Yeah, i will do that tomorrow. I checked the maintenance on Carfax and it doesn't look like its ever been done

 

The Carfax probably will not show it because most owners do not know it should be done - since the manual does not tell them - and usually neither did the Ford dealership, but the drain/fill plugs are there for a reason. It is one of the simplest and most basic maintenance chores you can perform on this car, with high value for the money. The transaxle has two electric motors of course, but also bearings and gears including the planetary gearset that makes all the "magic" happen, and as you can see from the fins on the bottom of the case, the fluid itself is part of the cooling equation along with the MECS.

 

I have 4wd and have never seen close to 6k RPM, even up at highway speeds. But this is an 09. My a/c does the same thing when I enable econ. The 4wd only runs when the car turns it on, maybe it's stuck on and you're hitting huge RPMs.

Funny thing, I've never seen anyone talking about replacing the fluid in the rear diff. On hondas it had to be done much like the PTU, every 30/40k miles. I think at some point I will change mine.

 

I thought about it a little more last night, and also with what ShadyEscape said: Here on the forum, I've seen people in the Bay Area of CA talk about seeing 5K RPM on hills out there, I would imagine at highway speeds. 6K does sound a little high to me, though, even at 85 MPH uphill. I just have no idea how big or steep a hill we're talking about here. For some people, a "steep hill" is a 5% grade and most state and interstate roads try to stay under 5%.

OTOH, if you're seeing higher than usual RPM regularly, in different speed ranges, including highway, the car seems sluggish, you could have a plugged catalytic converter, and not fixing that will damage your engine in a major way. It's difficult to say given what you have reported, but if this was a used car of relatively unknown provenance at higher mileage, a plugged or partially plugged catalyst will cause driveability issues and high RPM behavior. And driving for long periods at high RPMs with a plugged catalyst can absolutely cause trouble up to and including melted engine parts, and even fire. $$$.

Try this Google search. In one of the "High RPM" threads, tecz0r discovered his plugged catalyst too late.

 

I ran the self diagnostics and Forscan and it says the 4x4 is fine, but i will check the Cat, i have heard bad things about that.
I can't find the grade, but it was in the Eldorado Hills in CA, and i know some of the roads i was on were 9% grade. It didn't jump up to 6k RPM if a just went uphill slowly losing speed, only when i tried to keep my speed steady. My brother is coming over leater to help with the Transmission fluid change (he has the tools), and we will chech the Cat. Thanks again.

 

You're welcome. That is pretty steep. I ran a road horsepower calculator with data for a 2005, which has a coefficient of drag of about 0.4 and a frontal area of approximately 29 square feet. At 85 miles per hour and 3900 pounds gross weight, that would require something in the range of 60-65 HP including tire frictional losses to move down the road on a *flat* surface at sea level. Now factor in a hot day, higher elevation (engine gets "weaker") with air conditioning and 4WD and you're in the 70-80 horsepower range on a flat surface. Then try to pull a 9% grade at that speed and you'll be well over 100 horsepower at the wheels, and I can easily see the RPM getting quite high, that's steeper than anything I have out where I live. But do check the catalyst, just for your own sanity. It's a 2005, it's 16 years old, and so you may be having problems if it's never been replaced.

While you're under there have a look at the PTU. If you have a lot of "black gunk" you might have fluid leak and then take a look at ShadyEscape's thread. Once the PTU starts to go, it won't get better on its own. It's a good idea to change the fluid but it's a bit of a pain because there is no drain plug.

Best of luck, and let us know.

 

Had similar experience driving Colorado in a corolla. Don't remember excessive revving. Car just wouldn't climb even if you put the pedal to the floor. Going down the hills was way worse, had to shift to L. We were in good company with a whole lane of slow pokes. All the outbacks and pickups passed on the left

Could just be the FEH being under powered... but the revs I really don't know because it's my first CVT car.

 

The only times you should feel anything like a regular "shift" in an automatic transmission with this car are for a few brief instants when the ICE engine spins up and occasionally under low load/trailing throttle right around 40-45 MPH when the computer is deciding whether to keep the ICE engine running or switch in/out of EV mode, it will occasionally have an almost imperceptible "bump." Otherwise the electronics do their best to operate the various power sources as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. In the end, though, all the energy comes from burning gasoline.

If you're the kind of person who enjoys "geeking out" about these things, have a look at this PDF from 2005 on the powertrain theory. The FEH begins on Page 65 and Page 70 shows the state transition diagram between the various modes.

http://john2211.nl/Hybride_links_files/Miller_W04.pdf

 

I changed the transmission fluid, what came out was a very dark red fluid, so i doubt it has ever been changed. I reset my MPG and it was up to 29mpg which is a lot higher than before, it settled to 27mpg but we will see after a few days. I floored it a few times to see what would happen and the RPMs didn't jump as high as normal. I need to take it back up to the hills and see how it does there, but it seems to be running better. Thanks a lot.

 

That's great to hear. New Mercon V should also be red - but not dark - as you can see in that video. So you can see that even without any combustion byproducts in there, the fluid does change color and that's because it is changing chemically with the heat cycling and the wear on the internals, fine particulate suspension, etc. There is actually a filter inside the transaxle, and Ford doesn't talk about it either. It's major surgery to replace that filter. So you want to keep the fluid in good shape to help it live as long as it can, also.