I didn't see anything in Forscan specific to charge/ discharge limits. But my scope and drive test was very telling. At 99 degrees, the only time I get a discharge is a brief burst accelerating from a stop, or a heavy acceleration to pass. I could see that happening on the assist/charge gauge too, but seeing it on scope compared to battery temperature really confirmed it.

I'm gonna toss more Freon in it today. Try and get the pressure up to closer to 40psi. I ordered a pair of battery fans too. Coming Tuesday, probably install Thursday.

 

Yes indeed. Used to live there. Since you mention it: if nothing you do and none of the advice you get here helps (and I'm not trying to discourage anyone) you might try calling Brian at Blood Sweat & Gears Automotive in Yorkville, IL, about 55 miles west of . He's Ford Tech Makuloko on YouTube and you can see that he has worked on many FEH cars in the past. He seems to be a straight-up guy, runs his own shop and has helped a lot of people with his YouTube channel.

Blood Sweat & Gears Auto. (He mentions specializing in Hybrids on the "Services" page, and he understands them better than most.)

Ford Tech Makuloko on YouTube (so you can see his many videos on Fords, including Escapes and Escape Hybrids).

11 MPG sounds low, even around town, even without electrical assist. This isn't a V8, it's an itty-bitty four banger Atkinson engine, and Chicagoland is as flat as week-old beer. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

thanks Alex,

I'm a well seasoned mechanic. I never went pro, but I studied this stuff in college. I'll get it sorted out one way or another. If a pair of cooling fans doesn't do the trick, I'll bite the bullet and PROPERLY service the ac system. It's a pain, I don't own the equipment for that. The manifolds are cheap enough. Vacuum pumps are expensive. I can rent/borrow from the parts store, I think.

I decided to check the battery stats with the vehicle hot, after a five hour pizza shift. I don't like what I saw. Battery reached 102. Charge was lingering around 79%. Evap temp was 76-79 on the range of a drive. That's after I added Freon to the system today too. That's holding 39psi now though, with the cabin on max ac. It dips to 35 when the valve for the battery cooler opens. I'm 96oz of Freon into it at this point. I'm certain the system has been evacuated prior to my buying it.

I'm *hoping* battery temp is just getting out of control from the heavy workload I put on it, while it hasn't got proper ventilation. Hot enough inside, it *could* drive the evaporator temp up too. I'm thinking maybe properly ventilated, it would never see 90 to begin with. But left unchecked, it overpowers the ac system as well. Could be a problem in the ac system too I suppose. That selector valve could be sticking maybe.

there's a possibility here too, the battery is a lost cause. When they degrade, they do throw off heat more than a good one.

 

I hope you find it. That's a lot of refrigerant and I'm not a mechanic but it sounds like it would be overfilled at this point. Whatever you do you'll have to find out why it's not putting out enough cold air, which definitely sounds like an anomaly to me because I don't think Ford would give it a "marginal" system that couldn't handle the BTUs. That's why they were so good as taxicabs in New York, plonking around the hot and sticky streets of Jabba's Palace in the summer. My 2010 blows a lot of cold air, even in 95+ degree heat in stop-and-go and direct sun it's got the cooling capacity.

I'm interested to hear what you discover. Best of luck out there. If everything goes south and you can't keep it, I hope you can at least part it out or sell it to another Hybrid person. They're not making the transaxles any more and it would be a shame to crush a known good one or let it get picked apart by vultures. And I know you can't leave it sitting on the street in Mayor Lightfoot's Paradise. I met the Boot Patrol back when Mayor Daley was in charge of the Jawa tow truck army and those folks don't play nice with your vehicle.

 

I doubt there's any overfilling. The system is supposed to run at 35-40lbs on the low side. This stuff is sold by weight, it's not fluid oz. Volume changes significantly under pressure. I think that's just what it takes to fill an empty system.

The cabin evaporator is quite cold. The battery evaporator isn't huge and only pushes so much Freon through it. If the battery is overheating, and it's running recirculate, it'll warm the evaporator. It doesn't put cold in, it takes heat out.

 

I suspect you have a constant leak, or adding R-134a without evacuating first is mucking with the pressures.

http://pictures.dealer.com/sherwoodp...es%20Guide.pdf

indicates 32oz for the 2012 FEH, which doesn't have rear air for the battery. Doubt the wee evap in the back and all the pipes would even double it, let alone go to 96oz.

 

idk man, that's a lot more line and a second evaporator. Condenser could be bigger too. I tried finding capacity for the hybrid, I couldn't seem to find it anywhere.

 

I have 3X 09 and an 05 on my property at the moment. I just checked one of the 09 (with rear battery air). There's a sticker on the air filter cover. Indicates 2.38lb.

 

I finally got around to throwing a battery fan in this thing. Seems to have done the trick. I just drove it around a little after. The graph on the display is consistently over 20mpg, often around 30, spiking at 40.

This took a little while. Was gonna do it last week after doing a rear brake job. It was really hot so I waited till night. After I finished the brakes it was like 10:30. I pulled the carpet up and looked closer at the torx screws and realised they were tamper resistant. I didn't have the bit, so it scrubbed until I could get them. Finally had a day off again today.

Funny story. I previously mentioned that the nav screen is pretty jacked up. I also mentioned a discrepancy between the 13mpg it said I was getting and a manual calculation had me a little better than 18. Well the other day, for about 10 minutes, the screen came back to life. Was displaying in full color (previously was in black and white). Well in full color, I was able to see the fuel computer was set to metric. 😂 After setting it to English, it was telling me between 18-19.

I'd have to reset it to get my new average instead of the lifetime average. But I can't see the screen well enough to do that. I'll have to fill up tomorrow so I can take a new manual average.

 

LOL... 18-19 is in line with a regular Escape in those conditions, so that mystery is solved!

Glad you got it sorted. Performance should be better. Note that a hot battery will demand engine on/compressor on even if you're not using A/C, so your driving profile may still not produce the greatest results. At a guess, I would expect north of 25.