Blinking Engine light, not good.

[acdii]

Pulled out onto a highway from a stop, and while accelerating, felt a stumble and a rumble, and then what I assume is the CEL, looks like an engine, was blinking. It went on for a mile or so, then went out, then I slowed and turned and accelerated again, and it came on blinking again, and now its off, couldn't get it to come on again on our drive home.

 

Considering my 2010 was a first year Hybrid, and had zero issues with it related to being first year, I was confident that Ford could continue the trend with this years model, and it doesn't appear that to be true. Between the mediocre gas mileage and now this at 4500 miles, wondering if I made the right choice.

 

I have to wait until at least Wednesday before I can take it in, again.

[jeff_h]

I've only experienced this twice in my 2010 FFH, both times was when I really stomped on the gas hard, and a huge puff of smoke came out the back and I thought I blew the engine up (there is a thread or two ib this either here in the Hybrid Forum or in the Fusion Forum)... did you ever experience that in your 2010? How hard were you on the gas when this occurred in the 2013 FFH?

 

Below is from page 109 of the manual, appears to be the exact text that was in the 2010 manual, I wonder if this is what you experienced?

 

If the light is blinking, engine misfire is occurring which could damage your catalytic converter. Drive in a moderate fashion (avoid heavy acceleration and deceleration) and have your vehicle serviced immediately by your authorized dealer.

Edited December 31, 2012 by jeff_h

[acdii]

Well I didnt have my foot to the floor, maybe halfway, and not over 3K on the tach. It fits though cause that is what it felt like. I ran through the ET screen and no codes are present, so wont do much good bringing it in without diag codes.

[acdii]

Well no longer blinking, now its on solid, and the dealer is closed until Wednesday.

[lolder]

The CEL is usually an emissions problem or a vapor leak. There's no fuel cap but you might run a fuel nozzle in and out of it a few times. The regen drag you report doesn't sound right either.

[acdii]

Well my dealer had a discussion regarding my car. According to the service manager, Ford is telling him there is nothing wrong with my car. So apparently the 2013 Fusion Hybrids are supposed to foul the plugs! WTF? I guess you also have to drive it granny style to get at or near 40 in it. Looks like this just might wind up under Legal.

[DeeCee]

And your service manager is buying this line from Ford? Somebody is full of it.

[coach81]

Wow...

[acdii]

Going to give it one more shot before I call in the big guns. I am considering finding a place that can test the emissions on a dyno to determine if they are in specs or not. Since Ford is incapable of doing this. If I am right and that is gas I smell in the oil, it wont take long to grenade the engine either.

[HenryVIII]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. My friend had a '02 Mustang GT that was leaking oil everywhere, out of the head gaskets. He got the engine swapped under warranty. I think his car was a bit of a lemon too. Fuel pump went out at exactly 37k miles. Had some AC issues too. Still drove the car for years though.

 

If the engine does go, it's just ammunition in your favor. Def gives you negotiation room if you decide to get the FFH-Ti model.

 

Keep driving it and enjoy it, well as much as possible. It still does better than my Corolla! :shades:

 

 

Edit: Remember this car is still VERY new. And you bought an early 1st gen. So issues will arise.

Edited January 9, 2013 by HenryVIII

[acdii]

My 2010 FFH is also a Job1. Never had a problem and it got in the 40's this week.

[HenryVIII]

This is also a whole new model.

 

I know. I still own a first year, first gen model, 14 years later lol!

Edited January 10, 2013 by HenryVIII

[four0four]

Hi all,

 

Got a '13 Fusion Ti Energi about a month ago, and 2 weeks ago I had the same problem while accelerating on to the freeway. Although the CEL blinked for about 10 seconds and went away - seemed odd and I chalked it up to the car being new (about 300 miles at the time).

 

I primarily drive in EV mode so it looked like the problem went away. Unfortunately, it happened again late last week and this time the light stayed on. Took it to the dealer (now with 700 miles on the car) and they replaced spark plugs and other things to clear the light but the engine still seems to be misfiring. I now have to wait for them to call Ford on Tuesday to troubleshoot it.

 

ACDII - did the problem with your car get fixed? I'm a little concerned about it reading through this thread.

 

Thanks,

Vinny

[acdii]

Hi all,

 

Got a '13 Fusion Ti Energi about a month ago, and 2 weeks ago I had the same problem while accelerating on to the freeway. Although the CEL blinked for about 10 seconds and went away - seemed odd and I chalked it up to the car being new (about 300 miles at the time).

 

I primarily drive in EV mode so it looked like the problem went away. Unfortunately, it happened again late last week and this time the light stayed on. Took it to the dealer (now with 700 miles on the car) and they replaced spark plugs and other things to clear the light but the engine still seems to be misfiring. I now have to wait for them to call Ford on Tuesday to troubleshoot it.

 

ACDII - did the problem with your car get fixed? I'm a little concerned about it reading through this thread.

 

Thanks,

Vinny

I no longer own that one, so dont know, but the one that replaced it has been trouble free. When mine started acting up, it did the same thing, but performance was noticeably affected. It eventually got a solid check engine that turned into a misfire code. All 4 plugs were fouled badly. That was with 4500 miles on it.

[GrySql]

Please delete, duplicate.

Edited January 21, 2014 by GrySql

[GrySql]

Hi all,

Got a '13 Fusion Ti Energi about a month ago, and 2 weeks ago I had the same problem while accelerating on to the freeway. Although the CEL blinked for about 10 seconds and went away - seemed odd and I chalked it up to the car being new (about 300 miles at the time).

I primarily drive in EV mode so it looked like the problem went away. Unfortunately, it happened again late last week and this time the light stayed on. Took it to the dealer (now with 700 miles on the car) and they replaced spark plugs and other things to clear the light but the engine still seems to be misfiring. I now have to wait for them to call Ford on Tuesday to troubleshoot it.

A new car should not need new spark plugs. Make sure you stick with this problem until the Dealer has completely satisfied you that it is repaired.

Getting Ashley, our forums Ford CSR, involved could help you with this issue.

 

I've been reading some info about this, very interesting stuff.

These Ford Atkinson motors use a thing called the Low Data Rate Misfire Monitor to check for spark plug misfires.

(Page 22, in the first pdf link on this Post)

The PCM calculates crankshaft rotational velocity for each cylinder from the crankshaft position signal.

Something could be wrong with the way the PCM is handling the data or a component failure.

The Dealership's computer should be able to read this OBD II required data.

One hopes the Service Tech's are competent.

[four0four]

Thanks all - will keep you updated on what transpires tomorrow.

 

This is the first car with a 4cyl engine I've ever owned so its been difficult me to gauge performance - but I did feel like the car was unnecessarily louder than expected and felt like it was straining a bit even for regular acceleration.

 

Hopefully its a quick/easy fix - fingers crossed.

 

Vinny

[FordService]

Thanks all - will keep you updated on what transpires tomorrow.

 

This is the first car with a 4cyl engine I've ever owned so its been difficult me to gauge performance - but I did feel like the car was unnecessarily louder than expected and felt like it was straining a bit even for regular acceleration.

 

Hopefully its a quick/easy fix - fingers crossed.

 

Vinny

 

Vinny,

 

I got your PM and sent you a response. :)

 

Ashley

[acdii]

When mine failed, it felt like the car was struggling to move, felt under powered.

[hybridbear]

Thanks all - will keep you updated on what transpires tomorrow.

 

This is the first car with a 4cyl engine I've ever owned so its been difficult me to gauge performance - but I did feel like the car was unnecessarily louder than expected and felt like it was straining a bit even for regular acceleration.

 

Hopefully its a quick/easy fix - fingers crossed.

 

Vinny

Does your car have the resonance chamber described in this thread? Our first FFH did not have the chamber and its ICE was noticeably louder than our second FFH which does have the chamber. In the first car I could always hear when the ICE was on. In the second car I can't always hear that the ICE is on even when accelerating because the ICE is so quiet in the second FFH.

[lolder]

My 2010 FFH has two different small sized chambers connected to the air intake tube. Neither has any wires going to it so they are passive devices. Atkinson ICE's have a large amount of intake noise because the intake valves close late in the compression stroke and charge is blown back into the manifold which is more easily heard because the throttle plate is usually very open. I wonder if wrapping sound deadening foam around it would help. Ford probably would have done it if it helped.

[hybridbear]

My 2010 FFH has two different small sized chambers connected to the air intake tube. Neither has any wires going to it so they are passive devices. Atkinson ICE's have a large amount of intake noise because the intake valves close late in the compression stroke and charge is blown back into the manifold which is more easily heard because the throttle plate is usually very open. I wonder if wrapping sound deadening foam around it would help. Ford probably would have done it if it helped.

That's probably why the chamber was added that I linked to in my previous post. It has made a huge difference to reduce the engine noise.

[acdii]

I dont think I have looked under the hood of this one to see if it has that chamber or not.

[tr7driver]

I've always wondered why the intake was made that way. Thanks for the info.

[four0four]

@hybridbear - yes, I do have that resonance chamber.

 

I thought i posted an update but I guess I didst ...

 

Got the car back from the dealer on Tuesday. I was told that the problem was that the cams were misaligned and apparently it is a known problem with some of the Energi's.

 

I've not had any issues so far, and the car does seem to respond better than it was last week. I'm going to test it a bit more this weekend and will report back if anything comes up.

 

(Thanks for your help getting the regional manager to check in on the car as well Ashley!)

 

Vinny