Took my FEH to the dealer this morning for jumping into the "Stop Safely Now" mode at each full stop while in "D" or "L". They pulled 5 DTCs and decided it was the M/ECS coolant pump. Guess what, after changing out the pump, the condition is still there and somewhat worse. (I'll get the DTCs and post them)

kinda spooky huh Bill?

 

Please don't tell me that....I just paid $800 today and drove the car home. Took a circuitous route as well and it was fine. I asked them to check the PCM connectors for corrosion like Mark had suggested and they said they would. The car was there for three days and I know they spent a good amount of time on the Ford Tech line.

I need to go out tomorrow and make sales calls. I really don't want to get stranded. I hope it works out for you and yours is still under warranty.

 

Look guys, after $1,200 of charges for the "Stop Safely Now" problem it came down to $12 relays. I've posted this information many times and have posted pictures on how to and where to replacing these relays. Very simple and I now keep a spare relay in my '05 FEH. There are about 5 or 6 of these relays that are all the same just like a fuse to change. They can act up and work perfect till the FEH/MMH will no longer start. They give off many codes when they act-up and drive the techs and Ford Hotline crazy.

Here are photos I up-loaded on CleanMPG.com
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/showg...ge/2/ppuser/36

GaryG

 

Thanks GaryG I thought it was you. Relays that are intermittent are VERY hard to figure out. You have to catch them acting up with the test equipment hooked up and looking for them. IF I WERE BOTH OF YOU I WOULD BUY ALL THE RELAYS THAT GARYG replaced AND INSTALL THEM.

 

Thanks Mark -

So when my SA and the Technician come back and tell me that all of these relays are in and functioning properly (which they have) I should ask them if they actually switched any of them out and test drove the vehicle - to see if the problem went away.

As it stands now, the Tech has downloaded a raft of information from the vehicle, as requested by the Ford engineers, and emailed it off to them.

 

Not being there and seeing the fault its hard to say for sure, BUT the relays are cheap. Like I said earlier they are very hard to catch failing until the are absolutely dead. One of the problems with modern car diagnostics is they overlook the simple. Do I think its only the relays, no, but its a simple and cheap (relatively) test. Or they could hook up to the various power inputs and drive the car till it acts up and see if they lost voltage. Time considered replacing the relays ends up cheaper even if it did not fix the problem. The biggest problem is you are not a technician, and anything you tell them they dont think you know what you are talking about, esp if you got it off a "forum".

 

I've really tried to be low key and not push my knowledge on them. Even after they blew me off when I specifically asked to drive the car for the Tech (to demonstrate the problem) when I got there. [They took the keys and the next thing I know, they came back and said the car threw 5 codes and we need to change the M/E coolant pump.] I did get them to assign it to the one Tech that does all the hybrids.

As it stands now I've instructed them to contact me when they hear back from Ford Engineering and not to do anything until they discuss it with me. I will probably never do any business with them again.....while in the waiting room I overheard them trying to upsell someone by telling them they needed "new upper control arms and brake rotors" on an fairly new vehicle that someone brought in for an oil change.

 

I drove the car about 150 miles today and no issues, yet. I am going to change the relays per the advice from both of you. Do I have to buy these at the dealer, or are they universal like a Bosch or P&B? I can't imagine the local dealer selling a relay for few bucks...

 

There are slight differences in the "Bosch" type relays. Mostly having to do with the anti ringing resistor/capacitor, current capacity, and the alloy of the contacts. You might be surprised at the cost from the dealer, IIR they are not that much. Unless you are sure they are an exact spec then I would use the Dealer relay.

 

GlennB what were your trouble codes, you could have a completely different problem. The MECS pump code will come up whenever any one of the computers shut down. My first thought when my PCM took a dive was that the MECS pump had gone bad, so did the dealer, but I was able to show him in the Ford manual that it was not bad. These cars are so complex that they can make fools of the vest best diagnostic technicians. They also don't fail that often so you don't get to practice fixing many of them. These cars are the future and you can expect this level of complexity in the future (starting now) even in non hybrid vehicles.