Yellow wrench incident

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

Good evening. I was driving home this past Monday and my 2013 FFH asked me if I wanted to run a test report. My odometer showed 4,900 so I assume this was some sort of reminder that I was coming up for service. The vehicle ran the report and sent it. By the time the test was run and the report sent I was pulling into my driveway.

 

I went out on Tuesday for Christmas dinner and noticed on the way there that the check engine light was now on. Again, I assumed that this was to remind to take the vehicle in for service (which I was planning to do this Friday, the 27th). On the drive home the check engine light was still on and sometime during the drive home I noticed that a yellow wrench light had now come on (again, I assumed it was a service reminder). However, on the way home I noticed that my MPGs had begun to drop. I was at 35.X MPG when I noticed that my battery indicator was empty and that I couldn't do anything to get the battery to receive a charge while I was driving.

 

I took the vehicle in this morning for service (and only just barely made it there as the vehicle turned off on me as I was waiting for the service department to open). I called for an update at 3:00pm and was told that the battery was totally drained and that they would have to order a replacement battery and that that would take a few days to come in (fortunately, they offered me a free rental while they work on my vehicle).

 

Has anyone experienced this type of problem? I will be going in tomorrow for the rental so I will try to get some more details then. I am very concerned that the vehicle only has 5K miles on it and is already having this issue. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[lolder]

Wait and see what the repair will be. This is rare and comes under the industrial definition of "infant mortality" failure of new parts. Everything should be covered by warranty and should be completely resolved. Are you sure there was no other message than the check engine light? Don't worry yet.

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

I didn't see anything else. Since I was expecting a service notification, my first inklings of a problem came when I saw my MPG dropping followed by the empty battery indicator.

 

Spoke to the service rep this morning and he says that they won't know anything else until they put in the new battery (which has been ordered). That sort of comment concerns me as I would think that they could/should/would be able to run tests on everything else in the meantime. I could be wrong, though, so we will have to wait and see.

 

I am not worried about the repair as everything is under warranty but I am concerned about further problems down the road.

 

Thanks for replying, by the way. Have a safe day and enjoy your New Year.

[hybridbear]

The wrench is not a service indicator. It means there is a serious fault detected in the system. What did the message on the dash say? With the wrench there should have been a message on the left dash screen. Did you run a vehicle health report while the wrench and CEL were illuminated? That is always a good idea to help you understand the fault. Please let us know what happens.

Edited December 27, 2013 by hybridbear

[acdii]

If the HVB is dead, they will be unable to run any tests at all without it. Everything in the car relies on the HVB to function properly. Sounds to me that a cell went bad in the pack and that right there can cause serious issues. You just got really lucky that the ICE kept running with the dead pack.

[GrySql]

The HVB is a big item that is shipped in a very well constructed wooded box.

My Ford/Lincoln Dealer had two sitting in a service bay one day when I was wandering around, one of them was being installed in a Lincoln MKZH because of a cell failure.

It is not surprising that it takes several days to get one shipped because of the size, weight and DOT requirements.

[acdii]

Shipping Lipo's has become almost as troublesome as shipping flammable liquids. So if shipping a battery the size of an iphone takes time, imagine one the size of your trunk!

[DeeCee]

In your first report you said you ran a vehicle health report which was finished and sent just as you pulled in the drive. What did that report show?

[lolder]

If a HVB cell opens and the voltage goes to zero, everything stops. Even if the ICE continued to run, the car would not move with a completely inop HVB. It sounds like a failure of the generator to charge the HVB which would eventually cause a complete shutdown. If the system did that the HVB would be low but re-chargeable which they claim it wasn't, apparently. Not much can be checked until the new HVB is in. There were very few failures of the Gen 1 and 2 NiMH batteries. I wonder if the LiIon will be the same. Toyota has not yet gone to Li because of reliability and lifespan concerns.

[acdii]

That depends on how the pack is wired, If Series, or parallel, then that would be the case, but if series/parallel, an open cell would just drop the one bank. There would still be voltage, but less the voltage of the dead bank. A 4S/4P pack would be 14.8 volts, 2 cells parallel, wired in series with 3 other 2 cell parallel packs. If one cell drops out of one 2 P pack, then that cell pack drops, the overall pack voltage would then be 11.1 volts, but at the full capacity of those cells.

 

Since we dont know what the cell configuration is of the HVB, its speculation at this point.

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

Regarding vehicle test reports, I performed two: one at 4,900 miles (before I was having any issues) and one on the 25th, which was performed after I noticed the drop in MPGs and that the battery was registering as empty. I have tried opening the reports and they only show me how to find my nearest dealer and then sets me up to schedule a service call. I don't know if I'm missing something but I don't see any other info regarding the vehicle tests.

 

I appreciate all of the info everyone is sending my way. I went in this morning to pick up the rental vehicle and the service rep confirmed that they need the new battery to come in before they can determine what the problem might be.

 

I will post again as soon as I have anything new to report. Again, many thanks.

[lolder]

That depends on how the pack is wired, If Series, or parallel, then that would be the case, but if series/parallel, an open cell would just drop the one bank. There would still be voltage, but less the voltage of the dead bank. A 4S/4P pack would be 14.8 volts, 2 cells parallel, wired in series with 3 other 2 cell parallel packs. If one cell drops out of one 2 P pack, then that cell pack drops, the overall pack voltage would then be 11.1 volts, but at the full capacity of those cells.

 

Since we dont know what the cell configuration is of the HVB, its speculation at this point.

In the Ford's and Toyota's,I believe they are all in series. Maximum voltage is desired. In the Ford NiMH's I believe they are "D" sized cells, the same as a flashlight battery..

Edited December 28, 2013 by lolder

[FordService]

... On the drive home the check engine light was still on and sometime during the drive home I noticed that a yellow wrench light had now come on (again, I assumed it was a service reminder). However, on the way home I noticed that my MPGs had begun to drop. I was at 35.X MPG when I noticed that my battery indicator was empty and that I couldn't do anything to get the battery to receive a charge while I was driving. ...

Hi Ignacio,

 

It sounds like your dealer is taking great care of you and getting this resolved as quickly as possible. If you need me to step in for any reason, just send me a PM with your name, phone number, VIN, mileage, and dealer info, and I'll take a look.

 

Ashley

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

Well, it's been eight days now and still no battery. I called my service rep twice today but was forced to leave voicemails (which weren't returned). As of the last three or four days the battery was supposed to be coming "in any minute now", to paraphrase the rep. I can't understand, however, how he cannot get a trace on the shipment and give me a firm arrival date. I asked him if the battery was confirmed as shipped and he claimed that it was supposed to have shipped already (that isn't a firm "yes" in my opinion).

 

He stated yesterday that once it came in and was installed that he believed the problem to be a failure in the battery and that the new battery would take care of my problem. I am still concerned that something else might have caused the battery to fail but I will have to wait and see what happens.

 

I will call him again tomorrow to see if I can get through to him. For now, I will continue riding around in my rented Hyundai (which, will not much smaller that the Fusion, feels a lot less safer).

 

Ashley, thank you for your post. I might be contacting you shortly.

 

 

I.

[murphy]

If the battery is coming from Michigan the snow storms and extreme cold may be affecting shipment of an item that heavy.

It's 2 degrees in SE PA this morning with about 6 inches of snow on my roof. It must be brutal in the MI area this morning.

[GrySql]

Why wait, get Ashley involved right now.

If the Dealer cannot give you any kind of 'real' answer to your questions they might enjoy a little exposure to Ashley's magic.

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

Good evening, everyone.

 

My service rep called me this afternoon to confirm that the battery is on a truck and is scheduled to arrive either this Monday or Tuesday. He did, in fact, tell me a few days ago that the battery was coming from Detroit (which is why I was holding off on contacting Ashley, knowing how current weather conditions would adversely affect delivery). I do wish that I could have had this confirmation a bit sooner, though.

 

Let's see what happens come Monday (or Tuesday).

[SteveB_TX]

Finally! At least you didn't have to wait 3.5 months to get a simple battery... like I had to wait for a new steering wheel airbag assembly. ;(

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

SteveB, what?? Man, that would kill me. I would think that in 3.5 months they could just build you several hundred vehicles and let you pick from one of those. That totally sucks. Besides, my situation hasn't been resolved yet, I've only been given a date. Let's see what happens this week....

[hermans]

Finally! At least you didn't have to wait 3.5 months to get a simple battery... like I had to wait for a new steering wheel airbag assembly. ;(

You really have had some issues with your car. I feel for you. So far, no issues with mine.

[FordService]

Good evening, everyone.

 

My service rep called me this afternoon to confirm that the battery is on a truck and is scheduled to arrive either this Monday or Tuesday. He did, in fact, tell me a few days ago that the battery was coming from Detroit (which is why I was holding off on contacting Ashley, knowing how current weather conditions would adversely affect delivery). I do wish that I could have had this confirmation a bit sooner, though.

 

Let's see what happens come Monday (or Tuesday).

 

Glad to hear things are progressing along. I'm always here if you need me!

 

Ashley

[dalesky]

I can see Ford's logic for not having a spare battery sitting around at a dealer's service department, but, there ought to be a faster way to get a new one delivered. I forgot to look- do you live in a remote area, like Chicago?

I too would bet that the weather was a factor, still, it's not that far from Detroit to Miami. Shame we don't have better train service in the country as a whole.

Best of luck

[Ignacio C. Tonarely]

Well, Tuesday came and went without any call from my service guy. The afternoon got away from me so I will be calling in tomorrow morning to find out the fate of my battery..... Tomorrow will be day thirteen without my car.

[JonE]

Dang, I just got the yellow wrench this morning! And all had been going so well with the car... I made it to work without incident and didn't notice any change in behavior of the car at all. When the warning came on, as I initially started the car, all I got was a message in the left screen to check my manual. So I checked and found that it is some sort of power train fault, so, time to call the dealer. Hopefully I can make it home as it is very cold here in Minneapolis.

[hybridbear]

Dang, I just got the yellow wrench this morning! And all had been going so well with the car... I made it to work without incident and didn't notice any change in behavior of the car at all. When the warning came on, as I initially started the car, all I got was a message in the left screen to check my manual. So I checked and found that it is some sort of power train fault, so, time to call the dealer. Hopefully I can make it home as it is very cold here in Minneapolis.

Were you using the block heater? There is an issue with the block heater causing the yellow wrench as described here.