Howdy, Green Hybrid forum folks!

I wish my first post on this forum was under better circumstances, but, unfortunately, I'm one VERY disillusioned, confuzzled and unhappy FEH owner...

I bought my first Escape Hybrid, a gray and silver two tone 2005 AWD model, on 2/10/2011 with 104k miles for $11k even, to replace my previous car, a 2003 Pontiac Vibe AWD, that had been rear ended by an Escalade in a snow storm and totaled on 1/19/2011. I named him Thor, after the Norse god of storms, and because he was destined to be my chariot of choice for storm chasing. Yes, I'm one of THOSE crazy people

He'd had three previous owners, and hadn't been taken care of particularly well in regards to the suspension components, but he was otherwise in great shape. I used him for courier delivery work around the Denver Metro area, and he excelled at it - he consistently got 27-29 mpg, and I even cracked 30 mpg on a couple of tanks just cruising around downtown in mostly electric mode. Unfortunately, three months after I bought him, on 4/18/2011, I hydroplaned on the onramp to I-70 from I-25 in downtown Denver during a sudden late night downpour on my final delivery of the night, and slammed sideways into a concrete divider at 45 mph. Blew the side airbags and caved in both the left rear corner and left front corner of the car. I had fractured ribs, a lacerated spleen, and a concussion, and spent three days in the hospital, but all in all, it could have been much so much worse. RIP Thor.

Since Thor had saved my life and had gotten acceptable gas milage, I went ahead and replaced him with another 2005 FEH AWD, which I bought on 5/11/11 from GM of Norfolk in Norfolk, Nebraska. It was a one owner vehicle with 104k miles, and had always been serviced at the local Ford dealership. Blue and black two tone, I named him Loki. *Never name a car after a god of mischief, by the way. It's NOT a good idea*

I drove it back to Denver, and admittedly was driving through blast furnace southerly winds for 300 of the 500 mile trip, and it was 90-105 degrees, so when I only got 24 mpg and 340 miles on my first tank, I was a little irritated, but given the circumstances, I wasn't too surprised.

I put about 10,000 miles on Loki storm chasing through the Great Plains in the first month I owned him, and was a little disappointed. With three other chasers and gear aboard, I was barely getting 25 mpg. On a couple of solo trips, I got a very blah 26.5.

To make a VERY long story short, a little after a month after I purchased the vehicle, I accidentally ruined the transmission in the simplest and stupidest way possible. On 7/19/11, I was changing my oil and couldn't get the oil filter off because the idiots at the dealership I bought it from had overtightened it. I was in a hurry, so I decided to just change the oil filter later. Being an idiot, I forgot to account for the extra 1/4 quart of oil in the filter, so I overfilled the oil by 1/4 of a quart. Not a big deal, right? You would think. But it ruined my transmission.

I drove a grand total of 15 miles from my house, and the 'Stop Safely Now' light came on and the engine started stuttering, so I pulled over, called a tow truck, and they took it to a local shop. They drained off the excess oil, reset the engine computer, and everything seemed fine. I picked it up, drove it about 80 miles over the next few days with no problems, and then all of a sudden the 'Stop Safely Now' light came on again and the car shut itself down. I had it towed to Spradley-Barr Ford in Greeley, Colorado, and after running several diagnostics, they told me the transmission control module had overheated, and so the car would drive just fine from a cold start, but whenever the transmission heated up, the car would shut itself off. The transmission was completely toast. They wanted an insane $7500 for a factory sourced new transmission including labor, and I obviously wasn't going to spend over 3/4 of the value of a vehicle I had just paid $11k for, so I had to find a salvage transmission or I was going to be totally screwed. I fortunately located one in Iowa with only 49k miles, and had it shipped to the dealership. The tranny was only $1050 with shipping, but the labor to install it was an unbeliveable $1820 Also, they had never worked on a FEH before, so it was in their shop for a total of 38 days

After having sunk so much money into Maverick (the awful situation and swapping the guts of the car necessitated a new moniker) I hoped beyond hope that, with the engine computer reset and a much lower miled transmission in the vehicle, that my gas mileage would improve. Sadly, that was not the case. I continued to get the same paltry 25-26 mpg in mostly highway driving that I had gotten since I purchased the vehicle. Being in the high elevations of Colorado, it was constantly revving above 2400 RPM, and it really hated going up into the mountains - I pulled a hideous 21 mpg and 300 miles on a camping trip from Denver to Leadville and back again.

For the first 15,000 miles I had the vehicle, it was shod with Bridgestone Long Trail all seasons, which were at 65% tread when I bought the car, and aren't exactly mileage champ tires. So when I finally wore the tires out in October, I replaced them with Scorpion Verde Eco tires, which are low rolling resistance, which I keep aired up to 35 PSI, per Ford's specifications. I also replaced the fuel filter, and have put a can of Seafoam through it every 2000 miles to keep the gunk out.

I moved from Denver to Austin in late November, and driving down to Austin, I got 26.5 mpg and 380 miles on two tanks. I was hoping that my mileage would get better with the combination of new low rolling resistance tires, better quality gas in Texas, and that being at a much lower elevation, the motor would operate at much lower revs, also contributing to better mileage.

WRONG AGAIN.

I have driven it over 20,000 miles, on two different transmissions, and my lifetime average has been a dismal 24.9 mpg. I have NEVER exceeded 28 mpg on a tank with this vehicle. And I am not an overly aggressive driver, I admittedly drove it like a normal car at first, but modified my driving habits accordingly over time, with no increase in mileage.

After I moved to Texas, I cleaned the K&N air filter, and I cleaned the MAF sensor with MAF cleaner, and to my dismany, my mileage has gotten WORSE. The last three tanks, I've dropped down to a dismal 23.5 mpg and 320 miles on a tank in mixed city/highway driving.

I've also noticed that recently my Hybrid is getting increasingly reluctant to shift into electric mode, especially when the fan is running, and the ICE now always kicks on above 20 mph, no matter how gingerly I accelerate.

I have a suspicion there could be a multitude of issues that are working in tangent to cause me to get such continuously poor gas mileage, but I'm not sure where to even start. I'm currently unemployed, and I can't just throw money wantonly at the car. I'm so frustrated with it that I just want to trade it in, even though it means I will lose my *** for what I have invested in the vehicle.

I literally love every aspect of my Escape, except for the Hybrid powertrain. I am frustrated beyond belief. I feel like I've done everything I can to get the best mileage I can out of this vehicle, including proper maintenance, tires, and driving habits, but I have gotten very mediocre mileage, which has now degraded to downright bad mileage. I am getting the same mileage as my friend John, who has a 2005 NA Escape XLT V6 AWD, and the V6 is a lot more powerful engine, has a bigger fuel tank for greater range, and was $2000 less expensive than what I paid for my FEH with similar miles at purchase! And I don't understand how my other 2005 FEH AWD got 2-4 mpg better consistently than the one I have currently. They're the same **** car, for crying out loud!

So please, folks... if you have suggestions for what issues might be wrong here, and where I should start. I want and I need this car to get the mileage it should be getting. I hope that whatever is wrong are fairly cheap and simple fixes, because if it's not, then Maverick is going to get traded in, at a significant loss, as soon as I am gainfully employed again...

Thanks so much for any and all advice!!!

 

"..I don't understand how my other 2005 FEH AWD got 2-4 mpg better..."

Consistent hwy driving does not allow for very much use of regenerative braking, FREE charging of the hybrid battery so you should not be surprised at the reduced FE when you switch from a delivery job to storm chasing.

Even worse for hwy in mountainous terrain, as a rule the hybrid battery will often not have enough capacity to regain on the downhill side what you LOST on the uphill side.

 

It sound to me like you got screwed by Spradley-Barr Ford. Overfilling the engine oil does not in any way damage the transmission which is totally separate. The transmission is a eCVT and the control module shuts down the electric motors if they get too hot. When this happens, the engine gets no electric motor assist, so the engine revs higher to carry the load of the FEH. After everything gets to hot (engine & eCVT), the "Stop Safely Now" light will come ON and the engine stops running until it cools down again. The eCVT has what Ford calls a "Fail Safe Mode" that will shut-down the transmission and engine to prevent damage from overheating.

The most common problem with what you experienced is a bad Electronics Motor Coolant Pump that is located under the radiator. Many here have changed the pump themselves and posted here about doing it.

Adding new tire weight and having a bad eCVT coolant pump will decrease MPG for sure. Running only 35psi will not help either. To check if your coolant pump is bad, turn the key to the run position, but don't start the engine. If you get under the radiator like you did to change the oil, you should hear the pump running. If it is a bad pump, it will not make any noise.

GaryG

 

I recently had a similar problem with my 2007 MMH which is AWD. The problem was a cracked tone ring. $12.00 for the ring and 3 hours of time to replace it yourself. There are many great articles online that discuss how the replacement is done.

With a cracked tone ring, the traction control senses a tire slip which causes the rear wheels of an AWD vehicle to engage during times when they should be coasting (example: cursing at highway speeds). I noticed this on my SGII with a % rear wheel x-gauge installed. Sensing a tire slip also causes EV mode to kick out sooner because the vehicle is trying to deliver the best traction possible and therefore engages the engine to deliver the maximum responsiveness to slippery conditions. Having the rear wheels remaining engaged and less EV mode lead to reduced MPG (roughly 3 - 5 MPG loss).

The last thing the cracked tone ring causes is increased breaking distance or decreased breaking power. This will be more noticed under 10 mph when the regenerative breaking switches to standard breaks. You may also notice that your ABS breaks will kick in on dry pavement. If your tone ring gets bad enough and slips free from the axle, you will receive a DTC code and warning lights signaling you to stop driving for safety. I never reached that point with mine.

You can crawl under and inspect the tone rings yourself. They are located where the axle meets the knuckle on the front wheels (the rear wheels do not have this). If the tone rings are fine, it could also be the ABS sensor itself.

I would imagine that a transmission powering a drive system that is consistently compensating for a slipping wheel would heat up more than one that is running normally but this is an unproven theory.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Odd there wouldn't be a fault set after some time!

 

First, I'm quite sure that above ~25MPH the rear drive clutch is locked out completely.

Second, upon detection of wheelspin/slip resulting from engine torque, the initial action will be engine dethrottling and moderate braking of the front wheels. At least that's the way it's spelled out in the factory shop/repair manuals.

Also, since the rear drive is already engaged, ALWAYS engaged even on the most highly tractive surface one can imagine, during low speed acceleration, the exact situation under which the above would likely occur, what would be the need..?

So, yes, the rear drive might also be engaged, but more likely beforehand, not as the result of wheelspin/slip. But insofar as what the driver expereinces it will be pretty much solely the Trac activation, braking and dethottling.

Since the front diff'l ALWAYS gets the clear majority of engine torque it is highly unlikely, improbable, that the initial wheelspin/slip resulting from engine torque will be at the rear.

"..consistently compensating for a slipping wheel.."

To think that might happen without a clear Traction or Stability Control indication ICON lit up on the instrument panel stretches the immagination just a bit.

 

I know that the Ford Workshop Manual doesn't state this nor is this true in real life as I've seen it engage above 25MPH on my SG-II.

 

How can you be certain the SG-III isn't "lying" to you...?

Does engaging the rear drive above ~25 MPH make sense to you?..anyone?

 

"Everyone needs a hobby". Apparently, Mr. wwest's hobby is to post on forums all over the Internet about vehicles he does not own nor drive. A particular interest of him is AWD and FWD drivetrains. No matter how many times his theories are refuted with facts he continues to post them. You are correct, a modern AWD system such as Ford's works at highway speeds and has done so for years.

 

Yes, besides used a scope before getting a SG-II. What good is 4WD if it only works below 25MPH??????