Not sure if this topic has been discussed already (my apologies if so ), at least I could not locate a thread for it, but find below the problem I ran into;

I own a 2010 FEH, and overall quite happy with it. Currently it has approx. 27K miles on the clock, and last night when running the vehicle it was lacking power, and it appeared if the EV was not functioning at all. I did hear the battery fan in the back running constantly. Two days earlier I had an oil/air filter change done, since I am moving next week from New Mexico to New York, thinking if possibly anything could have been induced during that work causing the problem, but it did not make sense to me (AC was working fine). This morning it seem it was running normal again, and battery fan did not run at all. Which somehow gave me the indication that it had to do something with temperature, however last night at 8:00pm it was that hot either, and I have used the car plenty of times during hot temperatures before. After some investigation and searching the forum for anything related to the HV battery, I started to undo the four black screws and one plastic clip on the left side of the HV battery (seen with the hatch open facing forward), which allows you to remove the black plastic cowl, what funnels the air in and out the battery. When I removed this, there was a big wad of dog hair stuck on the grid, blocking or restricting airflow to the battery. After cleaning it all, and I still might end up opening the battery compartment to check the rest of the duct work, I put it all back together. Now with this said, at times, I would have my 2 (large breed) dogs in the back when we go somewhere. Obviously not a good idea for an FEH, since the fan will suck their hair straight into the system, causing airflow restriction thus causing the EV to fail due to high temps. Hope this helps

 

My Standard Poodles do not shed hair and would not cause an issue. Your issue only applies with the 2010 and newer FEH due to the design change.

 

Yes, you are absolutely correct about the poodle, since it grows hair like a human does, and as you said do not shed. But this is one of the very few, if not only one dog breed was has this "advantage".
Didn't know that 2010 models and newer had this change, this probably explains also why I can not find a filter for it.
Thanks for the input.

 

Would it be possible to fabricate an air filter to fit inside the "black plastic cowling" that you mentioned? I had good success making my own cabin air filter from home A/C filters bought at the local Home Depot. You could get a 2'x3'x0.5" A/C filter and cut it to shape with tin snips to pressure fit into that cowling.

 

Not a bad idea, I was thinking along the same line. However I think using material like what you used for a cabin filter would be a bit to tight for this, and already restricting air flow to much. I think a piece of 'bug' screen would already catch a bunch of hair, but obviously not dust. But then again, I think they removed the filter altogether from later models for a reason. Once I open up the battery compartment, and can determine how much crap is caught in it, I can make a better judgement on what type of filter to use. stay tuned, and I'll keep you guys posted. I will also make a video or procedure from opening the battery, and see what I run into.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for a great post!! I've been wondering where the traction battery filter went (I recently moved from a 2006 Red FEH to a 2010 Gray FEH). Now I know and what to look for. Wonder why they did away with filter -- they were unreasonably expensive but clearly performed a good function.

 

You better hold on to your FEH, since Ford no longer makes the FE in an H version for the 2013 models . The FEH was a pet project from Bill Ford (see: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...-escape-hybrid). It appears to have very good reviews, and now that they no longer make them, will increase the value for whatever FEH is out there.

Coming back to the filter; my thoughts on why they removed the filter is that it caused problems when it would get clogged with dust and restricting airflow, causing the same problem for the EV eventually to fail. Plus they had to use a high quality filter, what caused them to be expensive.
I am going to experiment with a bug screen mesh, to catch the majority of the dog hair. I am also going to open up the battery compartment to make sure it is clean. I will write about that when I do it, and post instructions for it. Not sure when I am going to do this, since I am in the middle of a move from NM to NY. Stay tuned, more to come.

By the way, is there a glossary for all the acronyms you guys use and what not more? I can guess some of them, but others I have no clue. I am fairly new to this site. For example what is meant with E20?

Thanks and have a great ride in your FEH today.

 

meant with E20?===20% ethanol blended fuel
E50= 50% ethanol blended fuel
E85=85% ethanol blended fuel

For now, I will leave it at that.

 

Silky Terrier also.

 

... and Portuguese Water Dog.