Intercooler Charge Tube replacement

[prenticect]

It turns out my charge pipe has a bad o-ring and is leaking. I thought I had the "need to drain the oil from the intercooler issue,"; but it seems that is not the problem. You cannot just replace the o-ring; you need to buy a whole tube. OK, fine. I had Ford diag the problem as I wanted them to tell me how THEY would drain the intercooler, but that is not needed. Now my question. I will do this myself as it seems easy if I am only changing that one part. While I am looking, curious if there are aftermarket parts that offer something better. As many of you know, our Expy's in this generation have limited updates specific to our trucks. I found a factory tube for anywhere from 100-130. unsure why the difference. But for the 2017 year, there is only ONE offered from K&N that stated specifically it will fit this truck. BUT it is $350. First question: is it worth it if keeping the stock intercooler and throttlebody. I do not have plans to upgrade either in the future. I cannot see how it would be better given what it is doing. BUT seeing if others have any insight as to what I don't know I don't know.

The only difference between them as I can see. stock is plastic, K&H is aluminum. Yes, I have seen the AFE and Mishimoto parts.. but they are specific to F150. I am unsure to know if the tubes are the same. These are specifically aligned with the placement. ????

THANKS!!

 

[prenticect]

Having picked up my truck today and getting the part # from Ford, I wanted to pass along part of an answer to this question, despite I still have questions on "is it worth it".

The part number for 2017 is BL3Z-6F073-A. When you go to the Ford website(s) for that part number, you will see this part is ALSO for 2011-2014 F150. Thus tells me if I can get an aftermarket tube for that year's F150, it will fit in this Expy. Also interesting to see how far behind the Expy is from the F150.. I am hoping it is just a parts placement thing and nothing else.

Now I can get an AFE tube... but the cost is still ~350. Gotta love the dealership was going to charge me 180 for that part and I can easily get it online from other ford dealerships for 85 or 90. SO do I go stock or spend an extra 3x for the one aftermark tube?

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Having picked up my truck today and getting the part # from Ford, I wanted to pass along part of an answer to this question, despite I still have questions on "is it worth it".

The part number for 2017 is BL3Z-6F073-A. When you go to the Ford website(s) for that part number, you will see this part is ALSO for 2011-2014 F150. Thus tells me if I can get an aftermarket tube for that year's F150, it will fit in this Expy. Also interesting to see how far behind the Expy is from the F150.. I am hoping it is just a parts placement thing and nothing else.

Now I can get an AFE tube... but the cost is still ~350. Gotta love the dealership was going to charge me 180 for that part and I can easily get it online from other ford dealerships for 85 or 90. SO do I go stock or spend an extra 3x for the one aftermark tube?

I would use the stock tube.

How did you determine the o-ring was defective?

 

[prenticect]

ford tech told me.

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

ford tech told me.

What were the symptoms? Why did you have it checked?

I have had an unusual noise since one of the many repair trips to the Ford dealer, which is explained here by another poster who has the same issue: https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/occasional-hooting-sound.53031/

I wonder if the defective pipe you describe is the source of this unusual noise?

Thanks

 

[prenticect]

Mine was not noise related, I crawled under the truck to check on a suspension part and I saw oil leaking. It was coming out of the bottom part of the tube.. then I did the typical internet searching to understand about a catch can and that this is a known thing... sometimes. I went to Ford to have them tell me how to drain it as I really did not want to drill into the intercooler at all. That process is what leads to the o-ring result.

With this leak, I have not had the noise you described at all. Sorry.

 

[JasonH]

Thus tells me if I can get an aftermarket tube for that year's F150, it will fit in this Expy. Also interesting to see how far behind the Expy is from the F150.. I am hoping it is just a parts placement thing and nothing else.

For 2015 through 2017, the Expedition used the same Gen 1 Ecoboost as the 2014 F150. That is why the parts match. There were some F150 parts revisions from 2011 through 2014, but they should all be reflected in 2014 because the platform underwent additional revisions in 2015 (shutters, aluminum, etc.) and again in 2017 (gen 2 ecoboost). The Gen 2 Ecoboost came to the Expedition in 2018. The F150 is a higher volume model, so it gets all the goodies first.

 

[Ellison Brown III]

You couldn’t visit a local store and attempt get an O-ring of similar size and diameter? I was thinking Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Ace Hardware. Even one of those specialty type stores.

Hey… I actually found these guys who might be able to help you.
Custom Molded O-rings

As a backup plan… I believe mine old charge tube is sitting in the garage with a perfectly good seal sitting inside of it. Let me check. On my way home from a work trip tomorrow. I’ll check when I get there.

Try that website first. You need to be able to express the diameter and thickness you’ll need for a price. Sure they could help you with the proper technique for that.

In the meantime, I’ll look for that part tomorrow evening. I’ve got the Full Race setup, so it’s just sitting in my garage.

 

[prenticect]

OH!!!! I did not check the site enough. I ordered the replacement from Ford and put it on. I will admit I am a little leery of going the custom o-ring route.. Thanks a bunch for that offer, though. I will give it a little time and see if the motor behaves better. It has developed this hesitancy thing ??? Time to look that up. if it is still there in a couple of days.

BUT, more interesting are the mods you made to your engine. I will admit, I bought this truck as a dealer demo, and I SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT. So I am not overly interested in upgrading this as I am not really sure this truck is not totally trashed as so many things are going wrong on it. But I will be reviewing the upgrades you made. In this research, I did see all these parts you did but not sure (for me) if I would want that effort. I am curious how much the stock turbos can take in an increase in demand. How much "cushion" did the Ford engineers build into them? I am debating a simple tuner (easy upgrade), but given the issues with this truck already, not sure my turbos are in good shape. (But this is all driveway beer talk anyway )

 

[Ellison Brown III]

Attached is the O-ring in question, correct? If so, you are more than welcome to it. If you need the charge tube it’s available as well.

Just let me know, and I am more than willing to “donate” it to your cause. If you need the entire charge tube for any reason I’ll let you you have it (and the O-ring) for $60 plus shipping.

There’s nothing wrong with my parts. Just removed for a Full Race upgrade. Charge tube just needs a wipe down.

I’ll be at home until next week. Let me know thru the website, or at [email protected].

FYI- I’ve got these OEM items as well: intercooler (tapped/ capped for the oil drain mod), and BOV. Aftermarket: Full Race CAI. Didn’t like the increased intake turbulence noise it created. Also, the tune didn’t seem to care for it. Bogged it WAY down. Supposedly, truck was tuned with the air box cover off to simulate CAI installed (CAI hadn’t been received when third round of tuning occurred). So, either he forgot to do what he explained, or he really needed it installed to trusty optimize his setting’s. Either way, it sounds horribly loud IMO with the CAI installed. Didn’t like it.