277000 sadly RIP... what next?
 

We almost made it to 300,000. I bought this FEH after Katrina and gas hit the absurd price of $3 a gallon, which seems ironic now. Iit was my high tech work truck for years, a really unique and amazing machine. Later i gave it to one of our kids who drove it to community school and college. In all that time we replaced a couple of serpentine belts, the coolant pump thingy for the big battery, recharged the ac a few times, around 240000 a couple of coils on the spark plugs, a few brake pad changes, and that's it. It had been in a few fender benders, some of the interior panels came unglued, the leather seats were cracked, the gps and hybrid center display went out, but radio worked. At 277000 this car did not owe us anything, yet it ran strong. Alas, my kid who had been driving it forgot to monitor engine oil, sump was bone dry, and it threw a bearing, a rod is knocking around in there now. I like to think it would have made it to the big 300. even now it still starts up and runs smooth, it can be driven around low speed but at high it makes a racket and all kind of lights go off on the dash.

You know, I was so confident it would make 300k i put new tires on it last month.

I was going to junk it out. The thought crossed my mind to put a salvage engine in it, but it's too beat up for that. The Kid has a couple more years of school left. The thought crossed my mind to get another FEH, maybe you can get 06 and 07 s for a couple of thousand. I have a spare battery now, new tires and lots of parts.

Anybody know what years the hybrid batteries are interchangeable, from 06 to 0?

Thanks and best of luck to all, and congratulations to all other high mileage FEH owners,

Re: 277000 sadly RIP... what next?
 

frankthomas:

LOL, I just bought tires for mine, and just checked the oil for good measure. Looks like batteries work from '05 to '09. But that's off ebay...so...

Since the rod didn't explode the case and it will still idle you might have a real good candidate for a rebuild if the case doesn't need line boring. Who knows maybe honed, re-ringed and a new set of bearings top and bottom and it lives! Could this be a teaching moment since schools out soon?

Re: 277000 sadly RIP... what next?
 

The '08 has the newer body style but same powertrain as 05-07. 09-12 was a different drivetrain, but will share some parts like suspension, wheels/tires, etc. Don't forget Mercury Mariners too!

Unfortunately some low mile FEHs were exported years ago, there may not be a whole lot of them around.

Re: 277000 sadly RIP... what next?
 

Thats an interesting idea, rebuild the ICE, but I feel the car is just a little too far gone for that, its got dents, the interior is a mess, center display is out, and a rebuilt ICE might go another 200,000 miles, but, what about the rest of the drive train? Could the electric motor and transmission last long enough to make an investment in the engine worth it? I am leaning towards finding another 06-09 FEH with lower miles and keeping this one for parts.



Dunno, everyone in the family was sad, 12 years - actually we got it 05 so 13 years and lots of great memories, I towed it home from the garage and its like we are having a wake for it, let the grieving process work itself through. After that, if we don't get another FEH, I might put on Craigslist or Ebay, see if I can get maybe $500 for it. Battery and tires are worth that, I guess.