Hole Drilled in Intercooler Fixes EcoBoost Misfire 

UPDATE: A year and a half and 45k miles later, this truck has 227k miles and hasn’t had a single problem since. I absolutely love some of these comments here saying the problem is with the turbos leaking oil, dirt will get sucked in the hole, should have installed a catch can, OMG BOOST LEAK 😱 etc etc etc. 😂 Please, educate yourself on turbocharged engines before commenting and making a fool of yourself. This fix has worked, the time and miles have proven it. Hope this video has been helpful to others out there with the same issue.

Wonder if it was "our" Video you saw Daniel ? *AFTER our failure: you wouldn't have believed the amount of water that was "spewing" outa the exhaust*. End-game: we did this same thing ... "no-fuss - no-muss". That SOLVED the problem !. GREAT CLIP !!

Thank you very much for sharing the video. My truck has been in the shop 5 times for the issue and had coil wires and plugs replaced... Of course, all unsuccessful.

182k that did hold up really well. good job Ford

Drilled mine with an 1/8" bit. Nothing came out right off the start but once I got it out on the highway it spat and sputtered for a couple of K and the sputter was gone. Looked underneath and the signs of water/oil.... Thanks for the fix, glad it's an easy one

Good fix, too bad nobody actually watches and pays attention to your video before commenting and criticizing. It's a tiny whole people it wont effect boost. boosted systems leak just about everywhere. A catch can would not solve this issue since it is mostly condensation, 35 years with Ford and we know this concern. All turbod intercooled car have this concern except for Subaru, (there cooler is vertical/pancake mounted) Great fix and more power to you.

Great video! It nice to see another Ecoboost kicking butt. Have 140k on mine and still pulls like a mule on steroids.

Affenberg I recognized that deal immediately. Nice easy fix. Ford needs to remedy that.

My dad has a 2014 with 168K miles, synthetic oil change every 5K miles, he just changed plugs and coil packs..running like a champ

Joe R - yes I know this is a positive pressure system. I was referring to contamination possibly entering that hole while system is under vacuum such as coasting down a hill with throttle closed. Under some conditions intake manifold can still go negative pressure. I just do not know how often that condition would happen with this motor. There is a video on RU-vid showing just how much air is lost in a charge cooler with a 1/16 hole. He did the test with and without oil in the area. He tested up to 30 lbs in a closed circuit and the air loss was a nit. The pressure loss would easily be overcome by the wimpiest of turbos. At the end of the day a catch can or water/oil separator would be ideal, this fixes the problem too. It's just a bit messy. The little bit of reasearch I just finished on this seems too indicate this is a proven technique used by people who have worked on these systems for a living. Apparently, this intake charge contamination is a common problem on boosted engines in general and measures have to be taken to address it. That was a bit of a surprise to me. I am not a trained professional mechanic. My knowledge comes from fixing my broke vehicles and what had to be done to the the big trucks I drove for years. And there are a lot of gaps in that knowledge. But I do know what polished chrome muffler bearings and blinker fluids are and what Functions they perform.

Very Interesting. Makes sense, but i think the boost/vacuum leak might present future problems. I was thinking and came up with the idea of maybe installing some sort of petcock at the bottom to occasionally drain the intercooler, but also preventing a boost leak. A hole that size probably wouldn't be noticed by the engine's computer, so either way would probably work. Nice cheap remedy!!

Like you, I found doing this well over a year ago on my 2016 F150 3.5 Ecoboost. When I initially did it, there was lots of crud that came out after the first start of the engine, but it's barely anything now, and I've not had an issue since. I did change out the throttle body recently, and I was surprised at how dirty it was, so quite possibly that crud worked it's way to the throttle body, and over the years has allowed it to get quite dirty! I also have a catch-can (passenger side only) and empty it once a month or so, and it's amazing all the crud that would be pushed into the intake! It's basically oil, moisture and acids, and often looks like baby poo! I dump it in my garbage can, and then wipe out the catch-can super clean, and re-install. I also do 5K oil changes, and the trucks running great at 133K, and I hope for many more years!

2012 Ford F-150 3.5L EcoBoost - stock, no tune. I drilled a 1/16 hole in the corner of mine earlier today and then went for a long hard drive. Initially when opening it wide open, it hesitated and did its thing. After that I opened it wide a few more times and couldn't get it to shutter and enter limp mode... just got home and checked out how much sludge came out... wow. So far, so good. I'll continue to do this for the next few weeks and see how it goes.

Interesting fix. I now have 344,000 km on my 2011 eco and to solve my condensation issue I went with a full race all aluminum front mount intercooler and piping it cured the problem as well and lowering the boost pressure air temp

Unless turbo rpm is sensed, no ill effects should occur. Boost is regulated by wastegate, so the turbos will turn at a slightly higher rpm for a given boost pressure. Fun!

Drilled the hole and replaced 6 plugs. Runs like a new truck. Got about a pint glass full of sludge. Still running great 👍

EXOVCDS has been doing this for years on VW turbos with no issues over on his channel. Great fix, thanks!

I have own 10 fords and 1 dodge this 2013 is one of the best trucks I have ever own like I said 238,000 miles and only a sputter out of the truck I hope this fixes my truck it’s just hard to drill a hole in to my inter cooler I pray this works thanks for video

I put a catch can on the "normal" PCV line, with works when there is vacuum in the intake manifold. Under boost, this doesn't work, as they don't want to pressurize the crankcase. The catch can does collect a few drops of oil, but collects quite a bit of dirty water. When the engine is under boost, there is a different PCV system, which I forgot about as there wasn't much I could do about it. This spring I'll see what is in the bottom of the intercooler, and worry about it then. A hole, with a self tapping screw might be something I"ll do.

Just an FYI, I had the same problem. I almost drilled it, but my friend suggested Sea Foam. I did 2oz per gallon in the tank. After it ran through, I didn’t have the issue anymore!!! I also ran another 2oz per gallon in the next fill up. That was around 3OOO miles ago! I have my power back and it seems to have fixed the problem!!

A sound idea. The turbos will maintain full boost as long as the hole isn't too big. The just delay opening the wastegates as needed. You'd only lose a very small amount of boost at maximum boost and at high altitude. Any gunk simply gets forced out.

I wonder--could you drill a hole to fit a small permanent drain fixture with extended tube to allow the excess to go to ground instead of on the truck?

I used a small self-tapper so when its done draining it can screw it back in.

Great video on how to fix a kronick ecoboost issue.

Thanks a bunch man I was worried about my truck I just bout it 3 months ago

What are the symptoms of the misfire problem? I have a 2016 that will throw an intermittent wrench light cruising at 65mph with cruise control. Recently help with wrench light issue replacing the trans oil pump.

Not condensate, not oil seals in turbo, that is just oil build up from engine blow by. EVERY turbo or boosted engine has it and the only way to REDUCE it is with a catch can on the pcv system but you will never get it 100 percent. This is just a band aid fix because you are still getting the intercooler internally coated with oil greatly reducing its efficiency.

that makes sense. I wasn't thinking before I asked the question.

Does the truck have a catch can installed? I ask because it would be encouraging to hear that he got so many miles without a catch can without the intake valves being fouled up. I've been thinking of getting a catch can system for my 2013 F150 EB. I didn't know about the problem until long after I bought the truck but if this guy got so many miles without a catch can, maybe I don't need one after all. I'd appreciate any comments.

hopefully ford could create a factory bleed valve of some sort to fix the problem on newer models. Also could a catch can eliminate most of the oil building up in it?

I done this on my 2014 F-150 Ecoboost and solved the misfire out on the highway with high humidity.

Now that´s what I call a cool hud. :P Man, technology goes so fast these days.

I drilled two 1/16 holes. Oil came out close to a tar consistency. Fixed the engine stumble. Acts like a new car

Just experienced this for the first time at 101,000 miles. Decided to take to Ford (still under warranty). They replaced the plugs, with the #4 cylinder plug being cracked. They covered a new coil for that cylinder, and labor. I paid for the plugs and diagnostic fee. Back to normal for now, we’ll see what happens moving forward.

I drilled and installed the Caught can !! 128,000 now, good to go

I drilled a weep hole and used a self tapper screw as a plug. Not too many issues here in Northern California

So i have a 2011 king ranch with over 200k miles. had a P0016 code for the camshaft position sensor bank 1 sensor A 6 months ago. i put a new one in and it was fine until today. that is what led me to this video. is drilling this hole going to fix my issue as well? or do i have the dreaded stretched timing chain?

All you did by putting a hole in the intercooler was lower the boost. Did you try new plugs gapped at .030"? If lowering the boost stopped the mlsfire the problem was the plugs gapped too wide.

Just drill 3/32 hole in my 2011 Eco and everything go back to normal, even my check engine light goes off

@Jerrammie Villanueva suggested a catch can and I'd agree with him. A catch can would probably work. Or at least with the current solution you could tap the hole, throw a fitting in there, then use some flexible tubing to make a cheap catch bottle out of a small mayo bottle or something. Then put another hole in the lid and put a one way check valve in it to prevent a vaccum from pulling things in to the hole on vaccum. Or hell, if you don't care whats coming out and want to avoid blowing crud all over your truck, you could just tap the hole and screw a little check valve in to it, then run a tiny length of tube below where the oil would blow from the hole Although where is this oil coming from? An EGR or PCV Valve? I guess I can sort of see the logic of putting the EGR or PCV before the turbos, due to the fact that you're going to have more vacuum before them but wouldn't that mean that you're cooking oil on to the compressor wheels which could cause them to fail early due to to bearing wear from having weird unbalanced loads on the compressor fins? I mean, living in the motor city I have friends who are engineers at Ford and GM and they're not dumb people, but you'd think that they would think of this failure mode. There has to be some logical trade off.

That's a pretty cool little fix! I have a dodge magnum with a 5.7 hemi and we were having issues with misfires and hesitation too but what we found was oil in the intake and we put a oil separater on it and zero problems afterwards. We found oil coming from the PCV. Maybe you could look into that too

I have a 2013 eco boost mine is doing the same thing it spits and sputters is when I give it gas and go to pass someone or if I try and keep it in 6th gear I just hook it up to computer and it said cam shaft sensor and timming sensor the truck has 238,000 miles and it runs great other than this never have had a problem until now I am just wondering if I should drill the same hole in mine

I have 2014 f150 3.5l ecoboost that was bought with 130k km and it had really bad misfire on cold start up, everything changed when i installed mishimoto catch cans(driver and passenger side) i changed spark plugs and cleaned all 3 sensors on throttle body etc, it took about 5-7k km to.clean up and engine starts up as smooth as new, as far as drilling a hole in the intercooler its a big mistake and will definitely void warranty on new vehicles. Get a quality catch can and you will never have misfire or shaking on start up! The amount of crap these cans catch between oil changes is mind blowing, really suprising that Ford hasn't addressed that issue as standard recal.

im going to add a catch can see if that helps, i don't want oil leaking on my drive way

have you seen a major issue with carbon buildup in ecoboost or with any direct injection engine ?I have a Honda with 230k on it and i wonder if my ecoboost could match it.

What camera are you using to record this video ? if you dont mind me asking

Same for TDI if you have oil in your intake, a self tap screw in intercooler and drain every oil change.

the idea for this came from back in the day Volvos. They had 3/32 holes from the factory for this very reason. As a guy that bought his first new truck and has had to deal with this shit, and no help from Ford, I can tell you this is beyond frustrating. Still love my EB. I have had the condensation issue within an hour of driving in the right/wrong conditions. I had the 1st Gen deflector plates. The 2nd gen deflector plates. The redesigned intercooler. It finally comes down to I need to be able to drive this damn thing and I am not rich enough to just simply swap out vehicles. This solves it. BTW, after the turbos but before the throttle body is almost always under boost. It's always been 1psi or more. And if you think a small hole like that is going to cause a problem you're wrong. I've seen 18 lbs of boost going thru that 3 inch pipe. That's after the hole was drilled.

😳 FORD APPROVED!

I wonder if there is a item we can install through that hole to put a drain tube so you could run the oil out another place so it does not muck up the underbody...

Did you put a plug in after your drilled the hole?

I wonder if ford is going to come out with a TSB that adds a hole to the intercooler and a catch can to recover and recycle the liquid into the PCV intake port on the inlet of the turbos?

is this like the same thing as using a catch can? It's defiantly cheaper! I gotta try this. 230660 mls on my truck. Replacing plugs more often than needed. Just changed the ignition coil on cylinder 4, no change. About to over haul the fuel injectors. Getting the flashing engine light. P0304. Hope this works! I'll let ya know

2nd gen 3.5 in 2017s have a different inner cooler. Will never have to drain one. Turbos will draw it out when it reaches about 1/4 on the bottom. if your gassing it both will draw any condensation out . You might want to put a screw in that hole so some oil gets to the turbos. It appears ford found a fix or decided to do something since they was getting a bad rap on the echos

My 2012 Ecoboost only gets ~13-14 MPG and that's with it set to ~60 MPH on cruise going to and from work everyday. I think I need to change my plugs, drill my weep hole, and get a catch can since I had to replace my MAP sensor on top of the intake when I got the truck, with 68k miles on it, since it wasn't just dirty but permanently discolored. That has only been a month back but I've watched the MPG steadily drop from around 16-17 MPG to around 13 MPG now which is what I was getting in my 05 Yukon Denali with a big 6L Vortec.

wouldn't drilling a hole in intercooler decrease intake pressure?

with a hole in the intercooler won't the maf sensor before the intercooler send the wrong signal for airflow?

thank you for the info!!

Haven't had an issue on my 12 3.5 but I might do this anyways just to avoid a future problem. Live in a pretty dry climate out here in the high desert so maybe that's why you don't see this crop up in this area as much.

Would that hole in the intercooler cause any issues during cold winters? I live in Alberta, Canada and we get down to -22 Farenheit.

Did you try step colder plugs? If your making to much power for the spark it will miss fire under full throttle you need go step colder plugs. Maybe what happen was the hole in the inter cooler looses boost thus he loses power and it stops the misfire lol. If yall already did that then idk what is just asking.

You said that he's only done oil changes, spark plugs and coils. Out of curiosity, what was the check engine light for later on in the video? It obviously wasn't something crippling, because he continues to drive the truck, but apparently oil changes, plugs and coils aren't all it needs. I'm looking at getting a 2011 Eco used right now, which is why I ask.

Does this also apply to 2.0 Ecoboost Fusions?

Since you are adding a hole to the intercooler, are you loosing boost pressure since air is just going to be continuously blowing out the hole?

I get the idea of condensation. But condensation creates water, not oil. So is drilling the hole solving 2 problems then? The 1st being the condensation and the 2nd being the oil entering the intake & coating the valves.

This happens on VW Jetta TDI's. Crankcase fumes from the PCV condense in the intercooler.

Did you have to take off the air dam to get to the front side of the intercooler? I have a 2014 limited for reference.

might want to check resetting that oil change in the system panel. i have a 2015 eco and i believe it know if ive been towing or off-roading a lot, and may decrease my intervals, but 7500-10000 miles is too long for me. you can decrease the settings, but still one of the best ways is to write it down. like we have done since the beginning of time lol

Could this be the cause for water in my oil? I have the same truck and change oil every 3000 miles. I usually have atleast a half quart of water in the oil. Atleast I think it must be water because it doesn't smell like gas and I always add 6 quarts and around 6.5 usually drains out

Now its also a oil catch can, keeping the valves clean.

Why not tap a drain valve into the intercooler reachable below the shrouding?

This is not usually an issue with stock intercoolers, but I believe Ford actually reduced the size of the cooler on the Focus hot hatch due to the risk of hydrolocking the engine. Anyone who street drives a modded boosted vehicle and lives in areas with similar climate should do this mod as a matter of insurance.

makes 100% sence to make, i would install transmission vent just to keep shit from going in, but will allow pressure to go out, funny ford didnt think about it haha. and timing chains will be an issue at some point but thats not a ford issue thats because timing chains are a wear item.

Would this work on a 2.0l Ecoboost? Thanks

This will make the turbo work harder and potentially reduce life but interesting thanks for sharing.

I have a 2014 with 82K on it currently in ND. I have been having this shudder issue for that past couple (summer) months. Im looking into doing this to my pickup very soon.

so consensus is a catch can but clean out the intercooler?

wouldnt installing a capped off hose or nozzle into the bottom of the IC and emptying it out every oil change be a better solution than creating a boost leak? .

i also read on ford forum room to drill a hole, how bout a rubber plug to seal hole then remove to drain, thanx

are you along the Wabash river?

What size engine is that? Is that the 3.5 Ecoboost?

Working on one now same problem but I'm going to figure out the right way to fix it and I'll let you know what I find.

Had to think about this one a bit. The Boost leakage is a very small amount of air vs amount being supplied. It's a non issue. There is probably a bit of goo on the inside where the hole is, so I would bet the air being sucked in would capture most of if not all the contaminates that got in. That area is in an area where you would not see much dust anyway due to the way the air moves around that region. That is a pretty protected area. And being a boosted engine in a heavy truck, I would bet the times a vacuum large enough to pull any contamination through that tiny hole would be minimal at best. You would get more dirt from other sources already in the system.

One old logger boy has way over 300,000 miles on his '11 Ecoboost. I don't think he even drilled that hole. I'm putting a catch can on my '15. All direct injection engines need one. It's direct injection that causes issues, not turbos.

Why didn't you just install a catch can to trap the oil?

What was fords TSB on this if it's a common issue?

Catch cans solve the intake valve coking.It does nothing for the CAC condensation.I drilled mine at it solved the issue.If the engine sucks up too much condensation all at once it can permanently ruin the engine.Just drill the CAC (1/16" drill bit) run a high quality catch can and enjoy a brute of a six banger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I recommend getting the oil separator with catch can instead. This does work however oil/moisture will still make it to the cylinders. Reason I say catch can is these are direct injection so any oil that makes it back will carbonize on the valves which is already an issue with these Ecoboost engines

While I worked at a Ford shop I noticed these 3.5L ecoboost engines really never had any issues

why don't you use a drain petcock and panelbond to seal it.....drain it once in a while and put a catch can system on and eliminate the problem permanently

You could've done what Ford done to their Focus RS, they used a small plate to block some airflow to prevent exactly what is happening in this case.

This is the same issue i had. I made the fix and changed my plugs. Still having the same issue. Any other ideas what the problem can be?

Drilling a hole in the intercooler will allow debris to enter the intercooler, yes it will push out condensation but the trade off don’t make since. Maybe you should block off some of the intercooler so the air temp will not drop to a level such to create condensation. This is called reaching a dew point via delta temps across the intercooler coil. Blocking off part of the intercooler will produce the same effect, and will prevent from damaging the engine over a long period of time by introducing debris into the turbos and engine components.

I'm so glad I went with the 6.2L :)

why not add an oil catch can or two of them?

Isn't there a purge valve for the intercooler?

So you don’t need a catch can after doing this?

Drilled the 1/16 in the inner cool and installed a catch can in between pcv air intake. Two necessary mods to keep the truck out of limp mode. I haven't experienced loss of power since just other shitty ford malfunctions. Ford has nice looking trucks but they can't handle the cold Canadian weather. My 98 accord is probably still running and I left it at the junk yard.... Built ford broken.

I changed my spark plugs but didn’t change anything, i tried changing the coils also but nothing, so now yesterday i drilled the hole on my intercooler but it did show a little improvement but it still does the same i press down on the gas and it still makes the sound! Any ideas on what else can i do?

Perfect way to create a boost leak