Hi all,

First off, love this board. I've been mining its archives for very valuable info. I recently purchased a 2005 FEH AWD w/104k miles for 3500. I have been having some issues since I purchased it, and I'm not sure if they're conflated or not so I'm just throwing them all in here. I'll list them chronologically:

1) When I bought the car, the "Service Emissions System" warning was on, along with the check engine light. It was the "gas cap" code, P0455. I just cleared the code and it came back eventually. At the time, that was the only known problem with the car. I just bought a new gas cap which arrived today, so I'll clear that code and see if it comes back.

2) I left the FEH at an airport for a week, and when I returned the 12v battery was dead. I got a jump from the attendant and drove to my new residence, 2 hours away. The next morning, the battery was dead again. After charging the battery at a local auto parts store (and they tested it to be good), I popped it in and noticed that the radiator fans were running despite a cold engine. I pulled the fuses, replaced the front fan's fuse, and they functioned normally for a week, but yesterday it happened again. This morning I tried charging the battery and the fans came on as soon as there was enough juice. They drain the battery so I can't get a start.

3) Starting early last week, I've begun to notice a sulfur smell. It's strongest when I turn on the heat, though I can smell it when I roll the windows down. The FEH was recently smogged in CA.

4) I've noticed a couple other people mention this, but the FEH is barely driveable on steep roads because of how little power it puts out. The engine seems to rev unnecessarily at times to very high RPMs and there seems to be very little power output. I had truckers passing me going up the NM interstate I have gotten >27 mpg for the first 4 tanks on mostly interstate driving.

I just got a Scangauge and have programmed in a few codes, mostly related to the hybrid battery and AWD. If anyone has any ideas, I've been scouring the boards and I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start. Thanks!

 

Ok, well I found the source of the sulfur smell--it was the 12V battery. I had it tested again and when they put it on the charger we got blasted by rotten egg. I bought a new 12V battery; when I installed the new battery, the radiator fans stopped so hopefully that was a gremlin related to the old battery? I have my doubts but we'll see.

I'll report back about the gas cap--I cleared the code and installed the new one so hopefully that takes care of that!

Still leaves the overrevving issue. And I started hearing a kind of knocking noise but I'll start another thread for that.

 

What do you mean by "the overrevving issue"? Rpm's are limited by the computer so the engine can't really overrev in a destructive way. I typically see 4k rpm going up a freeway grade at 65mph.

 

If you are climbing up mountains at freeway speeds, high revs are normal especially for a 4WD FEH. A higher profile SUV which weighs over 2 tons being pulled by a 140 horse engine isn't a lot of grunt. I used to have to peg my FEH short of the rev limiter at about 5000rpm climbing up mountains. You could try disabling 4WD, lightening your load/tires, removing roof racks, etc to help a little bit.

A Ford tech at a large CA city dealer probably has a decent amount of experience diagnosing hybrids like yours if want the most accurate info.

 

By "overrev" I don't mean redlining, but just that the engine seems to be working very hard for very little power output. I might just need to recalibrate my expectations for what the FEH can handle, but

I can't even accelerate to 65 mph on an uphill freeway grade. Granted, the actual slope matters, but even mild uphills I find myself at 5k+ rpms going 50-55 mph in the right-est hand lane. Perhaps this is normal, but I found this thread where someone else reported something similar...


Thanks for the suggestions. Do you know offhand how I could disable the 4WD? I was under the impression that it is automatically controlled (and disabled under normal driving conditions). I don't have a roof rack or anything else in the FEH to weigh it down. The tires aren't the most efficient, though. I've read about nitrogen filling, not sure if worth it. I took it up some steep mountain roads today and it did OK.

Overall I'm enjoying learning the FEH. I can't for the life of me figure out how it decides when to go into EV mode. I had plenty of SoC and stable TAV and it wouldn't shut off the ICE. I'm sure the decision to EV is a complicated tree of if/then's and ranges of variables, but it would be nice to know what my bottleneck is. None of GaryG's "tricks" work for me to force EV. Sometimes driving the same route with similar ambient temps EV kicks in, sometimes it doesn't.

 

The 4WD can be disabled by pulling a fuse, there are posts around the internet that describe it. Don't expect a dramatic change though! By lightening the tires I meant using a lighter LRR (low rolling resistance) tire and/or reducing the contact patch size (i.e. 225 or 215 series tires).
Again since operation doesn't seem normal, recommend getting a clean bill of health for your engine/hybrid system/transmission from a trained Ford tech before throwing a lot more parts at your FEH that it may or may not need. Then you can also know for sure if you need to adjust your driving style/expectations or there is work to be done. They can look in to the tune of the engine (called 'fuel trim' ) to find out if you're running rich, which would cause loss of power and can also burn up the catalytic converters.

 

Don't feel bad many have been fooled by Ford's advertisement of the 4WD system that's why I refer to it as Ford UnInintelligent Four Wheel Drive System. It's engaged every time you leave from a dead stop no matter what the road condition is.

The 2005 FEH manual: http://www.fordservicecontent.com/Fo.../05hevog2e.pdf shows fuse #18 for 4x4 alone but #35 for 4x4 and a power point. I'd try pulling #18 first but your going to get a "wrench icon" on your dash because of this which could mask any other "wrench icon" that would pop up. One owner reported a 1-2 MPG improvement by pulling the fuse.

 

What are your tire pressures? Mine are at 45 psi all around. Helps fuel economy and the ride is fine.

As for power, see my recent post about my airbox mod.

 

This is an old thread, but I wanted to update in case anyone else had similar issues.

1) The P0455 code: I found out that the nipple leaving the evap system was just broken. Probably got hit by a rock or something. The system is on the drivers side and roughly underneath where the passenger behind the driver would sit. It was easy to identify. I put some JB weld and silicone tape on it, cleared the code, and it's been fine for a few months.

2) The "high-rev" issue: shortly after making this post, the engine threw a rod. So I think I was not getting the full power of the engine. I replaced the engine and now it performs much more in alignment with expectations.

I think the battery fixed all the other issues.