Long story short, I drove my FEH into a 2 feet of muddy water. FEH got stuck in water and ran with ICE for about 8 minutes until it died after the water in the cabin rose to 6 inches. Any one with experience with flooded FEH if this can be recovered?
High Voltage Battery was kept dry. Water level was below the Exhaust manifold and at the radiator /ac clutch fan motor level. The water level in the cabin is as pictured. The FEH sat in the water for about 3 hours until it was towed out.

Any help or recommendation is greatly appreciated.


FRONT

Cabin

Rear

 

GEM and passenger compartment fuse box are located in the center console and look like they got submerged in water. I'd start there.

 

Thanks! I taken the center console apart and looks like there's a bunch of electronics there.

 

Ugh. I'm sorry to see your pain here. I don't have anything in my direct experience to help with this, but it sure looks like the exhaust system got soaked. If it's full of water, I don't think the engine could possibly expel exhaust forcibly enough to keep running. You say it ran for about 8 minutes and then died - I'm thinking backpressure from water in the exhaust killed the motor? It looks like you sunk it just enough to completely cover the rear muffler, and it's also angled downhill. Since the water made it into the interior I'm hoping (I don't know for sure) that it didn't also flood the catalytic converter, and none made it into the engine itself. I don't know how the front end of the exhaust system is laid out but getting all the water out of the exhaust is a must.

Also make sure you check under the passenger rear seat cushion and verify that the water didn't get close to the main battery connector (be careful!).

I just got one of these cars - I'm no expert, so please take my advice with the necessary grain of salt. I really hope you get it going again.

 

Also it looks like the front axles got completely submerged, but it's hard to tell for sure. I think you're going to want to drain and replace the eCVT fluid and hope nothing got past the transaxle seals.

 

Alexk,

Yea my assumption the reason it died after was that the entire exhaust pipe got filled with water because it was down hill where it cannot expel the water out. The back pressure could have stopped the engine. I doubt the High voltage battery connector got wet cuz the rear seats didn't get wet. It was about 2 inches deed at the rear cabin becauee it was on a down slope.

I do not believe the water entered the engine because the air filter did not have signs of being wet and that while it was in the water I check the water level and it was below the exhaust manifold down stream. But water might have gone to the catalytic converter.

Right now I stripped out the entire carpet and electronic modules under the dash, and also the center console. It is currently baking under the FL sun until I come back from Las Vegas in 5 days. So I hope it fully dries in 9 days. My main concern are the electronic modules that I removed ( the fuse box under the center console, the ac-dc converter, the restraint module control, and a unknow black box with USB connectors). The wiring along the chasi should dry up from the FL heat.

I will update once i start putting it together.

Thanks for your reply.

 

If water passed transaxle seal what will happen? I need to replace the axles? Thats my main concern too about the eCVT. Gonna check the eCVT fluid when I get back.

 

If the CV joint boots, 2 on each halfshaft, are old, torn or leaking you could very well have water in the CV joints which will cause trouble, but they're not the big worry. The the main thing I'd be concerned about is water getting inside the eCVT itself, damaging the electric motors and of course the bearings and rest of the innards of that transmission. The "big" traction motor is in there but also the generator/starter motor. On these vehicles the eCVT is really where all the magic happens - 2 electric motors, a transfer gear and the final drive - and water is not supposed to be in there.


A company called Acustrip makes a testing product (Acustrip 40002) to test for water in various kinds of hydraulic oils but whew, you have to buy 24 packs of them for $720 from the manufacturer. That's a lot of bread, unless you can find someone who has one of the kits and can help you out.

The fluid itself is easy to drain and refill. I honestly don't know whether Mercon V (2005-2008) or Mercon LV (2009-2012) are hygroscopic (absorb water). I'm hoping that when you drain it, the water will be visible if any is in there, and I hope you've got none at all. With any luck all the seals on your unit are good and nothing has seeped inside. But you're going to have to drain it and refill it before you try to start that car.

Good luck!

 

By the way if you watch that video from John D. Kelly at Weber Auto, you can see why there's almost nobody in the world who can service these eCVT transmissions. First, they're really not designed to be rebuilt or serviced, except for a handful of parts inside, but the big issue is that Ford/Aisin never produced any documentation regarding their engineering, construction and service. The idea was: "If it stops working, take it to the dealer and have them replace the whole thing."

He made that video in 2016, after the FEH had been on the road for 11 years, and most of the comments show just how little anyone knew about them - seeing it for the first time! And of course, Ford said they were "filled for life" but in reality "life" means "replace this fluid every 60,000 miles or life is almost over." The teardown video from NYC taxicab FEHs with hundreds of thousand of miles show that the eCVT is very, very durable if the fluid is changed. 150,000 miles+ with essentially no wear and some of those cabs went 300,000 and more.

That's why I hope yours is OK. It's almost a crime to scrap them.

 

It would break my heart to scrap this car. I love the car since I purchased it last year. I've only had the car for 11 months and I purchased it with 220000 miles and it still ran strong. My stubborn self had to go try it through the water. At the moment I am away and will definitely drain the ecvt oil and hope it did not get wet inside. I really don't like going to the stealership. I never in my life got a car repaired with them. Will update here.