Yes .......more issues with my FFH

[BAT BEAR]

Everything is powered by the "traditional" charging system like on another car: battery, alternator, etc. Everything draws from the battery all of the time, though it's a bit more complex than that since, as you said you are constantly providing charge to the battery via the dc converter, when the system is running. Still, if the battery is somehow bad, it's going to cause problems in the system as it helps absorb momentary spikes in power draw that are much shorter than 6 seconds. Computers are especially picky about having consistent power.

 

os1962: How many miles are on your vehicle? Have you tried to trade the vehicle in at your dealer, perhaps for a non-hybrid?

 

What is your MPG with this thing, even with the troubles you are having? Is the dealer paying for fuel on these test drives?

Have you done a braking test, that is a hard braking from let's say 70-0. Does the vehicle stop well and hard?

How about an all out aggressive 0-70? How is the power and speed build up?

 

I really curious to know this, because if you get good results all around and the display is not accurate you still have a good car but with inaccurate reporting on the display.

 

I wonder if the vehicle was actually traded in, would Ford take possession of it, or would the dealer just re-sell it, or would they resist a trade in all together...

Edited March 12, 2010 by BAT BEAR

[oldschool1962]

os1962:

How many miles are on your vehicle?

Have you tried to trade the vehicle in at your dealer, perhaps for a non-hybrid?

 

1)What is your MPG with this thing, even with the troubles you are having?

2)Is the dealer paying for fuel on these test drives?

3)Have you done a braking test, that is a hard braking from let's say 70-0.

4)Does the vehicle stop well and hard?

5)How about an all out aggressive 0-70?

6)How is the power and speed build up?

 

I really curious to know this, because if you get good results all around and the display is not accurate you still have a good car but with inaccurate reporting on the display.

 

I wonder if the vehicle was actually traded in, would Ford take possession of it, or would the dealer just re-sell it, or would they resist a trade in all together...

 

1)As of the service tests this week, we now have 7885 miles. The video isse started at 6300.

2)I asked the dealership about trade and I was told they will give me 21,000 for trade. We traded in a perfectly good Honda Odyssey to specifically purchase a hybrid. Defeats the purpose and makes the loss seem even worse to settle on a non-hybrid.

 

3)MPG was 37 when the malfunction happened 42 this past week but things warmed up.

 

4)Yes, they filled up my car today.

 

5)Depends. I have had the nrakes react like they were mushy and also they have come back as overly sensitive. Normal conditions they do a good job it the every so often that gets me.

 

6)When the car was malfunctioning, the acceleration was flat. It happened twice again after they replaced the battery with a new one.

 

To remind everyone....... the car acted up with the new battery in it. It just didn't have the same IC malfunction but that took whatappeared to be 5 months and 6300 miles to produce or that's my guess. It's just this last week when everything with the weather dried up and we were warmer that things didn't screw up.

 

As far as what we need to do to procede I do appreciate all of the input, opinion and replies made here regarding this.....we have been following the guide in the Manual. I mentioned this somewhere else in this topic but just to cover it again........BBB has been filed......... NHTSA has been filed.......Lemon Lawyers? On the fence about that one. Maybe it's time to get down off and make a decision. If I stop making posts about the issues and what's happening.......... you'll know what that decision was.

Edited March 12, 2010 by oldschool1962

[bbf2530]

 

2)I asked the dealership about trade and I was told they will give me 21,000 for trade. We traded in a perfectly good Honda Odyssey to specifically purchase a hybrid. Defeats the purpose and makes the loss seem even worse to settle on a non-hybrid.

 

As far as what we need to do to procede .....we have been following the guide in the Manual. I mentioned this somewhere else in this topic but just to cover it again........BBB has been filed......... NHTSA has been filed.......Lemon Lawyerson the fence about that one. Maybe it's time to come off and make a decision. If I stop making posts about the issues and what's happeneing.......... you'll know what that decision was.

 

 

Hello oldschool. :D Referring to #2 in your post: Trading a vehicle in is a fools game. It is a service a Dealer provides to make selling a new vehicle to a prospective buyer easier. And a customer pays for that service by taking a loss on the trade-in. No way around it. Essentially, it is the easy way out to get rid of the old car, and hits in the wallet. Even in a case like yours, the Dealer will still use the situation to their advantage to make an extra buck.

 

Selling a used vehicle privately is always the best way to get the maximum return on your used vehicle. Takes a little more work , but it is worth it for an experienced/educated seller (yes, even with the possible Sales Tax hit). Of course, not everyone has the luxury of time time to sell privately (impulse buys, breakdowns of the old car etc.), but when we do have the time it is the best way to maximize your return. And if a seller (us) can not find a private buyer, they can still trade the vehicle into the Dealership. It is a win-win situation.

 

Concerning "what we need to do to proceed", please understand that these few "problem" threads now have so many posts with so much "information" that they have taken on a life of their own, becoming a bit hard to follow without a program. Hard to tell sometimes whether some posters actually are looking for an answer/reply or are just posting to blow off steam. I misjudged and did not realize you were only "blowing off steam" this time. Since I had posted the Warranty information back on page 1, I figured it wouldn't hurt to remind people again.

 

Hope you find a resolution soon.

 

Good luck. :beerchug:

Edited March 12, 2010 by bbf2530

[oldschool1962]

Hello oldschool. Referring to #2 in your post: Trading a vehicle in is a fools game. It is a service a Dealer provides to make selling a new vehicle to a prospective buyer easier. And a customer pays for that service by taking a loss on the trade-in. No way around it. Essentially, it is the easy way out to get rid of the old car, and hits in the wallet. Even in a case like yours, the Dealer will still use the situation to their advantage to make an extra buck.

 

Selling a used vehicle privately is always the best way to get the maximum return on your used vehicle. Takes a little more work , but it is worth it for an experienced/educated seller (yes, even with the possible Sales Tax hit). Of course, not everyone has the luxury of time time to sell privately (impulse buys, breakdowns of the old car etc.), but when we do have the time it is the best way to maximize your return. And if a seller (us) can not find a private buyer, they can still trade the vehicle into the Dealership. It is a win-win situation.

 

Concerning "what we need to do to proceed", please understand that these few "problem" threads now have so many posts with so much "information" that they have taken on a life of their own, becoming a bit hard to follow without a program. Hard to tell sometimes whether some posters actually are looking for an answer/reply or are just posting to blow off steam. I misjudged and did not realize you were only "blowing off steam" this time. Since I had posted the Warranty information back on page 1, I figured it wouldn't hurt to remind people again.

 

Hope you find a resolution soon.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Right back at ya..... or as we say in Italian.....Chindon!

[chriscard25]

Everything is powered by the "traditional" charging system like on another car: battery, alternator, etc. Everything draws from the battery all of the time, though it's a bit more complex than that since, as you said you are constantly providing charge to the battery via the dc converter, when the system is running. Still, if the battery is somehow bad, it's going to cause problems in the system as it helps absorb momentary spikes in power draw that are much shorter than 6 seconds. Computers are especially picky about having consistent power.

 

Hello,

 

Just to be clear, the FFH does not have an alternator.

 

Chris

[probowler]

So has it blown up yet?

[lordyourjosh]

Hello,

 

Just to be clear, the FFH does not have an alternator.

 

Chris

 

I know - I was talking about how the FFH is LIKE a traditional car with an alternator as far as the electrical system goes. I guess I should have added a disclaimer after I made that statement. :doh:

[chriscard25]

I know - I was talking about how the FFH is LIKE a traditional car with an alternator as far as the electrical system goes. I guess I should have added a disclaimer after I made that statement. :doh:

 

 

No problem! :) I just like to keep the threads with problems/troubleshooting as fact based as possible.

[oldschool1962]

And now for something completely different........................

 

As I mentioned we have the car back and the VDR was installed. Drove the car all day yesterday around the entire area. No issues to speak of.

 

Today was a different story and I think I have an idea of what might be the culprit. Water.

 

We had no issues yesterday that I could tell mind you but the rain wasn't near as heavy Friday to Saturday over night as it was last night. Last night we had enough rain that we filled all 6 of our yard retention ponds. Not to give too much needless info but we have basically a series of 300-2000 gallon dry ponds and washes to divert the runoff when we have what can only be called coastal rains here in the Richmond area. These rains can amount to amazing amounts of water quickly as many of you in other coastal areas can attest to.

 

Anyhow I took the car to the grocery store and on the way there I noticed an intensity change in the IC. Didn't think much pf it because of the way the daylight was blocked by rain clouds and I use the auto dim function for the IC and all interior lights.

 

Anyhow, while in the store the sky opened once again. It had stopped by the time I was ready to leave but the roads were pretty heavily covered with rain water. Not more than usual or typical for rains in this area but more than when I drove up.

 

That's when things went crazy a different way. I can't explain what happened because it was just a split second and the EV mode just shut down. The ICE turned on and the battery started to charge and I mean charge. It was the same way it would under a cold start but the temp outside was 61 degrees and the car was well within the operating temp by the gauges. The car continued to charge and run the ICE all the way home. At stops the car would lurched when and the ICE continued to run. Coasting and the ICE ran. No matter what I did the EV mode would not kick in and the ICE would not turn off. The battery charged for what I can say was a full 20 minutes of driving. As I arrived home I could smell a "hot wire odor ". As I turned into the drive I accelerated lightly to drive up our driveway (we have about a 12 deg incline and the car lurched again almost like it wanted to speed up but I had let out of the throttle just before anything happened and I cut off the car. I will add that when I hit the brake, the brake regen icon would light as it's supposed to but it was extremely faint and inconsistent. But the car did keep charging the battery. I also hit the VDR button a couple times so we'll see what comes of that. This time I'm asking for a print out right then and there and an explanation as well.

 

I started the car up just to see what would happen and the ICE started immediately. It would not turn off at all and then all of a sudden the car just stalled......this time it was in drive. The IC turned off and came back on rather quickly with it now in EV mode but with no green ready symbol. Car was in park by the way. Turned off the key and started it again. The ICE ran immediately and didn't turn off but this time it didn't stall.

 

I let the car sit for about 30 minutes and went back out to see what was happening. About half way down the block.....everything was fine. It went right into EV mode when I lifted off the accelerator and drove like normal but it would not deplete the charge and it did keep charging both with the blue arrows and with the green brake regen Icon.

 

Made an appt on line, sent emails to all parties involved and now I just have to wait.

 

After thinking back to and looking at the dates of my issues, I think water, either in the form of rain, snow, ice or melting snow and ice has been the culprit all along. We had a very active weather years since I bought the car especially November, December, January and Feb regarding rain and snow so...............

 

It was dry as a bone here just after the last issues (rained those days prior) and when we did have the rain I didn't drive the vehicle much plus it wasn't much rain or near what we had last night. Anyhow, It was dry after they put in the battery and stayed that way until this weekend. It was so dry that I actually had to fire up the irrigation system 2 weeks early to keep our grass seed moist.

 

Just a thought process to look at and given what happened a fairly credible one. Now all I have to do is convince them it wasn't the 12v battery. But the fact that I had slight issues with the new battery should prove that.

 

I'm outta here. Last post on the subject. Okay....edit here...........Maybe I'll just follow what I said below. Maybe I won't dissappear (although I'm sure some would like me too) maybe I'll just be less active and outspoken about my particular vehicle.

 

Anyhow......Just wanted to share some info for anyone out there that might start having issues like these of their own. I don't think I'm going to be the only one as time passes.

Edited March 15, 2010 by oldschool1962

[probowler]

What do you mean last post, you're not gonna let us know what happens and if the dealer fixes the problem?

[seamusbleu]

How many miles are on your car now oldschool?

[oldschool1962]

How many miles are on your car now oldschool?

 

8046

 

and...........

 

Until things are settled I thnk it's wise to lay low or maybe just stick to only certain specificsare and keep to the original intenion of the thread as a log.....for me that is. Ya'll have at it.

Edited March 15, 2010 by oldschool1962

[Juris]

And now for something completely different........................

 

As I mentioned we have the car back and the VDR was installed. Drove the car all day yesterday around the entire area. No issues to speak of.

 

Today was a different story and I think I have an idea of what might be the culprit. Water. ...

 

While water and ice/snow may be a factor in your experience, I live in Michigan and my FFH saw plenty of snow and ice (not that much rain) over the past 9 months that I've owned it, and I have had zero problems with the car. Even letting the car sit in the driveway while 6" of snow accumulated on it never caused me any problems.

 

So whatever gremlins are causing your car's problems, I doubt that they are generic to the car's design -- or we would be seeing a lot more complaints of the type you've made.

 

(BTW/ I was quite pleased with the car's handling on snow and ice.)

[seamusbleu]

seamusbleu, on 14 March 2010 - 08:23 PM, said:

How many miles are on your car now oldschool?

----------------

8046

The reason I asked is my first impression was that what you described was similar to the battery "reconditioning" that others have described happening at, I think, around a similar mileage.

[oldschool1962]

The reason I asked is my first impression was that what you described was similar to the battery "reconditioning" that others have described happening at, I think, around a similar mileage.

 

If a HV battery recondition event was happening..............would the data on the VDR confirm this?

Edited March 15, 2010 by oldschool1962

[Oman]

Yes, I would be pretty sure they could tell from the recorder.

 

Jon

 

 

If a HV battery recondition event was happening..............would the data on the VDR confirm this?

[oldschool1962]

Well Jon......If you only pretty sure......... I won't quote you on that but when they downloaded the data, nothing was mentioned about a Recondition event.

 

Edit:

 

Wouldn't it be nice.........Beach Boys playing in back of my mind.......... to add a light or message of some sort to the system to say......battery recondition event?....How about don't be alarmed? I don't believe that was the case since........... as I stated above .............it was never mentioned by anyone. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

I did read up on the recondition event through the Ford stuff and it mentions something about a series of clicks (the contacts) emanating from the trunk........HVB. I can say for certain that was the first thing I listened for......I turned off the stereo to hear better but it wasn't playing that loud to begin with. The battery did not run itself to down and then start to charge as stated in things and it's SOC was close to the 2/3's mark when the Traction motor turned off and it went strictly to ICE. As best I can say it was all ICE since the performance really sucked. No Power but the ICE made lots of noise. At least that's what my IC displayed.

Edited March 16, 2010 by oldschool1962

[oldschool1962]

I have another question regarding my car or maybe this is the sync system in general...... but odds are it's my car...

 

What would cause a VHR not run?

 

Vehicle was on for more than a minute during each of the 4 attempts.

 

Phone was connected and on.

 

System would only respond........"Vehicle Health Report unavailable at this time."

 

Just another curious moment I'm having.

 

Edit.......

Had a massive edit prepared but I think I will hold my tongue make that fingers and go have a huge shot of something off the bar. Looks like I picked the wrong week to...........

Edited March 16, 2010 by oldschool1962

[FFHdriver]

I have another question regarding my car or maybe this is the sync system in general...... but odds are it's my car...

 

What would cause a VHR not run?

 

Vehicle was on for more than a minute during each of the 4 attempts.

 

Phone was connected and on.

 

System would only respond........"Vehicle Health Report unavailable at this time."

 

Just another curious moment I'm having.

 

Edit.......

Had a massive edit prepared but I think I will hold my tongue make that fingers and go have a huge shot of something off the bar. Looks like I picked the wrong week to...........

Call Sync and ask them.

[oldschool1962]

The ordeal is over. We resolved our issues through the Service Manager today. I should be able to be a bit more specific in the coming days but for now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. And NO........ we DIDN'T have to drive the car into a tree, wall or off a cliff.

Edited March 18, 2010 by oldschool1962

[probowler]

The ordeal is over. We resolved our issues through the Service Manager today. I should be able to be a bit more specific in the coming days but for now I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. And no we did drive the car into a tree, wall or off a cliff.

:lol: :lol:

 

 

Anyways that's good to hear. Looking forward to hear what the problem is when it's safe for you to do so!

[FFHdriver]

:lol: :lol:

 

 

Anyways that's good to hear. Looking forward to hear what the problem is when it's safe for you to do so!

Edited March 17, 2010 by FFHdriver

[FFHdriver]

:lol: :lol:

 

 

Anyways that's good to hear. Looking forward to hear what the problem is when it's safe for you to do so!

So sorry to read about your crash. Don't you mean you didn't drive it off a cliff?

[oldschool1962]

So sorry to read about your crash. Don't you mean you didn't drive it off a cliff?

 

There was no crash... and yes....... I meant didn't

I noticed that the "n't" fell off the "did" in the post....I'll fix it immediately. DOOHHH!!!!!

Edited March 18, 2010 by oldschool1962

[engratsea]

So, did you get a new car yet? :shift: