Y'all are providing a lot of fun reading (and Thanks for that!) As to the value? Welllllll......hard to say. This stuff is tricky and it's sad we don't have the design engineers in the loop to give us some hard data, so to speak. All thru these posts we have people making hard and fast statements only to have some upset later or elsewhere. We're flying partially blind, or so it seems to me.
Here's a question: Do any of the Ford design/build engineers read this stuff? Seems like it would provide some value to them. Is there any way to get thru to them when we run into a sticky wicket? I had the good fortune to get to a design/test engineer (the "main man") at GE when buying a hybrid water heater (air source heat pump). He was a wealth of info and turned me onto some things I'd never have thought of. He also gave me some good solid inside info at the "me-to-you" level without stupid stuff or stupid people in the way. It was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. Methinks my GE water heater is a lot better than I knew and it's nice to know why. Wouldn't it be just lovely to have the same experience with an FEH guy who worked on the design/test? Just askin' ....

 

Since the FEH is dead after 2012, I don't think there is much interest over there at Ford.

 

But didn't someone say that it's making it's way into a Lincoln? ... or wasn't that the hybrid?

 

Oh, it is being used in the Fusion and in the Lincoln version of that car. But the question was if anyone at Ford was watching the FEH forum... not likely. And in any case, I imagine they have already updated the components and software to some extent.

 

It's been awhile, but I've gotten PM's from a Ford Hybrid Engineer on how the eCVT operates below and above 40mph. At the time, GPSman1 and I were having a heated discussion on the matter. It wasn't here at GH, but I was told also by another Ford employee that they monitor a number of these sites for feedback. In both cases it seemed they were afraid to be revealed and lose their jobs, so they didn't respond back. Over at the blueoval site, I got help getting my Explorer with a priority shipment according to my salesman. The driver that delivered my Explorer told him I got put ahead of everyone and I had to know someone at Ford. I have an ideal who it was because he also advised me how to handle the dealer finance manager trying to steal business from my Credit Union who had already approved my loan. The dealer matched my loan rate, but the Credit Union then offered me free Gap Ins. The finance manager refused to let me go with my Credit Union because I had already got the Explorer. I had the Credit Union cut me a check for the balance on the Explorer and I took it to the finance manager, end of story.

I've also had a lady PM me with her name at Cleanmpg.com promoting the '11 Explorer. A moderator thought she was spamming the site and prevented her from posting anymore. The moderator (Chuck) PM'ed me and said he cut her off. After I explained to the moderator she was working for Ford, he let her post again. She ended up giving us direct information from Ford Engineers. I posted a list of questions to her and she answered most if not all the questions I had about the new Explorer before production.

GaryG

 

Hey GaryG ~ Nice job on getting to a Ford Hybrid Engineer (your post 11-2-11). Any chance of sharing what you learned from him/her about how the eCVT operates above/below 40mph. I'd love to know!