I have a 2008 Escape hybrid where the yellow wrench light comes on intermittently. I have an appointment with the dealer next week to have it checked out, but I'm wondering if I should just have my independent mechanic take care of it. It's just out of the 8 year warranty period, although its mileage is 37k, so well below the 100,000 mile limit.

Has anyone had success getting Ford to fix the notorious "battery blend door" problem after warranty has expired? I see that getting them to replace the battery "fan kit" is like pulling teeth even during the warranty period....

Thanks.

 

Regardless of any response on here, you won't know how your situation turns out until you ask. If they say no, contact corporate.

 

Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear, that it's at least reasonable to ask them.

(I mean, you could've said, Nah, your car's too old and their warranty is clearly spelled out...)

p.s. The yellow wrench turned on three days ago (and went off). Since then my MPG has been dropping. Used to be super steady at 30.1, now it's down to 29.6. Haven't seen that in the two months I've owned this car.

 

That is still within the range I see daily when it's hot enough to run the air. My 2008 had a blend door issue plus a faulty coolant thermostat and was running about 25-27 mpg.

 

Thanks.

Would still like other people's input on whether "battery blend door" problem and "fan kit" problem are things I should fight for Ford to fix ... or I should just pay for it because it's out of the 8 year warranty period...

Wondering what's a reasonable and ethical -- as well as a practical -- position to take on it...

Thanks.

 

It's out of any warranty that would have covered those items, and the car is a discontinued model. I don't see that you have a case to make for a warranty repair.

What you could do is confirm what the problems are. The blend door failure throws a specific code that you can read with a Scangauge. The blend door is a $20 part and takes about an hour to replace, there's a youtube video that details it. Don't have the dealer do it, they really overcharge on this and the MECS pump replacement.

The battery fans I have no experience with but look for a video or search this forum for instructions.

 

Thanks for your input. That sounds reasonable.

I ask my original question because I think I have seen some cases (with other make/models) where the manufacturer fixes things well after their stated warranty period because they fall more into the realm of design flaw rather than typical wear.

 

Welp... I've got the battery blend door problem, I found out.

I got an OBDII ELM327 gizmo from Amazon, and ran ForScan Lite, and under "Errors", it lists "B1239 - Air Flow Blend Door driver circuit failure".

I'll attempt to replace the bad part myself.

 

Double check that the HV battery filter by the blend door is clean, a dirty filter can act like a bad blend door, I just went through that.

 

Good tip! I don't suppose you have a part number or a link to the part on Amazon?

I figure if I'm spending all that time to get in there, I might as well replace both the actuator and the filter (assuming the filter is cheap).

Thanks.