Hi,

I've found a used FEH at a large ford dealer a couple hour's drive away. I want to go look at it over the weekend. I'm hoping that the memebers here might be able to tell me what to "look for" and "watch out for".

It's an 05, no nav package, cloth interior. Dark gray outside, has 65,000mi. Was sold originally in NY and has the required longer hybrid warranty. That's about all I know for sure at this time. I've seen some pics, but its hard to tell much detail. I suspect it's been in NY it's entire life, so that would indicate salt duty as well. The dealership JUST got it in like 2 days ago. From the pics, it has alloy wheels and "uniroyal laredo" tires (crap). I think I would make them put the proper hybrid tires on. (The laredos look brand new, Im sure they put the cheapest thing they could on).

What are things general to all FEH I should check and look for? What things might be specific to the 05's? What things should I make sure I have the dealer check/do ahead of time? Thank you for any help, please be specific as I will only get one chance to see this car before making a decision.

Oh, they are asking $15,900. Good price? I will get HOSED on my trade in for sure (Jeep grand cherokee).

Thank you!!
Jeff

 

Have the dealer check to see if all service bulletins have been performed. Check to see if the coolant was changed and what kind of maintenance has been performed. The dealer may be able to pull up all work done by a Ford dealer also. There is a service bulletin that involves the HEV battery system ( TSB 07B48 issued 08/22/2007). Also see if you can find out if it was wrecked and poorly repaired. As to the price, that would be cheap in Texas but I dont know about the rust problems.

 

Based on another thread, I would try to see if the hybrid warranty is still valid and has not been "cancelled" by Ford. Or, get it in writing from the dealer that it is still valid. The green state warranty only applies if it is registered in a green state, but even so the federal is good for 8yr/100k.

 

I'm pretty sure that NY is a CARB state.

 

I just looked at Nada.com for the retail price of this vehicle and it revealed a $16,125 price at my location. Your location may be slightly different. Kelly blue book--www.kbb.com is another website to check on car prices.

05 items--hybrid battery recall as previous menitoned. You may be able to replace the rear cargo carpet via a TSP notice, check the VIN via carfax to learn more about the previous ownership. The Conti EcoPlus tires are standard and are on the vehicle because they provide the lowest rolling resistance (in 2005) for the vehicle. Michelin is now providing low rolling resistance tires for the 2009 Escape Hybrid and I would try to get those on your vehicle. WATER PUMP--the Escape Hybrid does have a history of this failing around 50,000 miles and you need to insure you are not going to get hit with a $400 repair bill right off the bat. There are reports that the cloth seats wear poorly. Look in the owners manual and see how you can do a vehicle check thru the message center. If you had a scanguage unit, you could perform many vehicle "checks".

 

Really? I happen to have a SG - what kinds of things might I look for in the used 06 FEH I recently bought?

Thanks!

 

I did not state myself real cleanly. If you have he SG operating, you know there are many different "things" on the vehicle you can monitor. There is information at the scanguage site for these various "things".