Isn't Ogakor's situation the perfect one for the use of "L" to reduce the brake wear (and possible overheating of the rotors/fluid) anyway? If thats the case you wouldn't think he'd have that much wear from the descent would he?

 

At about 30,000 miles, ALL FOUR of my brake pads are wearing the same. There was no appreciable difference between front and rear. All four were in the 10-11mm of meat on the pad remaining.

I think this is due to the fact that I use regen for 95% of my braking.
Both front and rear hardly ever hit the disc!
-John

 

Tim, you know the use of "L" isolates any use of the pads if you keep your foot off the brake pedal. The use of the brake pedal only, still uses the motor to slow down first, but you may get to the pads more often. The manual says that the brake pedal uses up to 100% of the motor for regen if the battery can take it or the motor is not too hot. I'm sure speed plays a big part also.

What I was referring too was, Ogakor's battery would get full fast relative to a long descent, and the motor would stop or slow down regen. The ABS module would then use the front pads more. Also, in his response back, he said he doesn't drive for mileage. This means he doesn't max or even try to use EV like me or GPSman. My brakes pads are wearing more from rust on the rotors than anything else now (saltwater air here).

If I had Ogakor's conditions, I would continue what I do now with "L" and "N", and keep it in EV under 40mph as much as possible, to make up for those climbs. You can also bet I would do as much climbing in EV as possible also. For those long hard climbs, my FEH would not see much over 3,000rpm's either.


GaryG

 

Just to let you know it has nothing to do with the cold.

I have had this problem with my 2006 FEH 4WD. The first time it happend was in july so cold was not an issue. Was driving and right after a cold start from being parked for 1 hour of shopping I could not stop at the first light I came to. The abs light a nd brake like came on an alarm sounded and got the message service brake system. Drove home slowly then towed to dealer. Dealer had it for three days and they could not find any codes and of course the brakes worked. Called ford headoffice they then contacted dealer and told them to replace the ECU and the HCU. I assume to make me happy. But I did not think it would.

Also this was only 16,000 KM

Guess what happend today. Drove to work in the morning everything fine.
Left for lunch and boom rolled right threw the first stop sign and same lights and warning. Only 20,000 KM

Towed to dealer again?

I'll let you know what happens.

 

Stan, look at post 19 in this thread from Ogakor, you may need a new master cylinder. Ogakor's problem does not affect stopping, just warnings and no regen.

GaryG

 

Gary I read post 19 he still had brakes and the computer found error codes. I had no brakes!!! none also the computer showed no error codes.
Turn off car wait to tow truck arives aprox 15min start the car move it for easier hockup and guess what no warning lights and the brakes are functioning properly. Took it to the dealer but the techincian is sick and it won't be looked at until monday. My guess there well still be no codes.

Anyways brake's in are not something to foul around with and a can't be testing them before I drive and do restarts until everything appears to work. Safty of me and my family is more inportant.

 

Which was the same problem I had. The brakes worked but had the warnings and lack of regen.

I agree that there may be 2 different issues here.

 

Just to be clear, did this happen in cold weather? I've had two incidents, both on sub-freezing mornings. No regen is normal in that situation, but it's odd that most of the reports of warnings from other owners also mentioned cold.

What did your service shop do about it? My dealer charged me for looking but found nothing.

 

Yes, It happened last January. I'm not sure what the exact temperature was, but January in CT is generally below freezing. Here is my previous post quoting from the dealer invoice.

All diagnostics and work was covered under warranty.

 

I'm going to throw more data here, so that people who search will find more experiences to help them out. It also seems that this thread may be similar to the thread linked here:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ead.php?t=4959

I have been having the same brake problems for the last 2-3 weeks. While it started when it was cold, I don't think that's the cause of the problem (esp since I'm in Seattle, where cold is actually pretty warm). I think the coldness may be a coincidence for most of us.

I've seen my problem #1 happening on this thread and others, but has anyone seen my #2 happening? Both problems started at the same time for me, and have gotten worse each day over the last 2-3 weeks.

This is what I printed on a problem sheet for my 2nd trip to the dealership (the first time they could not reproduce and saw no error codes, this time it's going to take a long weekend at the dealership until they definitively fix the problem):

#1 – Temporary ABS brake loss
·Brakes feel spongy, ABS & “service brake system” lights are on. Difficult to stop the car. This happens mostly at startup, now 3-5 times a day. Fixed after restarting car or waiting 15 seconds while the car is running (the warning lights eventually go off).
·When the brakes DO work, the brake light comes on for a few seconds every time I start to drive the car after starting up.
·The brake lights and spongy-ness have also happened twice while actively driving. I had to turn the car off at a traffic light to restore normal braking.

#2 – Complete power loss
This happens in 2 different cases:

1 – Turning the ignition.
This has happened 6 times in two weeks (4 times in last 48 hrs).
When I turn the key to start the car, all power is lost (lights, radio, dash, everything). Turning the key again doesn’t help. Power is restored only after I open the driver door then close it. All electrical settings (GPS brightness, miles-till-empty estimator, etc) are lost.

2 – Locking the car with keyless entry
This has happened 6-8 times in two weeks, most recently happening several times a day.
When I close the doors and hit the keyless “lock” button, the car’s interior lights shut off (instead of fading off) and the car doesn’t lock. When I open the car door, the lights kick up and the doors lock (and you can hear the other systems powering up). All electrical settings are lost.

I'll post back when I get an update from the dealership. Meanwhile I'm going skiing for the weekend (in a bus) and told Ford that I no longer will drive this car waiting for it to lose braking on a highway or lose power in a remote parking lot.