[Camper Van Someren]

Background:
our stock intercooler has a plastic “blanking” plate on the driver’s side. Ford says this is necessary because the IC is too efficient and can cause condensation to build up under certain conditions. I remember a discussion where several members chose to remove these hoping to prevent heat soak on hot day.

My experience:
Over the winter I dove all day (12+ hours) on county roads and freeways. It rained all day and gradually transitioned to snow by nightfall. The RS ran great.
The following morning I was getting back on the freeway when I experienced throttle hesitation, followed by a CEL and a stalled motor. Had it towed to a dealer who called me later and asked me when I drove through standing water. They say that the throttle body had failed, and when they investigated they found “lots” of water in the intake. I told them I had driven through lots of rain and snow, but no standing water deeper than an inch. The turbo had no water or damage and the IC had a small amount of water as well as a few drops of “sludge” that you can see in pic below:

There were no codes for misfires (only throttle body) but the dealer persisted in their theory that I had tried to ford a river and ingested water through the intake. They replaced the throttle body, put the original IC back on, and the car has run fine ever since.

My theory:
After getting the car back noticed that the blanking plate was missing from the IC, maybe had fallen off at some point. The driving conditions the day before the failure were exactly what Ford describes causing condensation in the IC: extended cruising at low throttle in conditions where the dew point is very close to the ambient temp. I think I probably got some water built up in the IC during my drive, which was then sucked up to the throttle body when I gave it gas on the freeway. Clearly it wasn’t enough water to cause misfires or hydro locking, just enough to mess with the throttle body electronics.

I mentioned this to the dealer, but they thought their story sounded like less paperwork and more money. I’ve spent months trying to get this infuriating dealer to cover the repair under warranty, which they ultimately did (mostly).

My question:
Do you think this was IC condensation?

For my part, I made a new blanking plate out of black plastic sheeting and put it on my IC…

 

[BigFatFlip]

I'm assuming you still have the stock intercooler, correct? I don't recall where I read it (spent a few mins trying to find the link/post, but my google-fu is failing me right now), but I believe the cause of the condensation is the plastic end tanks on the OEM intercooler. The transition from the "hot" metal heat exchanger to the "cold" plastic end tank gives the moist air a spot to condense. The blanking plate gives the heat exchanger a "hot spot" to warm up the air again after being cooled before it reaches the plastic end tank and towards the throttle body.

This (apparently) is a non issue for after market IC's with metal end tanks. I say "apparently" because on my recent IC install (went from an ETS to a Mountune, both with metal end tanks), I noticed some moisture on the piping and IC inlet/outlet. The car has been on jack stands overnight before this (since i took the front end apart the previous night), so not sure if this was condensation from it just sitting.

I would suggest either upgrading to an all-metal IC or keep the blanking plate on or at least reattach it during the winter/wet months.

 

[Camper Van Someren]

Yes, stock IC, and I plan to keep my improvised blanking plate. And yes I read something similar about needing a more gradual temp transition on the “intake” side of the IC, although I hadn’t heard the plastic/metal transition implicated. Makes sense.

I just thought it was interesting since this has all been theoretical on the RS (caused problems on the F150) and I couldn’t find any issues reported by people who had removed their plates.

 

[Northish]

Interesting indeed... sorry to hear about your troubles with the RS.

No answers here, but one interesting thing I learned about the IC plate is that there were some factory ICs supplied with the plate on the passenger side. I believe most were on the driver side. Not sure if it was an error, or truly didn't matter which side of the IC it went on.

 

[BigFatFlip]

Interesting indeed... sorry to hear about your troubles with the RS.

No answers here, but one interesting thing I learned about the IC plate is that there were some factory ICs supplied with the plate on the passenger side. I believe most were on the driver side. Not sure if it was an error, or truly didn't matter which side of the IC it went on.

Woah! very interesting. Never knew that some came installed on the passenger side. I wonder why that is... Don't think it's model year related since the two final edition cars that I've seen locally still have them on the driver side.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

Woah! very interesting. Never knew that some came installed on the passenger side. I wonder why that is... Don't think it's model year related since the two final edition cars that I've seen locally still have them on the driver side.

It was a Friday at Ford; the assembly Tech on the ine, responsible for installing the IC had slammed six Jack Daniels for lunch, and the ICs got mounted upside down.

Hey! It's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

Guess I need to go out and look at mine---------------------just "in case".

 

[BigFatFlip]

It was a Friday at Ford; the assembly Tech on the ine, responsible for installing the IC had slammed six Jack Daniels for lunch, and the ICs got mounted upside down.

Hey! It's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

Guess I need to go out and look at mine---------------------just "in case".

As someone who works in manufacturing, I'd say you're not too far off, although I feel it's the quality guy who maybe checked out in this case

 

[MbbRS]

As someone who works in manufacturing, I'd say you're not too far off, although I feel it's the quality guy who maybe checked out in this case

“Yup looks good”… heard those words before…
Lol actually today!!!

 

[lucky phil]

Here's what's happened. You've had a throttle body failure, it happens and the Ford tech Monkeys are looking for owner/operator causes . I'm sure there was some moisture in the IC but its SFA. There is no way you should get a throttle body electronic failure from ingesting some moisture laden air or even a transitory heavily water laden wad of air. The Ford issue from memory isn't in the "engine failure" or hydraulic lock category just the engine stumbles and coughs from ignition/fuel mixture water effects which can lead to loss of power momentarily
( like when overtaking). Due to other brand issues with this it's seen as a litigation risk for Ford.

Ciao

 

[Sickflo_rs]

I ripped my car packed full of snow, ice, downpours, humid weather, you name it. All without the blanking plate (before I upgraded). I had ZERO issues. They're definitely trying to pass blame as dealers often love to do.

 

[Snox801]

Yes it was not water that did that. As a guy who has seen and sprayed tons of water and meth through a body it won’t cause issues. More likely just a failure.

 

[spoon]

It was a Friday at Ford; the assembly Tech on the ine, responsible for installing the IC had slammed six Jack Daniels for lunch, and the ICs got mounted upside down.

Hey! It's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

Guess I need to go out and look at mine---------------------just "in case".

Unfortunately they don't slam Jack Daniels for lunch in Germany. It just doesn't happen.

They do drink beer at lunch every day, though. Not just on Fridays.

 

[nicklulu]

@Camper Van Someren , the blow-by in the FMIC is normal if you have not installed an oil catch can on your RS.

As @lucky phil , @Sickflo_rs and @Snox801 noted its most likely a TB failure.

 

[BigFatFlip]

Unfortunately they don't slam Jack Daniels for lunch in Germany. It just doesn't happen.

They do drink beer at lunch every day, though. Not just on Fridays.

True. Perhaps those cars were made in October?

 

[RSt~n~peace]

True. Perhaps those cars were made in September?

Corrected 🤣

 

[Mn12]

Background:
our stock intercooler has a plastic “blanking” plate on the driver’s side. Ford says this is necessary because the IC is too efficient and can cause condensation to build up under certain conditions. I remember a discussion where several members chose to remove these hoping to prevent heat soak on hot day.

My experience:
Over the winter I dove all day (12+ hours) on county roads and freeways. It rained all day and gradually transitioned to snow by nightfall. The RS ran great.
The following morning I was getting back on the freeway when I experienced throttle hesitation, followed by a CEL and a stalled motor. Had it towed to a dealer who called me later and asked me when I drove through standing water. They say that the throttle body had failed, and when they investigated they found “lots” of water in the intake. I told them I had driven through lots of rain and snow, but no standing water deeper than an inch. The turbo had no water or damage and the IC had a small amount of water as well as a few drops of “sludge” that you can see in pic below:

There were no codes for misfires (only throttle body) but the dealer persisted in their theory that I had tried to ford a river and ingested water through the intake. They replaced the throttle body, put the original IC back on, and the car has run fine ever since.

My theory:
After getting the car back noticed that the blanking plate was missing from the IC, maybe had fallen off at some point. The driving conditions the day before the failure were exactly what Ford describes causing condensation in the IC: extended cruising at low throttle in conditions where the dew point is very close to the ambient temp. I think I probably got some water built up in the IC during my drive, which was then sucked up to the throttle body when I gave it gas on the freeway. Clearly it wasn’t enough water to cause misfires or hydro locking, just enough to mess with the throttle body electronics.

I mentioned this to the dealer, but they thought their story sounded like less paperwork and more money. I’ve spent months trying to get this infuriating dealer to cover the repair under warranty, which they ultimately did (mostly).

My question:
Do you think this was IC condensation?

For my part, I made a new blanking plate out of black plastic sheeting and put it on my IC…

Corrected 🤣

I think the over efficiency of the stock IC is bull. I went with a pretty massive and very efficient cooler and haven't had any issues. Some condensation could happen but not that much, that is plain crazy.