okay so I am stationed in Alaska. The dealership said when we bought our FFH we would have no issues with it in the winter time. I have it winterized with a tranny heater, block heater, oil pan heater, battery heater and some Blizzak tires. We just got a very cold front of weather move in and the temps here have dropped to -45 and -62F with the wind chill. The car started yesterday at -42F but of course it took alot of time warming up at idle before all of the fluids like brakes PS and tranny warmed. Today the wife tried to start and nothing. It has been plugged in since the last time it was shut off. Any ideas? I never get the green light saying it's good to drive but the cluster and all does work. The IC engine is just not starting. My pathfinder with 240k miles is running just fine. No reason the hybrid shouldn't. One costs 500 bucks the other costs 30 grand!

 

Update: Finally got the car to start. I draped a queensize heated blanket with two heaters made in it over the inside of the engine bay and closed the hood and put a space heater in the trunk and ran it with it closed to warm the batteries. I guess when it's 40 below zero or colder I will half to start it about every two hours. Also it's worth noting the effect of cold weather on a FFH's gas mileage. I went from around 50mpg average in the summer down to 24.4 in the winter at -20 below zero average. lol So glad this is my last winter in Alaska!

 

Wow. A winter kit on steroids and the thing still won't start. Makes me appreciate the 10 degrees F around here.

I don't know how much longer you'll be there but if possible maybe a portable garage is in order.

Stay warm!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...US321&ie=UTF-8

 

The HV battery window is -104F so something else maybe causing it not to start at -45F. I thought Ford deleted the HV battery heater in '08 on the FEH and I did not think you could get a tranny or oil pan heater unless it is after market. Are these 120V? I'm wonderring if it's not your 12V battery causing the problem. The 12V battery is supplied power from the HV battery and the DC/DC converter but if the 12V battery is to low the relays and PCM can't close the circuit to provide power to it. Next time try to jumpstart the 12V battery first and see what happens.

GaryG

 

Thanks for the informative reply! I understand a ton about normal cars but the hybrid system is new to me. I also tried to jump start the 12v battery and it did nothing. The EV gauge was showing it was running in EV mode with the batteries at half charge but there was no green light saying I could drive and the car didn't move. All my heaters minus the block heater are aftermarket. The battery heater I have is on the 12v battery. But I had no where to run my plugs out of the grille really so I have to pop my hood and keep it popped a tad all night to run my extension cord into the heaters so I may be losing to much heat there. Also couldn't figure out how to get the 12v battery out so the heater is actually mounted on the side of the battery rather than underneath it!