We purchased a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid 4WD about 6 months ago; it’s our family’s only vehicle and we really like it as an all-around city and fun-in-the-mountains vehicle. I like the way the eCVT drives around town, on the logging roads, and in the snow.

When we bought it, we knew it had the wrench light and needed some TLC. I got a scan tool, found errors for the blend door motor, both battery cooling fans, and DTC P0A27-60 (Battery Power Off Circuit). Thanks to the great info that has been posted on these forums and some youtubes, I successfully replaced the cooling fans and the blend door motor myself. We have come to discover that mechanics in the Seattle area know nothing about the battery cooling system in these Ford Escapes, even mechanics that say they specialize in hybrid vehicles, so owning one of these vehicles seems to require a little DIY know-how to keep them running optimally.

Anyway, I was hoping that getting the battery cooling system in good working order would address the P0A27 error, but it persists. The wrench light comes on after a long-ish drive with stopping-and-going when the hybrid system is doing its thing, then stays on for the remainder of the drive until the vehicle cools down completely. The P0A27 is the only code present now. Other than that, the vehicle seems to drive pretty well, it goes into EV mode and has been getting about 26 MPG in the drizzly 40-degree winter weather here in Seattle, and with a small cargo box mounted on the roof.

I’ve read about the recall and installation of the battery harness related to the P0A27 error. I’m not completely sure if this vehicle has had the recall work done (the dealers won’t return our phone calls), but I think it has because:
a) The error is activating the wrench SERVICE SOON light and not the red triangle STOP SAFELY NOW light; the red triangle is the symptom listed on the recall.
b) When I replaced the battery cooling fans, I hadn’t researched the battery harness thing yet and wasn’t specifically looking for that, but I did take some photos. Based on those photos, I think I can see the thick foam wrapped around one end of the harness connected during the recall work; see photos below.

Now some questions:

1) Has anyone had the P0A27 error come up with the recall fix having been done long ago? If so, does replacing the battery service harness with a new one fix the issue? I found this topic about installing the harness, but in the comments others have pointed out that this person’s battery already had the harness installed, and it’s unclear whether replacing it again fixed the error code.

2) Can anyone confirm that the recall work has been performed on this vehicle based on the P0A27 error triggering the wrench rather than the triangle, and the photos below?

3) Any leads on getting the replacement harness kit 7M6Z-14A303-B? I found one on ebay for $75, but that seems a bit steep.

4) Could this error be impacting the gas mileage or have other consequences besides the annoying wrench light? Our mileage isn’t horrible but isn’t the 30-35 MPG that seems possible with this vehicle (4WD version). This is from a mix of short and long trips, about 2/3 city and 1/3 highway per tank and very little AC/defroster usage. I understand that the cargo box reduces mileage, and we haven’t yet driven it around in the summer with a functioning battery cooling system. Maybe this will improve when the weather warms up. Curious what fuel economy others are getting on on a 2007 FEH 4WD, now that they are getting up there in age.

Thanks in advance!




with original fan still installed

with fan removed

 

Your mileage is about right for the climate/temperature, year, and the 4WD. You will not get >30MPG in the cold months no matter how carefully you drive it, except on rare occasions, particularly with the 4WD, which shaves off a few MPG. You're also running a roof box and I think you're in the correct range. That's good, because it says that your Hybrid is running the way it should. You might be able to kick it up a little with careful attention to tires, tire pressure, how you drive, other basic maintenance (done the oil and air filter recently?) but 26MPG is not abnormal for where you are and the time of year. Remember that on cold start these vehicles begin with the ICE and then the Hybrid system has to warm up before it operates at its best, so for the first 20 minutes or so in cold temps. the hybrid system is not working optimally. Also winter gas sucks. 1.7% less energy average and sometimes more depending on the blend. Remember that even at low speeds, anything that causes parasitic drag will have a dramatic effect on MPG.

You will never see 35MPG average with your car - period - unless you live in the flatlands/warmlands, drive at 41.3 miles per hour everywhere you go, and weigh 86 pounds. I'm sorry to disabuse you of that notion, but 35 MPG or more average on these vehicles is a pipedream except for super-OCD people taking "perfect" hops to prove something to themselves. My '10 FEH 2WD has never averaged 35MPG on any trip longer than 5 miles - even in perfect, warm weather. My winter average so far is about 29.6, and that's with 2WD, no roof stuff, etc. In warm weather my best MPG on a mixed-use highway/city trip of 50 miles was around 31.9. This is an almost perfectly-maintained car with about 60.5k miles on it.

That's not a strike against the car. It's around 40% better than what you'd get with a "normal" Escape 4WD - which it basically is, except that it recoups some energy. But it's also hauling around several hundred pounds more mass. This is not a light car, and it has relatively big tires.

 

Check this and do the Pinpoint Test F with a good multimeter, report back. If the fans are running and the battery isn't overheating and that's the only code you have, you might just have a loose or corroded connector, the C4227A. I don't know anything about how the recall may have affected the lights on the dashboard. Not a Ford tech so I can't confirm the recall has been done based on your photos. I think you've got a problem related to C4227A.

http://www.nicksmustangranch.com/Ser...tm#extract_784

 

Also you say: "until the vehicle cools down completely." That's kind of an ominous sign. The fact that you only get the P0A27 when the vehicle is "hot" tells me that maybe those battery cooling fans aren't working?

It could still be a bad connector, though. You must shoot it through Pinpoint F first.

 

It could very well be a ground fault on that pin in C4227A.

 

Thanks much for the info. I’ll try the pinpoint test next time the weather cooperates on a weekend (no garage parking here…). I have the Workshop Manual for the 2007 Hybrid and it has a similar, although slightly different, pinpoint test. In the 2007 Manual, it doesn’t mention in the Normal Operation description that the battery temperature can trigger PA027, but in the first step it asks if DTC P0A7E (Hybrid Battery Over-Temperature) is also present. In my case it is not present and I have never seen it.

But maybe I should take a closer look at the cooling system again. After I replaced the battery fans, I ran the TBCM self-test with Forscan and verified that the fans actually spun before I replaced the battery cover, so I feel like that is all in order. Also the battery has never called for A/C since I replaced the fans.

I’m not at all disappointed with the fuel economy (It’s way better than the mid-1990s Nissan Pathfinder we had before this), I’m just wondering how much to prioritize troubleshooting this issue if it seems to have no consequences other than the annoying beeping wrench light.

I’ll keep you posted!

 

It would be awesome if you've just got a loose connector/bad ground or something like that. We've seen a couple of ground fault/connector fault issues here recently and they can be a pain to find, but they're by far the cheapest and easiest things to fix.

As for the mileage, I don't want sound pessimistic, but you just have to be realistic about it. Thinking about it a little more last night, maybe you're a little bit toward the low end of "expected" at this age. The EPA estimates for your 2007 4WD were 28 City / 27 Highway / 27 Combined MPG, so you are not far off their stated values, and it's still pretty much winter. If your tires are good, all the maintenance is good, etc., etc., and it starts dropping lower even as the weather warms up, maybe something is wrong.

When I got mine I figured I'd be a super-duper Hybrid driver and get 35MPG everywhere and it just hasn't happened. I drive it like a regular car and just pay a little more attention to getting the most out of regen and EV mode at stoplights and around town. I'm sure there are some people who have posted better mileage over the years, but you have to be pretty obsessive to achieve them regularly. You say you drive on some logging roads and in the snow, and those logging roads are not always known for their smooth parking lot perfection. Keep an eye on it.

Do you have a laptop? Have you thought about running FORScan? If this is your only car, It's a good investment. Yes I see you did.

 

Also, I didn't run the drag equation through a calculator to figure out the forces and power drain involved, since I don't know the dimensions and coefficient of drag of your roof rig. Instead I'll just armchair engineer it and state without proof that your roof box carrier is knocking at least 2-3 MPG off your average in a 70 % city / 30% highway mix. The faster you go, the more it will take, obviously. So your car would probably be averaging 28 or maybe even as high as 30 MPG "naked" which is comfortably above the EPA estimates. As Scotty has said more than a few times over the years: "Captain! I canna change the laws of physics!"

That goofy dingdong wrench light would drive me nuts though, I hope you find it.

 

I did the electrical pinpoint test and everything checked out, got to the step “install new HVTB”, which I’m certainly not going to do now. By the way, the workshop manual had an additional pinpoint test: checking voltage between pins 8 - 30 and 8 – 31 on connector C4227A with the key ON; should be over 10V on both tests, and that also passed. None of these tests evaluate anything within the HVTB, so I am still wondering about that recall wiring harness.

Maybe re-seating connector C4227A may have fixed any flaky connections there. The connector is just behind the back seat near the edge of the cargo area floor mat and something sticky had been spilled down there; not sure if that was the previous owner or our 7-year old kid. I’ll need to go on a long drive with stop-and-go to see if the error comes back. If it does, then maybe I’ll try plunking down $75 on ebay for the harness as a next step.

As for fuel economy, I’m actually up to 26.6 MPG at the moment. I’ve been taking the scenic routes and avoiding limited access highways when possible. Also leaving space in front of me when stopped at at traffic signals so that I can accelerate more slowly and delay the ICE kicking on. Here’s a picture of the rig with the box on top, we use it to carry our skis so might take it off for the summer.

Thanks again for the info!

 

In that thread you mention here on the 2005-2007 voluntary recall, notice that they apparently replace the harness (and you have the correct part number) but also *reprogram the Battery Control Module* to correct its response to an "erroneous resistor reading" that was causing the light to light/cars to shut down. Shame on your Ford dealers for not even returning your phone calls. After 14 years I wonder whether they would even keep the records by VIN about whether your call had the "voluntary" recall done? They should. By the way that is the correct part number for the "recall." I don't know about how you could go about flashing the BCM.

This guy on eBay has a harness for sale for $45 apparently?? Maybe too good to be true?

https://www.ebay.com/p/1811209194

Hmmm. Definitely sounds like it could be contributing. Sticky wet stuff seeping into multipin connectors or farther down the line can definitely cause problems, particularly with a DTC that is being thrown ostensibly because of an *out of range thermistor value*. Something causes the connection not to make and the computer thinks the resistance reading (and thus battery temperature) is out of range? I would maybe disconnect it again and get some electrical contact/connector cleaner on it and then inspect to see if you can figure out whether sticky wet stuff made it farther down the line.

On the other hand, if none of this works you may be looking at replacing the Battery Control Module as the next step, to get a unit in there that has had the reprogramming done to eliminate the "bad resistor" problem mentioned in the thread above. Ugh. At least it's not shutting the car off.

You also really need to verify that the battery is not going overtemp. under any circumstances, in other words, that this is truly an erroneous reading. FORScan should be able to tell you, but I'm wondering if it reads the battery temperature off the same circuit that's throwing the code? Only experimentation will tell.

Let us know if the DTC returns. Just from reading that thread about the '05-'07 recalls, it seems that most Ford dealerships had like, maybe ONE tech. in the shop who understood Hybrids back when these cars were new, 14 years ago. Good luck finding one that has anyone now. You definitely need to be your own DIY best friend with these cars unless you live in Arizona and know S Keith by first name, or maybe Chicagoland and Ford Tech Makuloco (youtube), "Brian."