EcoBoost problems on the Horizon...:?

boogie_4wheel wrote:

Not sure on the venturi effect... I do know a thing about carbs icing up. I had the same issue on my '70 pickup in the winter when I was in college in northern Utah. Really cold and going over the mountain pass the carb would ice up and the throttle would stick. My remedy was to modulate the throttle a little bit every couple minutes to keep it broken free.

I read more on the EB awhile back about high-humidity being a cause or magnifier to this condensation/misfire issue. I still feel that loading these things once in awhile will reduce/eliminate the problem; it shouldn't happen and owners shouldn't need to go out and flog their vehicles from time to time. It is just like when all the diesels went to DPFs. City driving, extended idle times, short-cycling, all lead to plugged DPFs. The solution was to drive them to get the exhaust gas temps up and help burn the soot out. I still feel that if these were 'worked' every once in awhile, water would not collect in the IC.

From my understanding of the venturi effect when I took flying lessons, it occurs when high moisture content air is passed at a high flow rate through a narrow passage; sensible water is essentially wrung out of the air. In a normally aspirated gasoline engine of an aircraft, ice will form even at low altitude, depending on ambient temperature (I always wondered how that could happen in Florida, but it can). In the case of the EB, the result is condensation in the CAC which apparently gets swept through the induction system and mixes (badly) with the fuel.