Ford Performance Air/Oil Separator DIY installation

[Roughstock]

The Ford Performance TechLine confirmed they are aware this interference issue and the engineer in charge of this Air/Oil Separator is investigating. Meanwhile this F.P. Air/Oil Separator SKU: M6766BW30 shipping and sales have been placed on Hold, including removed from F.P. accessories web site.

https://www.ford.com/search/?tab=accessories&f%3AsearchInputString=air%2Foil+separator+kit&sort=BHL&page=1

Great info. They are on it. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to come up with a fix and what that will be. An new bracket? Placed elsewhere? Well at least I can say I'm the first in something. Some from the Ford Performance team end up at King of Hammers every year. I will certainly ask around when I see the Ford people about this issue. You never know if that guy will be there.

 

[Splaktar]

Hood paint splitting, cracking, and peeling off due to FP catch can.

Center FP Catch Can:

I only have 1,400 miles on the vehicle and have not yet taken it for any off-roading (just some very short dirt roads). I have not yet made my dealer aware of this, as I only found this 30 minutes ago.

 

[TurboS]

Hood paint splitting, cracking, and peeling off due to FP catch can.
View attachment 14731
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Center FP Catch Can:
View attachment 14734

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I only have 1,400 miles on the vehicle and have not yet taken it for any off-roading (just some very short dirt roads). I have not yet made my dealer aware of this, as I only found this 30 minutes ago.

Unfortunate, I'm sure you'll be notifying your installing dealer. I advise removing this canister with the connecting air tubes and reinstalling the OEM air tube until Ford Performance has a solution for us. Hopefully your dealer will get some sort of positive feedback from their dealership F.P. support line. From the front it would be easy to miss this issue if not looking for it.

 

[Roughstock]

Just back from KOH. King of the Hammers. Met a nice guy from Ford Performance who said this stuff usually ends up in his department. He took pictures and got my VIN and asked what dealership I was dealing with and said he will look into it when he gets back to the office.

 

[Roughstock]

I called my contact at the dealership and asked him to follow up with Ford Performance. Pretty sure that was yesterday. I've been so busy can't tell the days apart. ha

 

[Epiphany]

Just joined the site and stumbled upon this. I installed the FP catch cans a few months ago and probably have just over 2,000 miles on them. I was planning on taking a look at how much oil/condensate they may have collected and now I see this issue. I'll take a good look at mine and report back.

I have to say, I was not a fan of the retention method for the cans. Simply pushing them down the thin sheetmetal bracket ears, I kept thinking that certain engine frequencies may have them shimmy vertically and become somewhat loose. The hoses keep them from completely extricating themselves but they may no longer be firmly retained. I was not a fan of the "passenger" can elevation either but beyond that I do believe they are a solid part offering.

 

[TurboS]

Just joined the site and stumbled upon this. I installed the FP catch cans a few months ago and probably have just over 2,000 miles on them. I was planning on taking a look at how much oil/condensate they may have collected and now I see this issue. I'll take a good look at mine and report back.

I have to say, I was not a fan of the retention method for the cans. Simply pushing them down the thin sheetmetal bracket ears, I kept thinking that certain engine frequencies may have them shimmy vertically and become somewhat loose. The hoses keep them from completely extricating themselves but they may no longer be firmly retained. I was not a fan of the "passenger" can elevation either but beyond that I do believe they are a solid part offering.

Welcome to BroncoRaptor.com! Check your hood and mitigate with similar temporary solution as @Roughstock dealer above provided or remove to prevent further damage. Although unlikely, I'm hoping for you that your Raptor has enough build variance that it hasn't caused any significant damage.

 

[Epiphany]

Yup, exact same wear patterns and in the exact same locations.

I'm going to call FP tomorrow about this.

My thoughts...the "retention system" design also has to function in a way so as to allow easy removal. You literally just slide the separator up and off the sheetmetal bracket (once the hoses are disconnected). A noble idea but the execution falls short. There is no retention method once the separator is fully seated. I recognized this may have been a potential issue immediately upon unboxing and studying the parts when new. When I installed mine I not only pushed the separator body down by hand but I gave a few closed fisted thumps to the top when all was said and done. My passenger side separator was down as far as could go and wasn't loose but it still rubbed the hood. My driver side separator was loose (and I tweaked the A/C line like shown above for additional clearance) and I had thumped that one down too, along with grabbing the body after that as well to ensure it was down as far as possible.

I suspect that Roughstock's passenger side separator may not have been fully seated and was barely on, given the wear pattern. If not due to that, he's got some variance in either his engine mounts or in his K-member that resulted in his engine sitting a hair higher than the FP engineers believed to be "normal." My guess would be that this is not the case.

I think Ford needs to design a separator top that has a contour to clear the hood reinforcement and they need to figure out a way to stop the separator bodies from coming loose. Certain engine frequencies no doubt are hard at work to shake these push on bodies, loose.

Sidebar...I installed the FP oil separators on my GT350 way back when they first came out. One of them had a portion of the body prone to fracturing off. Mine broke exactly the way I thought it would. I pointed this out to FP along with my suggestions for potential solutions. The engineer that handled the part was named Ron and he listened. He implemented one of the suggested changes and the new parts were available rather quickly. I ended up meeting him at PRI and we had a great discussion. I don't know if he's still there but I would hope that the guy(s) that handled this part are as eager to come up with a solution as he was.

 

[Epiphany]

I called the FP Tech Hotline and had a great discussion with Ken. He was versed on the issue. He had me forward an email to them that included photos of the issue, a copy of the sales receipt for the separators, and a description as to what was happening. The address to forward to is FRPP@Ford.com as that ensures that the Tech's there can view it as well as engineering if need be. Ken confirmed what was said in this thread about the part being on hold until the issue can be mitigated.

 

[Epiphany]

The Ford Performance TechLine confirmed they are aware this interference issue and the engineer in charge of this Air/Oil Separator is investigating. Meanwhile this F.P. Air/Oil Separator SKU: M6766BW30 shipping and sales have been placed on Hold, including removed from F.P. accessories web site.

https://www.ford.com/search/?tab=accessories&f%3AsearchInputString=air%2Foil+separator+kit&sort=BHL&page=1

I heard today from Matt on the FP tech line. The phrase he used that I liked hearing was "we are working on revised parts. Stay tuned."

 

[TurboS]

I heard today from Matt on the FP tech line. The phrase he used that I liked hearing was "we are working on revised parts. Stay tuned."

That is good news, thank you for sharing.
I'm hoping they will also do some on vehicle road testing before releasing. I'm optimistic we'll be happy with the solution.