Finally got the hang of diagnosing those intermittent misfires on the newer Ford EcoBoosts

Spent about 4 hours last week chasing what I thought was a bad coil on a 2018 Escape, only to find it was a tiny crack in the plastic charge air cooler pipe that only leaked under full boost. Cost me a solid half-day's labor I couldn't bill for. Anyone have a favorite smoke machine for finding these kinds of leaks fast?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookes3718d ago

Man, those plastic charge pipes are the worst. I've seen them crack right at the molded seam where they connect to the turbo. The leak can be so small you can't hear it, but it dumps enough unmetered air to set lean codes and misfires. A good smoke test is the only way to catch it before you start throwing parts at it.

aaronallen18d ago

Yeah, that "molded seam" you mentioned is a killer spot. I've pulled a few where the crack was hidden underneath a factory clamp, so you couldn't even see it until you took the whole pipe off. It fools you because it'll hold a little pressure at idle, then just blows open when the turbo spools. Makes the car run like total garbage for a second, then it's fine again. A smoke machine saves so much headache on those.