Good evening Everyone. Testing the waters in hopes that someone has seen what I'm seeing. Got a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid that just cannot handle interstate speeds anymore. Current odometer is at 173k. All original equipment. Takes almost 1/2 mile to get up the speed and that is with throttling up above 4000 rpms. GPM is tracking around 23 games. New brakes, filters and premium grade fuel. The vehicle just seems to be lacking power to get up to and maintain speed. Only known issue is an unknown loss of engine oil between oil changes. Rear Main Seal and exhaust manifold have been replaced but oil loss still exists.

 

With that year and the miles I would be looking at the pcv valve since there is an associated loss of oil that is oil consumption and not an oil leak.

Another thing could be a hybrid issue. Do you have a scangauge II at all? If TAV is low or that could be a possible problem with the blend door. State of charge being considerably lower than when you park it (more than a few percent, could indicate a load on it over night) How old is the 12v battery? They are known to start causing gremlins well before they stop starting the truck. Get a reading across the terminals after it's been sitting a few hours after you've shut the truck down and haven't run any accessories while it is down. If it is much below 12.6 I would replace that because it is due.

The biggest will be the Scangauge, if you have one and can start getting data I and others can start looking into possible causes. I also have a full set of OEM service manuals as well.

 

Your comments were enough to finally pull the trigger and buy a scan gauge. It will arrive on Sunday. Any pointers for this rookie scanner operate would be appreciated.

 

I will make you a deal. If you are willing to look at normal basic operating parameters for your vehicle and report back to me I will help you as much as I can with the scangauge. It will require some programming that is fairly straightforward and there will be a little bit of differences from your year to mine.

I'm trying to track down some gremlins and I can't get help from anyone, so sorry that I've been forced into hardball.

 

Right now I am still going to be looking through the main mechanical issues with your truck that would cause an oil loss, we can still look at some of the main hybrid system parameters to make sure there isn't a huge red flag there. I take it by your comments that there isn't oil found on the ground or is that incorrect? It seemed like it could or couldn't since you had your main seals replaced. There are a few things on these trucks noted for oil loss that wouldn't end up on the ground generally. First one is pcv and that can cause sporadic oil loss (none one oil change, quarts that next) it sticks and kinda ends up sucking oil into the intake which will also foul out your plugs, I believe if the hose split that is MAY allow oil onto the ground, but I think it's unlikely since it wouldn't have enough vacuum, though that would cause a leaned out condition for your motor post MAF and cause it to not run well. If you're mechanical at all it is a long job but one I can easily walk you through, plan for a full day if we end up eyeing the PCV. The other loss tends to be at the valve cover and it gets oil down into the spark plug holes, that's usually a lesser amount of oil loss however but it could cause driveablity concerns. A quick check would be to pull your engine cover and look for cracking on the tops of the coil over plug devices. They're known for that on most Fords and that will allow water intrusion and missing. Fords will miss A LOT with a definite capital A LOT without throwing a code.

 

Sure thing

 

RE: high revs... could be a symptom of a weakening main motor magnet. The way motors/generators work if the magnetic field weakens it will compensate by higher revs. IE Power produced = revs X Field strength.

 

Let me know what kind of info you get when the scangauge comes in, I can help you program it. I think you said it was coming in today?

 

I don't think that's the right direction Bill. The motors and generators are a/c and would have electromagnets, they'd either have dropped a whole phase (system would react to this severely) or they'd work. I am thinking it's a power limitation that's within operating specs most likely. If you want to give me a pm I can help you out over the phone much quicker once your gauge comes in. It sounds like one of the common issues with these trucks to be honest, nothing to worry about, easy to fix, just gotta track it down and it's hard to do without more information.

 

Did your gauge come in yet Ryan?