sorry for the delayed response. Weekend chores ran into Monday evening. ScanGuage has arrived and I've completed the basic vehicle setup for the '05 FEH. I have not completed the first fueling yet. I await instructions.

 

Earlier this spring I Found oil in right center (small amount) and far right side (heaver amount) spark plugs (looking from the front). Also found oil (barely enough to pull off with your finger) along the underside of the transmission bell housing. Took vehicle in for research and it resulted in a upper manifold gasket replacement. The oil no longer appeared in the spark plugs but the oil was still present on the lower portion of the transmission bell housing. The rear main seal was replaced this past July. Only time I ever found a puddle was when the oil filter housing began loose and started to leak. Pretty sure the hired mechanic screwed that one up. I changed the oil this past Sunday and found no pooling or spotting on the under carriage.

 

The first two things I would look at are the programable X-Gauges TAV and SOC, the first one is battery temperature average in degrees farenheit and the second is the state of charge. If you have high or low battery temperature you will get limited amps from the battery and will have low assisist. If your state of charge is below high 40s then you will be getting reduced assist as well and some power will be bled off from the gasoline engine to recharge the battery as well.

What is the typical temperature outside when you are driving and did the problem show up just lately from a drop in ambient temperature? How long are you driving it at a time? How are you normally driving it and has that changed a lot? (moved to a hilly area, high altitude, etc)

If you want you can feel free to PM me with a number and we can run down through things much faster, I just won't put my number here on the main forum and ask that anyone I call leaves it off for privacy reasons and I will do the same.

 

I found the xgauge settings for TAV on the support site and plan to load and use them on the way to work tomorrow. Do you have the settings for SOC?

 

I found a traction battery state of charge "OS". Could that be it?

 

That would be the one, it's a typo on the webside, it's really SOC (state of charge). If it's somewhat cold out you'll notice your ammeter on the dash "wagging" from charge to assist independent of throttle input. This is to heat the battery up and it goes away once it's into the mid 40s or so. Other times you might notice the wag is during a recal. If you ever notice it wagging back and forth and temps are good you should try and let it do its thing under steady cruise if at all possible so it recalibrates itself better.

Another thing to look for is how much the ammeter goes into assist when you are hammering on it. If it's hardly deflecting and the battery is warm it is an issue, if it's still cold or has a low state of charge approaching the 40s or less then you will have little assist and the gas engine has very little torque the way it is designed for efficiency.

If you're noticing a low battery temp and low state of charge then you might have to take it around for a drive for a while sometime to restore normal operations. When I had a 6 mile each way commute in the dead of winter with temps below 0 I had to take it on a longer drive at least once a week.

 

If you notice that the battery won't heat up (60-80degrees, typical being room temperatureish) even on a drive over 20 miles then it's time to check the blend door and make sure it isn't open when it shouldn't be. That is in the back, open the hatch, pop open the little side cover on the left wheel well and carefully take off the other cover (tabs are easily broken on it, however if it breaks with where it is you can tape it and never see that) pop the air cleaner out and right below it you should see the plate, DON'T push down hard on it, the actuator uses a worm gear, so you'll break something before anything turns. If it's in the down position and battery temps are below 50 or 60 degrees then we need to look into changing out the blend door possibly.

Again, feel free to PM with a number, I've contacted another person on here and don't mind doing so in the future if that's easier for you.

 

I usually put the scangauge up by the climate control cluster so I can read it safely and it isn't in the way of anything important.

 

Other things to look for are you want it to be in closed loop and look at your fwt which is your water temperature. You should be seeing your water temps get close to 180 while running at highway speed, it is normal for it to only reach the 140s or 150s while idling if it's not warm out. If you aren't seeing high enough temps and you aren't far into the negatives then you probably have a thermostat sticking open, if you are into the negatives in F then block off your grill.

With oil in your spark plug holes you should have replaced all of your plugs and inspected all of your spark plug boots as well. These trucks love to miss without throwing codes.

 

Summing up all the existing questions. These problems have been going on since the spring. Outside temperature doesn't seem to matter. Normal commute hasn't changed and problem is only noticeable when sudden increases in speed is required.

With three drives under my ScanGauge's belt I've got some data points to report back. These figures are averages from 48, 48, 15, 15, 15, 15 mile drives. These drives contained neighborhood, highway and Interstate roads. Outside temps ranged from 30 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fuel System Loop Status: Closed during normal driving. Did notice that it switches to open under the following conditions. While running in EV mode. When trying to get up to 65 mph. Switches from closed to open around 3800 rpm.
TAV runs between 62 - 74 degree Fahrenheit.
ICE 12v (Dated 2011) battery reads 12v after sitting in the driveway overnight.
VLT with engine running is 14v.
FWT maxed out at 206 degrees Fahrenheit at 70 mph. Held around 190 degrees Fahrenheit while traveling at interstate speeds.
SOC has never risen above 54%. Was able to drive in EV mode from 52% to 39.7% before the ICE kicked in (as expected). Ran in defrost mode for two 15 mile trips today and noticed that the SOC percentage was not increasing very quickly.

Planning to let the car idle in the driveway tomorrow morning until the ICE shuts down. Hoping that will give the Traction battery a full charge.

Ok, I've given you everything I know. What do you got???