Water intercooler
My 2014 Ford Focus is fitted with a 1.5 Ecoboost engine with a water-cooled intercooler. When the engine is up to normal working temperature, the hoses to the intercooler are cold, which suggests there is some form of control of the water flow through the cooler. To date, I have been unable to find any information on how this system operates. Do you have any information on how the intercooler circuit works and if any adjustments can be made with a diagnostic scanner to check the operation of the control valve? Understanding how the system is supposed to work would be a big help should there be any issues.
R Mackinnon
Although the charge air cooler (CAC) uses the same header tank as the engine coolant system, it is separate and does not play any part in the cooling of the engine. The CAC consists of an electric coolant pump, the intercooler and a separate cooling radiator at the base of the standard cooling radiator. The temperature sensor for the CAC system is located on the left-hand side of the CAC radiator. Whereas a normal radiator is used to cool the coolant by passing a flow of air through it, the water-cooled intercooler cools the warm air entering the engine by passing cold coolant through it.
By cooling the air entering the engine, its density will increase, meaning a greater charge and a higher torque output. This means that the hoses should always feel cool as their job is to cool the charge air below engine temperature. The CAC system radiator should also feel cooler than the engine coolant radiator. As a secondary operation, the coolant in the CAC circuit also passes through the turbo to cool this before releasing the gained heat via the front radiator. No adjustment can be made to the system.