Hello Forum,

I bring a couple questions/concerns coming into my one year ownership of an 2005 FEH.

1st) I am under the impression that these vehicles did not come with a cabin air filter out of the factory. This was confirmed when I received the vehicle and added an air filter. A year later to change it out, it has captured a lot of debris, leaves and such. My question is, all that the filter has captured in that one year span, begs the question of where would all that debris go in the prior 15+ years without a filter to capture it? I would think it would accumulate over the years somewhere. Is it possible to check on this and clean anything out? The same question goes to the hybrid battery filter. Is it possible to check for any debris possibly blocking air flow to the battery?

2nd) Being fairly new to hybrids, I have noticed that upon acceleration such as merging on a highway, that instead of the the battery assisting me in the acceleration process, the needle goes down to charge and it feels to me that it bogs down the engine. The RPMs frequently go at about 4,000 when trying to get up to speed on the highway. To clarify, once I hit the accelerator , the needle does slightly go to assist for less than a second, than immediately goes to charge until I get up to my desired speed. Is this normal operation? I have no fault codes whatsoever.

3rd) I've read that Toyota Prius hybrid battery should have their fans cleaned out as a maintenance item. I don't believe I read anything about Fords having to do that. Is it a thing or is it not serviceable?

Lastly, I do get a message in the message center regarding "Service Emission System." I get the message when the key is "on" but not when engine is running. I scanned it myself and also had my mechanic run it for any codes- no luck.

Any and all help/advice is much appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

 

1) I don't have an answer.

2) Indicative of a hot HV battery or a weak HV battery.

3) No. There is a filter on the left rear panel in the cargo area. There is a replaceable filter in there. When the A/C is being used to cool the battery, it recirculates the air. I have had dozens of batteries open, and I have never seen one that needed to be cleaned provided the filter was in place.

4) Dunno. I would question the robustness of the diagnostic tools involved. Might replace the gas cap as a preemptive measure.

 

The cabin air filters were, from what I have been told - dealer-installed options that some dealers provided for their interested customers, or owners did it themselves. My 2010 Limited had one in there when I bought it, but the PO was a dentist and I know she wanted clean cabin air (she told me about it.) If you look at the housing, it has a locking lid (underneath the main cowling lid, and you have to pop it open and lift them *both* to change the filter.) The housing has a "screen" of sorts all around, so even without the filter, really large things should not have been pulled into the system, and in most cases would probably have blown out the vents. However, that doesn't mean your A/C will not get musty smells.

Is the lid on your filter housing missing? You should see where the tabs go to lock the lid on, mine is grey plastic as opposed to the black plastic of the cowling above it.

All modern A/C systems were affected by the EPA rules that stopped manufacturers from using oil-based coating products on A/C evaporators (and in lots of other products). As a result, the coatings are *water based* and therefore can harbor bacteria, mold, etc. This is why spraying disinfectant into the system from time to time will keep the air smelling "fresher" - and it's never a permanent solution, you have to keep doing it every so often.

Here's a video on the setup of the filter and blend door actuator in the back of your car. He shows where the filter is also, but doesn't talk about it: it lives behind that little rectangular cover you can access from the outside.


One thing you can check for your evap system woes is relatively easy: the "self-sealing" gas flap (which has no cap.) It can leak. Otherwise it may be a rusted out filler neck. But try this fix on the flap first: "Ford Capless Fuel Filler Maintenance."

 

Finally, from the behavior you're documenting, you're not getting the "factory new" level of EV assist. Does the car start up in EV mode? Does EV mode run at all? Even when it is cool outside with the A/C OFF? How long does it run?

It sounds like your HV battery is 1) Hot 2) Old and weak 3) Needs rebalancing at the very least (using FORScan and its RMode Battery Balance Function) or 4) all of the above in some combination.

Bottom line: as we've said to many others in the past, you will be well served by finding an old-to-newish (Windows 2K and up!) laptop and running FORScan, you can get a 2-month extended license for free. Get an OBDLink EX adaptor or one of the others they recommend. Then you can take an in-depth look at things like Battery State of Charge, temperatures, you can run the Battery Balance Function, and in general it is the best "bang for the buck" thing you can do for yourself as an owner of a 16 year old Hybrid.

 

Oh - finally finally: If you have never changed the fluid in your eCVT transaxle, DO IT ASAP. Your car should use MERCON V, but double-check the manual for your year. Use the real Ford product, not the off-brand "says it's compatible" stuff. Six quarts should do it, it is one of the easiest maintenance chores you can perform and it is *NECESSARY* despite what the manual leads you to believe.

 

Also, it is very possible for the little drain tube on the A/C to plug up with small debris and therefore the A/C will not drain its runoff water and other gunk onto the ground. It comes out of the firewall behind the engine about a foot down from what I recall and can be cleaned with a plastic rod or even a coat hanger. FTM has a video about that too, it's an A/C tech. tip. If that drain tube gets plugged up, you'll have water that never leaves the system and all the attendant unpleasantness.

 

Hi AlexK,

I appreciate your attention and all of your replies. Regarding my hybrid battery, it does NOT automatically start in EV mode after being warmed up. After being warmed, it will take at least a 2-3 minutes for it to then go into EV mode. The ICE engine does turn off every chance it gets and I can use EV mode for about 5-10 min in parking lots before ICE turns on again for 2-3 minutes to shut off again. I can confirm for now that the battery does not get hot as I touch it, its always cold even after prolonged drives.

The rebalancing sounds interesting and I will look into it, I only have a MAC laptop though so it might take a little while. I have already changed the transmission fluid myself so thats a plus and I have cleaned MAF sensor already. I average about 25 mpg. I would like to get more assist out of the battery though. The needle never goes more than halfway up the guage. I wonder if there is anything else I can look at to increase MPGS and engine responsiveness/power.

 

I think only 2010+ starts in EV mode. Mine never does (09). It does sound like your battery doesn't have much charge here. You need a scan tool to see what's going on. I had a cabin air filter under the wiper cover on the passenger side.

For diagnostics, torque only runs in one CAN mode. This car has 2 separate buses with different modules so you need an OBD tool with the switch for HS/MS can. I'm sure torque would get both sets of modules if you flipped it back and forth between reads. ForScan does much more, even with no license tho. License is needed for key and module programming.

 

Not starting in EV mode is apparently normal behavior on a 2005. It is supposed to start the ICE immediately and then turn it off. My '10 will start in EV mode without firing the ICE first. I had never read the '05 manual before.

https://owner.ford.com/tools/account...scape%20Hybrid

It still sounds to me as though your HV battery is weak, given the symptoms you described in your first post, particularly the very short period of assist while accelerating to highway speed and then going right into charge with the feeling that it's "bogging down" the car. What is happening is that the ICE engine is now both propelling the car and charging the battery through the generator in the transaxle, and not receiving any (or maybe just not much) assistance from the traction motor. 4K RPM isn't out of the ordinary - I see it all the time while accelerating to highway speeds, but usually only while going uphill and also trying to get up to 70 *fast*. And my assist works - I can see it and feel it. I get a good, steady push for a long time while taking on-ramps and so forth.

As these batteries age, they accept less and less charge until they are basically not doing much to store energy or propel the car, and at that point you have a normal Escape with a few hundred pounds of extra mass in the trunk. You will need to do some more investigation once you can get FORScan running (they offer an iOs version, it contains most of the laptop functions.)

 

As a former owner of an '06 FEH and current owner of an '09 FEH, nothing you are describing sounds particularly abnormal.