Hello everyone, I just picked up a 2009 escape hybrid 2wd with 116k for my wife, I’ve owned a lot of vehicles in the past but never a hybrid. After a few days with this car all my knowledge I know with cars almost seems irrelevant lol. I wanted to ask some opinions to y’all experienced hybrid owners.

1. Is there any preventative maintenance I should consider doing ? I would like for this to be in the best shape possible, 116k nothing but Regular oil changes according to carfax,
I was preparing to change out the spark plugs, coolant, brake fluid, pcv valve. Yeah I’m the type that likes to replace common fail parts before they break never been broke down on the side of the road so I’d say it’s working for me.

2. what are some common problems with these FEH ? Battery,motor,suspension etc

3. I was topping off the tires and left the vehicle running with Econ button off and noticed the car kinda moving a bit , think like ppl/kids moving around inside is what it was like but nobody was inside

4. Driver blend door actuator, is this located under the passenger side , pretty much under the radio

5. Anything’s you should or shouldn’t do with a hybrid vs regular gas car ? Like Long idle periods, driving hard, instant shutdown when pulling up to your destination etc ?

I appreciate any input and so far enjoy all the good info all this forum 👍🏻

 

The answers to all your questions are here on this forum but if you like the car you should do your own research.

I've posted about a dozen times about all the relevant issues. The first thing you should do is change the fluid in the transaxle.

The battery is going to die. There's no way around it and then you're going to get deep inside in order to repair it. The rest of the car is a Ford Escape, so if you can fix one of them, you can fix one of these.

If you bought the car thinking you're going to save money on gas, you will spend more in repair costs over the likely lifetime than you would if you had bought something else. These cars are DISCO as of 10 years ago.

 

I disagree, my cost of ownership is way lower than my gas car was. Even with a new battery every 10 years. If he is doing his own repairs it will work as long as the car isn't a total lemon.

 

Fair enough. I should have qualified that, b/c you're very good at your own maintenance work.