Posting the Well Known Intercooler Issue here from BON

[MediTheHutt]

I don't own a lightning. But I plan to get one. So I read BON(Blue Oval News). Many Lightning owners are experiencing a bad intercooler leak around 18K miles that basically drains the intercooler reservoir dumping the coolant right into the intake manifold to add that "special" flavoring to the fuel mixture. You will never see this leak as it is an internal engine leak. You'll just keep seeing your intercooler reservoir level keep going down and wonder where the hell so much fluid could go without a trace. It's going right out your tailpipe. Reportedly, Lightning owners who bring their truck in complaining of this leak and the the reservoir is bone dry are getting entirely new replacement motors from Ford.

 

[jbs]

Reportedly, Lightning owners who bring their truck in complaining of this leak and the the reservoir is bone dry are getting entirely new replacement motors from Ford.[/B][/QUOTE]

did you read this info on BON or ?
i have 5500 miles on my '00 L and so far no problems. it's running like a raped ape too!

 

[MediTheHutt]

Go over to BON and read the message boards for the Lightning. You'll have to go back to list the topics in the past 60 days. There's a boatload of pissed off Lightning owners posting there. Then I found a link from there to the f150 message board. One guy in there got a replacement engine out of it. BUT I read further and it seems his motor was sludged up pretty bad. One thing I see over and over is that the ford techs are telling people to run straight water in the reservoir tank till they can figure out a fix. A slow drip of water into the intake isn't going to hurt squat and will keep plugs and O2 sensors from fouling up. Unless of course you live somewhere where freezing is an issue.

 

[bret]

the leak can't be that "fast" because water doesn't compress too well... i don't know if the fluid they put in the intercooler compresses any better, but either way the leak must be slow... which sucks because it would be hard to detect right away...