Main problem is you don't really know if you are $500 or $5000 away from a good running Escape.If you did know, I don't think you would be posting these questions here. Don't know why you would want to take this gamble if money is tight, but it could be fun! I'm assuming you want this to be a reliable daily driver and not a hobby/weekend car.

Another thought, does your FEH's A/C blow nice and cold? If not, that's a clue there could be damage to your H/V battery and related electronics that make the hybrid system work-they need to be kept cool. On a FEH, it's not just "A/C needs a recharge from a can of freon". There are A/C lines that run the length of the vehicle to cool the H/V battery.

Wonder if the low coolant condition was due to blown/leaking head gasket or just a bad expansion tank/hoses. Also suspect catalytic converters are bad, most people don't replace these because $$$ and many states won't smog test hybrids.

Unfortunately there are only few people out there who want to rebuild/restore these hybrids, since as you mention gas prices are low. Replacement new electronic parts are probably going to stay expensive. You might be able to search junkyards for parts.

I know you've convinced yourself this can be fixed on the cheap, but keep in mind these were expensive Escapes when new, as they sold for $30-40,000 and had a lot of complicated/advanced electronics for the time. Many good condition used FEHs went overseas years ago to countries with higher gas prices.

Good luck with your adventure in Escape!

 

a/c was fine when i bought the car but now, as i have read is typical, the limp mode has the car quit before it has a chance to work

will clear the pcm tomorrow, as seen on youtube, and do a compression check

there will be more people like me on this forum if we have a bad winter and gas prices spike

probably overseas there are guys running on gas only and melting down the electronics for scrap, using the main battery as a boat mooring

 

You can get a factory shop manual Hybrid Powertrain Supplement for $20 on ebay. It's a thick book and useful in understanding the technical features.

An FEH ICE without battery assist would be a lame drive, perhaps even dangerously slow.

That cable you ordered is probably the best connection, but most of us seem to be using the $15 ELM327 adapter, either wifi or bluetooth. You could probably have one in hand by Monday.

 

On the occasions that my battery assist system has quit working, starting off from a stop was the biggest problem. There was almost no throttle response until I was very far past the normal throttle position, then it would suddenly kick in as if I'd floored it. It was actually somewhat dangerous.

 

my frontier's alternator started locking up after work today so i didn't have a chance to clear the feh's pcm, but i did find a ford shop that can update the pcm if i tow the feh in next week, can't get a call back from the dealer, will have to go there with the pcm in hand tomorrow, heard they got a hybrid guy, can't hurt to talk to him

 

An Atkinson cycle ICE has little usable torque. They don't start producing usable power until about 2000rpm, and even then it's pretty anemic. They start to come alive in the 3000-4000rpm range.

Driving them safely with an inop hybrid assist takes a noteworthy change in technique.

 

progress, i hope!?!?

the elm327v1.5a doesn't like forscan or i have not yet learned the tricks but after many tries the pcm is reset so no more short circuit code

still showing: p1000-ff, p1aoc-ff

new code comes up after ssn and shutdown: po5062-ff low system voltage, tcm

good news from dentist, sedation not needed for abcessed wisdom tooth pull so that helps the budget
the cable works but have to hit connect button til it reads, not seeing anything but pcm and tcm

 

connect 10A charger to your 12V battery. Hit the HV jumpstart button every 30 minutes for 3 hours.

 

ok

 

Do you have a link to the elm device you bought? Tnx.