Happened today. Nice warm day, warm engine, been driving for a while, No AC, etc. 23,000+ miles and this was the first one I noticed (though if one happened in the middle of winter or dead of summer I probably would not have noticed because of heat/AC usage).

ICE would not shut off. Had little to NO assist. Even after shutting off the engine to run in the house, when I came back out and restarted the ICE went back to "always on." I don't have a scangauge, but this went on for probably at least 10 minutes even after the NAV battery display showed "full".

Some oddities:
There was one intersection where the engine did shut itself off during the recal, but it came back on after only a second or two. Almost like it forgot it wasn't supposed to do that and had an ooops moment!

Towards the end of the event (during the "burnoff"), but before it allowed me into EV only mode, there was a period where the vehicle was allowing me electric assist but did not appear to shut the engine off. Much like during a cold start where you can get most drive from the motor and keep the ICE at idle RPM if you are careful. Watching the display on the NAV, the ICE was on, but not powering the battery or the driveshaft. The wheels were getting power only from the battery pack (the arrows were only coming from battery to wheels.) At first I though that maybe the ICE was being spun by the motor to burn off the charge, but I had no way to confirm it. The only evidence I had of this being true was the MPG display. With the ICE apparently ON but not driving the wheels, I was able to get a MAX FE display while accelerating only using battery power. However, the display did NOT show energy flow from the battery to the ICE so I can't say for sure that the ICE was being spun by the motor at this point.

Eventually, the ICE stopped running and I was in EV only mode for a while. In all, it actually seemed like the recal event, despite the extra fuel being used in the runup, resulted in an overall increase in my avg economy for the day.

 

Wow, interesting, so now it is OK? Did you notice a better battery?

 

My first recaliberation was doing this when I stopped my vehicle at work. It did start right up 8 hours later and continued the recalibration for a short time frame.
826socagainbetterphotojpgwithtesxt.jpg?t=1212709540

My second recalibration increased to 91.2SOC (no current photo) while I continued to drive the vehicle during this process. This occurred two months ago. Here is a link for a thread on this: https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ery-soc-17672/

Some drivers have this on a regular basis and some (more agressive drivers that quickly go up and down SOC?) have it infrequent.

Your comment about electric assist reminds me this does occur at highway speeds--in very small assist amounts and for short time frames. By monitoring the SOC/assist gauges and varying your gas pedal pressure, it is possible to go beyond 53% SOC while driving on the highway and then watch a small amp assist (2-3) occur. This process can occur, or be repeated on a fairly regular basis (under idea conditions--not with that MACK truck on your bumper).
fordescapesoc686.jpg?t=1212710374
this was taken in January 2008 while driving on a downhill in Maryland.

 

Oh yeah, everything is fine. Its a normal occurrence that every FEH/MMH owner will experience several times during their ownership. It is just a computer controlled battery recalibration. I don't think anyone has/will notice any performance difference after the recal takes place. I think it is really just a matter of the computer doing a full charge/discharge in order to test the condition of the battery and make sure it is charging/discharging it properly.

 

Sounds normal Tim.
-John

 

I just wonder maybe if the re-calibration process happens within a single drive trip, is better than split it into two or three times, for the battery. So once I noticed it, I will not shut the car off. Sometimes I drive very short trips.....maybe it is better not to interrupt the process.

 

It may be "normal", but it is certainly disconcerting when the ICE doesn't shut down. You keep running all the possibilities through your head trying to figure out why.

"Did I leave MAX AC on or defog?" No.
"Did I bump the **** and maybe its half-turned to MAX AC?" No
"Is the AC running to cool the battery?" No
"Is the battery low?" No
"Why am I getting no assist? Is there a motor problem?"
"OK, then something must be wrong."
"Oh crap. I know a warning light is coming on soon!"

Only after it keeps working for about 5 minutes do you settle down and realize that "its normal."

It would be nice if Ford implemented a "warning" message on the dash LCD that said something like "Battery Recal" so that people didn't panic.