As best I can tell from the instrument cluster wiring diagram it just turns on an oil light when the switch grounds, ie engine is dead, HOWEVER there must be some smart interface at the cluster because the oil light does not turn on in ev mode. As long as you dont ground it out or apply power to it, it should be ok. This is not a smart sensor. You might want to verify 12v in ev mode, as the cluster could cut power to the switch in ev mode.

 

I would rate this project 8 out of 10 on the difficulty scale.
Once I found the oil pressure switch wire, there was absolutely no room to play with. The wasn't any spare wire to "tap" and the space was nearly too small to get a hand into. I ended up cutting the oil switch plug clean off, ( with like a 3/8" nub of wire), then brought it back into the house, were I could solder a 6" extension of wire, and my wire tap for the clock.

Putting it back wasn't easy, but I got it done.
I had to solder laying on my back, with the hot iron up above me.
There was only room for 1 hand. Try that sometime! I taped the wires to the body of the car so they wouldn't move ( much ), then did get a good solder joint with one hand. Should be as good as new. Took a long time, but was kind of fun. I don't have the clocks hooked up yet, because it got dark and the mosquitos came out.

 

There is a fold over splice conector that auto parts stores have called a scotch lock. It is used to ad a wire mid stream like you did with the soldering. It can be used when there is at least 3/4" of wire. Comes in yellow (large wire) Blue (med wire) and red/pink ( 22 gauge small wire)

 

Yeah... I felt I could not get a good connection with those in this case.
Also, I would have had to do it only by "feel" and would not have been able to see what I was doing. I have used those elsewhere, and with larger wires.
The oil pressure switch is 20 ga and without seeing what I was doing, may have sliced the wire in half, or nearly, only to have it fall apart over the highway! With things that shake and bounce so much, I only felt solder was reliable. A stitch in time, saves nine....

My first choice of mounting location for the clocks was the black ledge, right in front of the instrument cluster... but DOH! The steering wheel goes up and down, and when up, would hit the clocks. Now they are on the steering column itself, behind the wheel, with double sided tape. We'll see how long the tape lasts with the temperature extremes it is going to go through.... I have my doubts... But this was more of a prototype, a proof of concept, if I really like it then I may drill holes ( eek! ) and permanently mount the clocks to maybe that black plastic around the cluster.

Here's a photo of the more or less temporary installation.
On my first drive, all city, I went 15 miles in 0.9 hours.
The engine was on for 0.4 hours. Cool! -John

 

glad to see its working. May be next week I'll have a chance to work on my brake pedal switch add on switch so you can do a double tap with out actually hitting the brake pedal. the end result is to design a circuit to use the cruise control off switch on the steering wheel.

 

Great data John. I wouldn't be surprised if that ratio held up over weeks and months.....then we would know where Ford got the 10k mi between changes for the FEH vs. 5k mi between changes for the regular 2.3L Escape.

 

MARK - This is off the thread topic, but in response to your last post:

My driveway is on a 4-5% slope. When in D, the "creep" or the little bit of electrical juice programmed to hold the car from rolling back works perfectly. It is in balance on my driveway, and the car does not move in EV mode.

Last night, I hit the brake really gently, and this cut the "creep" current, but did not apply the brake, and my car rolled backwards down my driveway in "D". I was in control, but man did it feel weird.

Also, if I hit the brake really lightly like that, the tail-lamps do not go on, but it is enough to trigger the computer to take action, either drop in EV or in this case, cut all power and get a "neutral" coasting effect. Just thought that was interesting. -John

 

This is why I'm experimenting with the brake switchs, there are 2, one supplies power to the pcm other cuts power. Its supposed to happen at the same time or a code will set. I'm also concerned that the abs/regen system is what controls the ICE off. I find no connection except through the can system to the pcm and my shop manual seems to indicate that the brake pedal position switch is what controls ICE off.

 

A few weeks ago I installed two run-time meters.
One meter records all run time.
The second meter only records engine on time.

I have gone a little more than 5,000 miles since.
I just hit 100 total hours, and this was 84 engine on hours.

Ford says to change oil every 10,000 miles OR 200 hours.
I'm driving about 75% highway and 25% city.
So I am getting miles faster than hours, but in the city, you can see my engine was off for 16 hours of drive time in about 6 weeks.
Just thought you all might find that interesting.
-John

 

Just adding I have also experienced this unusual sensation three times. Lets hope some idiot (looking for money?) doesn't blow this out of proportion.