Viking1204

My 2011 just went over 100,000 miles and thank you Lord I got the extended warranty when I bought it. At about 97,000 miles the engine light came on indicating issues with the timing so for the second time my timing chain was replaced under warranty. The first time it was replaced was around 50,000 miles.

That being said I've never drilled the hole in the intercooler but do have the issue of it bogging down in humid/wet weather, I live in Florida so it has happened several times. Ford tried once to fix it by gluing a rubber mat over the lower half of the intercooler, I pulled the rubber mat off the old intercooler as it definitely didn't fix the problem and seem to make it worse. Even with the rubber mat pulled off the cooling vents are all clogged with glue so I ordered a new factory intercooler. Before I install the new intercooler I'll give it the 1/16" weep hole but also plan to drill the old one first just to see how much crud has built up in it over 100,000 miles.

jdunk54nl

If you are replacing it, you don't need to drill the old one. When you remove the old one just turn it on it's side and all the gunk should come out.

besel53

Did a lot of research on here and elsewhere about drilling the hole.... Just upgraded from an '04 5.4 to a '14 3.5 EB last week with 42K on it. I was a little sketched out about the whole sucking water up thing, so decided to drill mine. 1/16" hole, right in the bottom edge (cooler is raked forward). Right after drilling it, there was no moisture or anything, so that is a good thing I guess. Took it out on a test drive right after, and had a little bit of oil blew out the hole. Took it this weekend on a highway trip (about 150 miles) and it dripped out pretty good! I'm glad I did it. Piece of mind I guess. I still may do a catch can at some point too.

TWilson_

Fairly new to this engine (2 months), although my brother has the same one and it feels the same as mine. There seems to be significant lag when accelerating from a stop, then boost kicks in and the thing takes off. This is under normal and light acceleration, not just stomping on it. Everything I read on the weep hole refers to solving some hesitation. I've never had any misfires or those issues that are mentioned. Will this weep hole have any affect on the laggy acceleration or is that just how this turbocharged motor applies power?

Also, I'm in Arizona, so most of the year, I don't think I'm accumulating much moisture...but monsoon season right now I'm well aware its creating a ton of condensation.

jdunk54nl

I have heard of quite a few people, including myself, with that same hesitation from a dead stop, especially with the engine cold for me. This weep hole will not fix that. I think that hesitation has to do with a few different variables such as, drive by wire delay, turbo delay, electronic throttle body delay and all of the other parameters that are adjusted for a "cold" engine. I have found that if I turn off my ac system it seems to be better.

TWilson_

Yeah, I've had my AC on max pretty much since I bought it in June, so we will see if its more responsive once I'm not cranking the AC all the time. Thanks for your response, I figured that was the case since my brother's truck operates the same way.

Bryant Ray

After replacing plugs and coil pack finally decided to give this a try on my father in laws 2013 EcoBoost. Drove it around some back roads giving it hell for about 20 minutes to get all the gunk out and haven't had a stutter unless I get it up top 4000 rpms. Hopefully after some more miles driven that goes away to. Also not only is the stutter gone but mpg went from 15 to 19-20 in town. I definitely recommend. If you have a problem with the dripping then I would recommend putting a small screw in the hole and remove periodically.

13XLTEco

A WOT run (Italian Tuneup) once a week will clean it out also. Works well.

robertsunrus

Hi, for 25% better gas mileage, I would drill a 1/2" hole in my intercooler.

CA3LE

If I could do it all over again, I'd drill this hole as soon as I got home from the dealer.

First, I have a 2015 3.5 ecoboost with a tune, downpipes and intake. I know I work my coils hard but I thought it was strange to see one of them bad at 42K miles. Misfire on cylinder #3. So I swap out that coil with a NAPA coil and she runs great, feels like new. At 45K I feel it again but not as bad. I had a set of motorcraft plugs ready to go so I thought I'd put them on before a road trip from Colorado to Phoenix. As I take off the NAPA coil the boot on the bottom separates and gets stuck connected to the plug, NAPA tells me they're going to take care of it but they close in 10 minutes and I'm leaving in the morning so I grab a Duralast coil from autozone (DO NOT RUN THOSE, Motorcraft coils for life). I put that coil in and test drive and it feels very nice.

Early on the trip I went to pass someone on a 2 lane and had to fall back! I found the only way I could pass people was to gain speed before hand, slowly. We got stuck behind vehicles moving at 40 MPH because it just wasn't safe to pass with an engine misfiring that bad. Under normal throttle, it's fine. Maybe my tune made it more severe.

We get to Phoenix and I'm like eff it, let's swap out all of the coils. I put in a 6 pack of the duralast coils and they ran like COMPLETE GARBAGE. Again, maybe under a stock tune these would be fine but under my hood... it was obvious that Motorcraft coils are far superior.

So I then order 1 Motorcraft coil and return the garbage ones. Thinking, "maybe it was just the one ****ty Duralast coil causing issues because it can't keep up."

Swap that coil and exactly the same feel. That was today.

Luckily, I read this thread (I mean pretty much entirely) last night.

I bust out a drill and popped in a weep hole. Super quick in my case because I already took off the air dam when it was new. Oil wanted to come out even before I felt like I drilled all the way into it.


Here's the pan from the initial drain.



Not much but I know more came out while driving.

Keep in mind, I live in two desert environments. Colorado Springs and Phoenix. It's the dead heat of summer in Phoenix right now, so dry and hot it feels like a blow dryer outside. So this is not only a humidity issue (like many people say), it's just an all around ecoboost issue. (If it had a quality air oil separator this may be less of an issue but I think it would only delay the inevitable... eventually, even with a catch can or separator you'll still get accumulation. Get that OUT before it gets into combustion. Hell, maybe this is a feature. In reality, the intercooler is acting as a catch can. You could seal it off and re open it as maintenance or just leave it open.)

I went on a test drive and at first it felt similar. But after only a few pulls it started running perfectly again.

I then went back to the house, parked for second and did a throttle reset/calibration. Started back up and it was ANOTHER step up... no joke, it totally annihilated the previous performance even after the ignition was all firing perfectly again. [I'll be performing that like clockwork from now on.] My wife drives it too and I think it adaptively learns her style, I get in the truck and I want response! Hey Ford... it's cool that on new models the different keys can personalize the seats and mirrors... make it so that it personalizes the driving characteristics also.

Wanted to share that. Truly, after what I witnessed... the discussion is OVER. It does not affect your performance negatively in any form. The guy who said he noticed it as if it were 1 extra person in the car... I'm calling bull****. Troll. If you think it does, put a little screw in the hole to seal it and then make it an every 10K maintenance item -- open, drain, drive 100 miles... close it. Do it again in 10K.

I think it will leak. Rather it leak on a rag in my garage than into my cylinders. I'll carry a rag for parking at friends houses. Done.

I drove 130 miles today and it was like a brand new majorly modded 3.5 ecoboost F150 -- exactly what I expect. I drove an over 900 mile trip to get here -- same truck, minus that little hole -- and could hardly pass people in huge motorhomes going 40 MPH.

Do it. Today.
You're correcting a flaw.

Was the first coil I replaced even bad to begin with? I don't think so, I'll find out when I get home in Colorado.