Poor MPG and bad lag to ice related?

[Jazz62]

Greetings,

 

I'm brand new to the forum, but have searched it several times as an "outsider" since purchasing my 2010 FFH 3 yrs ago.

 

I purchased mine in 2015 with very low miles on it, 28K. It's the first American car I've had in a very long time and it's been almost completely trouble-free. I work very close to home here in the heart of Chicago and the car still has less than 45K on it. As I said, it's been a great reliable car that's needed nothing outside of scheduled maintenance, tires and a new 12V battery just recently. The battery that went bad was the original battery from 2010.

 

I think I had realistic expectations of real life MPG vs the EPA figures, especially for pure city driving in Chicago. Pure highway MPG has been as good as I'd hoped, typically around 37-38 mpg if my average speed is not over 75 mph. My pure city MPG however, is awful, currently 23 MPG. I should say that I am always mindful of driving techniques that I believe will exploit the potential of the car, always keep my tires properly inflated etc. Yes, pure city driving in Chicago is as bad as you might imagine, but this kind of low MPG makes me think something must be wrong. The only thing that seems unusual to me in the car's running is the lag time when it transitions over to the internal combustion engine from a stop or while coasting and the ice is not running. In some very ordinary driving scenarios it feels dangerously long to me. I am not an aggressive driver and I know I'm not driving a Ferrari, but there are many times when you need to move or make a turn etc from a stop rather quickly and these situations can be hair-raising. And it's not something I can counteract with predictive application of the accelerator pedal. I've been thinking lately that it's something that must have gotten worse slowly over time because I don't remember it feeling so bad as it does now. Once the ice is running acceleration feels normal regardless of speed.

 

Sure would appreciate any ideas or insights. Thanks in advance!

[hsk8te2006]

I just started having an almost identical set of symptoms on my 2010 FFH - have you figured yours out yet?

[Automate]

I almost got run over pulling onto a main road from a stop sign. Pressed the accelerator pedal to the floor but the car hardly moved for a few seconds.

I think this is the same root problems as http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/topic/12638-wont-run-in-ev-mode-ice-kicks-in-immediately/

 

The car's computer has "aged" the batteries and therefore thinks they have less power than they actual have.

 

Notice the battery is over 50% charged but its power output is limited to almost nothing.

From a dead stop the electric motor has the best torque to get the car moving. But it's being limited by the car's computer. The ICE on its own does not provide much low end torque to get the car moving.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Automate

[proffitt25]

And I'm gonna jump in here too, as this is also my behavior with a lag from start. I detailed my journey here.

 

I'm gonna go hook up my OBD2 and check that out to ensure no codes. and I'm gonna recheck behavior when I hit the gas while holding the brake.

I will say that the dealer said they checked out brakes and several other things to try and identify problem, but couldn't figure anything out.

 

It definitely feels like there's a root problem related to the batteries and perhaps the computer communication with them. Is everyone else's thermometer turning green? Mine is not today at 56 F.

[dragnet]

Have suffered with your problem. For me it was two fold. Replace the $60 throttle body from Amazon. Takes about ten minutes and reset the High Voltage Battery system. Car drives like new now. Check out this post on the HVB reset. It's working for everyone apparently but there may be negative side effects to stressing the old battery. Only time will tell.

 

https://www.fordfusionforum.com/topic/19361-my-instructions-on-restoring-the-hybrid-ev-function-on-the-ford-fusion-hybrid-approaching-the-89-years-mark/

 

Replacing throttle body:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kktJzE2k9dY