the Diesel, the same reason they have them on semi trucks. Diesels run on compression heating the charge enough to burn.
Too cold get very poor mileage.

tvsjr

If you're trying to maximize cooling, replacing the intercooler/radiator with higher performance units (where the shutters may not fit), etc. In my case, I have two siren speakers mounted behind the grille... obviously, closed shutters wouldn't work so well. So, mine went bye-bye. I disconnected the motor and removed the "slats"... the framework is still there.

But this wouldn't be a reason. I'm relatively certain that Ford engineered the engine to properly combust regardless of shutter position. In fact, being able to close the shutters would be a big benefit in the winter... to prevent wet-stacking at idle in low temps.

yokev

I appreciate everyone posting their opinion(s).
When I saw them yesterday, the thought of blocking the IC seemed so ridiculous, I thought there had to be a legitimate reason(like maybe its location places it in an impact zone for road debris) I wasn't seeing. I did some research after I posted here, and came up with ZERO. Matter of fact, it appears that FCA has either removed the IC shutters on their 3L, or are doing so on the next gen.
Taking away the element of protection, there's just no reason to block air to the intercooler( you can even buy kits that spray alcohol against them). Doing so doesn't aid in keeping the engine warm in cold temps-thats the radiator shutters(seems there is a fair amount of confusing the two on here). Being mounted well BELOW the engine compartment, they don't provide any aerodynamic 'aid' by pushing air around the EC, and it sits WELL behind the bumper anyway, where the air coming through is already being diffused by the slats in the bumper.
The cooler the intake charge, the more dense it is. More power, better efficiency. May not be much in this case, but it's FREE.
Especially considering the past couple years we've seen multiple 115-120deg days here in HELL(South Kalifornistan) in the summer, I'm gonna follow tvsjr's lead, and disconnect 'em in the WFO position. Again, it's F-R-E-E. And FREE is ME
I thank everyone again for chiming in with their opinions[bigthumbsup]

MNgopher

Yes, you can make the choice to disable or remove the shutters. Your truck, do as you want...

That being said, where exactly does the air that flows through the intercooler end up and exit the engine compartment? You indicate that it can't have anything to do with warming the engine up. In reality, it isn't just about reducing the airflow through the radiator that assists in faster warmup - its about reducing airflow as a whole through the engine compartment. And yes, the intercooler feeds in there too... So yes, it can affect warmup times. A big change? Probably not, but at this point the engineers are chasing after small gains. Ditto for the aero side of things. In your eyes, its too far back to make a difference, etc... What does the aero testing actually show?

If it were me, I'd actually monitor and log what the intercooler grill slats were doing and compare it to the charge air temp, intake air temp, etc... Compare it to without and see if it really makes as much of a difference as you think it will. You might be surprised...

Napalm

I still say it's an aero benefit and it's mostly when cruising at highway speed. Aero drag force is a result of V cubed so until you get some mph on the car aero isn't a factor. around 60 it becomes a measurable load difference on most cars. as far as how much the shutters help I suspect it matters more on which gearing you have. for the people with the towing packages and higher rear gears - they might not see any difference as the engine is already running 100 or so RPM higher than another that got lower gearing. 3.55 vs the 3.23 (I forget the number off hand). but in a case like mine with the 3.15 and the 2.7L, the shutters make more difference.

On the diesel with whatever gears and or having 4x4 with auto - I bet the shutters don't make as much difference.

And I suspect just as much as that's part of why you see dodge getting rid of them.