Charge air temps

One of the parameters I've been watching on my new to me 07 since I got my Ultragauge working in it has been the charge air temperature. I have noticed when the truck is cool, the charge air is not much above ambient driving around with no load. Once the thermostats open and the rad gets warm the charge air temp goes up, and never gets close to ambient no matter how I drive. The rad is behind the intercooler, so I don't understand how it is absorbing heat with ram and fan air going across it. I see 120- 130 running down the highway, with only 2 psi boost. I took small tubing and flushed out the cool stack and in between as best I could without disassembly. Didnt see much coming out either. Is this temp.rise normal or am I missing a baffle.or.something up.front? It's been in the 70s here and I wouldn't expect the temp to rise that much when the rad warms up.

A/C or any level of defog (or auto climate control) will shed heat into the stack. The A/C condenser is forward of the CAC.

AC was off, for sure. Havent needed AC lately, and I made sure the compressor wasnt running. Like I said, air temp stayed down till coolant temp got near 180 and the stats opened. I watched it do it a couple times over the weekend.

What is the temperature differential? Is it linear? The intake plumbing is under-hood, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that engine compartment heat will be transferred to the plumbing. Open thermostats increases engine compartment air temperature, and the thin aluminum pipes will pick up a lot of heat very easily. The air intake inlet will also pick up engine compartment air. The turbo will also transfer exhaust heat from the turbine to the compressor. It's probably several factors causing the rise in charge air temperature. Each may be minimal, but combined may add up to a significant increase.

I'm sure running the ac will make a big difference. I've never had a pickup with an intercooler before, so I don't know what is a normal differential across the cooler. I sure wasn't expecting to see air temp increase when the rad gets warm . I was hoping someone else had watched air temp

I'm sure running the ac will make a big difference. I've never had a pickup with an intercooler before, so I don't know what is a normal differential across the cooler. I sure wasn't expecting to see air temp increase when the rad gets warm . I was hoping someone else had watched air temp