I have a 2008 Escape Hybrid. Just purchased, used, with 65,000 miles. It now has 70,000 miles and is starting to act funny. If I accelerate above 70 mph on the freeway or if I am taking off from a stop with any kind of haste, the RPS shoot in excess of 5500. Almost as if the transmission is slipping. I have taken it to Ford and they said they couldn't find anything and wanted their transmission tec to look at it, but it would be a couple if weeks before they could get to it. Does it sound like my transmission is shot?

 

It sounds like your high voltage battery is dead or almost dead. From a stop or from highway speeds the HV battery+electric motor in the transaxle should assist acceleration so the gas engine doesn't have to work as hard.

Are you in a very cold or hot climate?

Have you pulled codes and checked the condition of the HV battery?

If the gauge on the dashboard isn't swinging into "assist" when you try to accelerate hard, your HV battery and traction motor are not supplying additional torque to accelerate the car. As a result the gasoline engine which in your case is a 2.3 liter Atkinson engine has to rev higher to supply power.

Next time you accelerate up a hill or away from a stop, watch the "charge/assist" gauge and report back your results. Even at highway speeds if you try to accelerate up a hill, for example, you should see the gauge swing into "assist" and stay there for a good 20-30 seconds if your HV battery is OK.

 

There is no "slipping" possible in this transmission. What is happening is that the computers are not getting enough power out of the traction motor to assist the gasoline engine and therefore are commanding it to rev higher in an attempt to meet the power demand you are asking for.

Why is that? Most likely the HV battery is not working properly and cannot hold enough charge to boost the gasoline engine. It's not at the point of "total failure" yet, so you're not seeing warning lights, but it's probably not maintaining enough charge.

To diagnose this further you will need FORScan.