We're not giving him ideas, we're speculating mostly to each other. If all we did was listen and wait for the solution from Ford, this would be a very boring place.

 

I think this is an excellent thread, along with all the guesses, theory, discussions, problems, and finally, an answer. It gives future readers ideas when they go looking for things that went wrong with theirs. And whether or not the guesses/theory are right or wrong, there's plenty of insights that sure is valuable for the next problems encountered.

So did the super tech or the service department let you hang around and look over his shoulder? Sure wish I was there...

 

Great point Rich.

Greg's HV battery failure is the first and only case documented on GH or any other site I monitor. In fact, I've research the web and did not find any other case with my search.

Glad I changed my speculation from the PCM to agree with the Ford Techs on this issue now. We all know more about the Sanyo battery thanks to Greg.

Could we we make a stickie on this thread for the first and only HV battery Sanyo Battery failure ever doucumented? If there becomes a problem with other HV batteries, it would be of great interest to buyer's in the future. The record is clear so far, the FEH/MMH is a great American dream.

GaryG

 

No, I was out of town on business,, Got a call from the service manager to keep me up to speed.

 

Update 11/02

Well it turns out that the HV battery was not defective.. Some ground cable underneath the drivers seat was not tight. Did not conduct a good ground to the vehicle. The tech found this out after he was running the seat back, and all the lights flickered on the vehicle. Took the seat out and hence the problem. Only problem now, is they are waiting from the ford hotline to tell them if they should still replace the battery, as the new one is in..

My question to them was, If there was spikes in electricity to all the onboard computers,, could there be a problem later on down the road. Nobody had an answer.

Go figure, problem turns out to be somebody in the assembly line not tightening a bolt!!!

 

Quality is job 2 now I guess.

That is the second case that I remember of something stupid causing a problem. There used to be a poster on here who actually got a new FEH because her original one had a problem that turned out to be a screw that was installed through a HV cable (IIRC). I don't remember if they invoked the Lemon Law or if Ford just replaced it. Do a search on it.

At the very least, they owe you a lifetime warranty on electrical/computer problems on your current vehicle.

Good luck with it.

 

The HV charging sysem is a floating ground system and is only connected to the 12V negative ground system through the High DC/Low DC converter. If the Battery tested bad, it is more than likely bad. The PCM is powered by the 12V sysem which would have indicated ground problems with the negative ground system if they were not responding.

The TCM (Transaxle Control Module) which shut down the vehicle was monitoring those two ISDN circuits monitoring HV battery voltage. If the 12V grounding system which also is supplied power to the TCM had an effect of a false signal, how could the HV battery test bad?

GaryG

 

I would be inclined to believe the battery tech. Allthough I would have love to see how he tested the HV battery. Did he disconnected other system attached to the HV bat? Did he just measure voltages? (not enough to say it's a battery problem, IMO). If the TCM (or main controller PCM?) had faulty ground, it may not have been able to direct charging to the HV bat properly...and thus the HV bat may only be drained, not busted.

That's one problem.

However, sounds like you may have a double wammy. All that computer glitches is caused by that loose ground screw...which causes other problems, like proper controlling of the PCM/TCM/etc. Faulty ground on one system could cause all types of false signals to the next...and a chain reaction ensue.

I dont think faulty ground will cause permanent damage to the electrical control system (12v), but if I were there, I would ask about how they make sure computer firmware wasnt affected. Is there a way for them to read and verify all firmware, I wonder (I have to believe there is).

 

I already started that talk about warranty on problems that could arise later down the road... Chances are I will not have this vehicle over three years.

My biggest or should I say most frustrating issue today has been, to get a straight answer as to if the battery was really defective, and the waiting game for the ford hot-line tech to call back.
I guess this person who flew in (they tell me he was from sanyo) and left the same day did not speculate on the battery being good or bad.

This problem is starting to remind me of my 03 PSD, and I do not want to go down that road again.

 

So, looking over my posts on this thread and the fact that I never retreated from my position that the HV battery HAD NOT FAILED do you think you might find it in your heart to cut me a little slack?

My analysis of this problem was one hell of a lot closer to the end result and I wasn't even there!

And by-the-by, if that loose, intermittent ground seemingly affected so many things as indicated there is a quite good change that some of the electronic modules incurred some really high voltages, voltage spikes. If, for instance, that happened to be the primary ground for the 12 DC-to-DC down converter then the majority of the low voltage, 12 volt or less, electronic modules would have "floated" up the the level of the HV battery during the times the connection was fully open.

I think I would partition for a new replacement vehicle or as a minimum a written document specifying exactly which ground point(s) was/were loose. There is really no way to know, predict, what failures might occur down the road as a result of the intermittent ground.

Just one electronics module failure down the road and I would immediately present the aforementioned document and demand a new vehicle.