Wayne, it was nice talking to you also and I picked up some good tips you take for granted. You should write a book on FE. Hope to communicate often as I can learn alot from you.

Mike uses this forum also and I think we need to get all the facts on the Eco Plus tires. The dealerships may give me more info if I come to them direct instead of Goodyear being in the middle. The price issue may have been a sticky area because of this. I'll know more if I get a bill for the tire from Goodyear.

Gary

 

A little good news on the Eco Plus tires. Today was the day I was to get my tire so I dropped by the dealership to check on the tire and have the service manager look in to why I lost my autolock on the '05 FEH. She remembered when I brought the FEH in when I smelled smoke.

The parts man said again that the Eco Plus could only be ordered from a Ford dealership. The retail cost is $95.94 plus taxes (they said they have a 10% mark up at that price). It turns out Continental shipped my tire by truck so I still am waiting for it. Also, I got an email from the yahoo site from a member who said he got a new tire from a regular tire dealer in California. Can anyone else confirm this? Again, Goodyear said they tried to go through Continental dealers but had to go through a Ford dealer.

Ecel, if your Ranger takes the same size tire as the FEH, your in business.

The service manager and I thought it was a good idea for her to take my VIN and do some research on the autolock problem before droping it off for repair. She said that the Hybrid mechanic may call the plant and engineers to resolve the problem. In the mean time, if anyone has a '05 FEH with autolock let me know. My build date was 1/19/05. BTW, autolock is where the doors all lock when you move foward or shift to drive.

Gary

 

With the cold, I've noticed that in L, the engine revs rather than shuts off, right up to a stop at which point it then ICE off occurs, quite often. As a solution, I've been using D, and using the double tap, and leaving it in D.

Guess with the cold, L may not have the biggest advantage after all.

 

Rich, even with the fact you can get a glide in low gear, using "D" for coasting is much easier. There is no question that "L" has given me an advantage for going EV and charging the battery. I still use the double tap when the battery is packed full to avoid the RPM thing like you.

Thank you for putting together that list of tips for newbe's. One thing that I don't agree with (and I know you guy's were told this in Dearborn) is about driving in EV all the time. There are very few here that even believe I can get over 40mpg to a tank. My conditions in South Florida are great but I could not get a 40mpg tank if it were not for a lot of EV driving period.

The "Fake Shift" now has a more important benifit thanks to excel (Wayne). Just got back from a 12 mile drive along the beach road and took some test draining the battery till the ICE starts. Normally it takes at least 1.8 miles at 30mph to recharge the battery with the ICE (where arrows stop showing a charge and it is full). I saved .5 miles by using the fake shift over and over every few seconds and maintaining 30mph. It only took 1.3 miles to do this with no charging coming from "L". Bottom line, I now can go a longer distance in EV than the distance it takes to recharge. This TRICK IS BETTER than finding "THE LOW GEAR ADVANTAGE"! I had no idea it would help this much!

My mpg numbers are going no place but UP. EV DRIVING RULES in the FEH!

GaryG

PS, I got my new Eco Plus tire on today.

 

I just thought of a name for this new found trick= "The Fake Speed Shift"

Got to love the FEH!

GaryG

 

Thank God, I thought I was going nuts!! Same thing is happening to me... Right at the end of my last tank, I started doing the shift thing, but after filling up it got cold (for here at least) and did the same thing Rich describes. Double-tapped to shut off, then L to slow, but at some point, not always at the same speed, the ICE would kick back on. I figured it was just because of the cold, was going to post about it, but it was back to "normal" the past few days with the temps zooming into the 60s! Back to cold next week though...

Fred

 

LOL, no problem. Since L seems to kick the engine on even after I get the ICE off via double tapping, I'm just leaving it in D when I have to stop.

So, right now, with the cold, it's D to drive, L to slow down, D to stop. Wheee!

I amended the technique to reflect your new name for it in the FAQ. I'm a little surprised, I expected a stronger reply from the community for doing it. Guess everyone just expected me to do it, or few people care.

 

Had the same thing with the engine rev here in ATL (30 deg) this morning. Can't remember if I was in L or D - probably D since I had been coasting to a parking space. Just before the ICE shut down the RPM went to a little over 3K then it shut down. I looked at the IF meter while it was revving and it was all the way to the top showing me even though it was revving that high no fuel was being burned. Same thing as over filling the battery and running off energy - but I don't think that was the case.

 

Before ever shifting to "L" after hearing about it from Ray and Rich, I never had this high rev problem. At first I thought it was a AWD problem or something. It began happening to me soon after. Its like taking a bite from the apple like Adam and Eve, it taste good but we pay for it latter. The double tap in "D" still works thank God.

GaryG

 

Except for the first time it happened, I never saw it as a problem. Still don't. No fuel is being burnt when it happens and it also let's me know that I have full batteries. Other than a little noise, I don't see a downside at all.

For my taste, when I am decelerating, I like the computer to control the regen and I don't have to mess with the brake pedal most of the time. The less the friction brakes are used, the better.

JMO as always.