Hello, a few days ago I noticed my 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid no longer shuts off the gas motor when stopped. Up until recently, the gas motor would shut off when at a stop light, or in slower traffic-- as long as the AC wasn't running. But now the gas motor keeps running.
When I first start the vehicle, the gas motor will still sometimes shut off normally for the first 10 minutes or so if I stop. But after the engine warms up, it never shuts off now. When at a stop light, while the gas engine is running, I can hear a clutch kicking in and out, similar to the AC one. But, my AC is off.
I checked the coolant, and it looks fine.
There are no warning lights.

Anyone know what might be causing this?

Thanks!

 

Hello Jessica. Were you able to figure out your problem? It's been over 250miles since my 07 has gone into full EV mode even though i always leave the hvac dial set to off. The engine still gets assist and charge, it just wont ever turn off the ICE. Gas mileage is still good at 32mpg. No codes are thrown and the 'system check' on the dash reports all OKs.

I'm unsure what components I should investigate.

 

Still no easy fix. I brought it to Ford and they said they need to replace the fan, which is a special fan and has to be built. Will cost me about $1600.

 

Mine magically started to work this morning. I've still got no clue what the cause was and didn't end up with any similar reported problems after researching for a handful of hours.

wow $1600 for a fan?! Pretty sure you could replace the entire battery pack (including fans) for that kind of money. I bet the motor for that fan doesn't cost more than 15 bucks on amazon. You could buy a replacement motor with similar specs and then pull the squirrel cage from the old bad motor and press it onto the new one. I'd definitely try that route first. ... that is unless the dealer has no clue what's wrong either and is just ordering an entire battery pack to hedge their guess.

 

Battery fan replacement kits from Ford is about $250-300. If you have the tools (security torx being the only oddball) it's about 2 hours of labor.

 

And if you don't have a security Torx bit, you can buy a complete set of almost every security bit know to man at Harbor Freight for $15.

 

Hello, and thanks for all the replies! They had to have the fan 'built', apparently. Not sure why it's not a part they have in stock, but that's the way it is I guess. After all was done, the job including labor and tax was about $1k.

 

Oh my, that was way too much. I bought the ford fan set from silverstate ford parts, total w/shippng was less than $200. There was no "building" just replace old ones with new bolt in parts. Took a couple hours, nothing difficult at all.
Mike