Anyone know of any tricks or rules of thumb for measuring the health or life remaining in the NiMH high-voltage battery packs, using the data available in a scan tool? I see there is a data field BATPAC_STAT that says “Pack OK”, also the “Energy available” readout on the dash that is probably fed off that same data field, but those seem to be a binary yes/no thing that will get triggered suddenly when death is upon the battery.

I have a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid AWD with about 131K miles. It has a battery issue that is more of an annoyance and maybe degrading fuel economy a bit (see my other thread about PA027 for details on that issue). I probably wouldn’t fork over the cash to replace the battery unless I could tell that it was close to needing replacement anyway or had significantly degraded performance.

Thanks for any tips!

 

I've seen the batteries for $500 but I too would like a way to measure battery health. Can't use voltage and all I heard was if it discharges quickly while sitting then it's failing.