Ford Escape Hybrid Electrical & Lighting Problems

PF_Flyer

Discuss Escape hybrid electrical and lighting problems here.

mschmal

If you can avoid it, DO NOT let the 12 volt regular car battery go dead. This can cause major problems with the Hybrid control computer.

Mark.

carysbluesky

know anything about replacing the fog lamps on the 06 Ford Escape Hybrid?

gracie01

2006 Ford Escape Hybrid - Chronic intermittent battery drain. Sits for 48 hours and battery is dead. Batteries have been replaced; ABS has been replaced. Has been to dealership multiple times in the past 6 months. They say they have to catch the power surge at the time it happens or they cannot see the problem. Has anybody had this problem?

dsteak

as of last week, i'm having this problem. i left it at the airport for 4 days and when i came back the battery was dead. i've had it jumped, driven it for days, but it keeps dying. funny thing is, i can always get it started. if i keep turning the key, eventually, the electrics kick in and it starts.

do you know what your problem is? taking it to the dealer tomorrow.

odoug

did you find a solution?
i'm having the same problem

gpelletier

My car is in the shop right now for the same exact problem. I'm getting the battery replaced for the first time, but it started losing it's charge a couple of weeks ago. Due to unemployment, I have been staying more local and the car has been idle for periods of time. I have had it jumped, can drive for 2-3 days and then it dies again. Yesterday it was charged, I ran a few errands and it was fine and by the evening it was dead again. Unfortunately, I already have 80,000 miles so it is passed the warranty.

carysbluesky

First check your alternator. If its not charging, you now know the problem. If it charges and your battery is more than three years old, you're about due for a new 12 V battery. Remember, battery up front has nothing to do with the one that assists in powering your car. If you have an alarm and you don't drive long enough for the alternator to recharge the 12V batt. your battery will live less than normal; about three years depending on the temps and climate you live in. I.e., short trips in very hot Wx using your AC will shorten your battery's life. Again, the 300v batt. in the back has nothing to do with any of your electrical auto's needs other than to assist the drivetrain.

gpelletier

Thanks, carybluesky! That was extremely useful information and sounds quite accurate for my situation. My battery was 3 years old so I had it replaced today. Hopefully, that will take care of the problem. I will check with the FORD Service Center and make sure they tested the alternator as you suggested. I will keep you all posted.

lindazilla

I have been dealing with this same problem on my 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid for the last few months. 12v battery has been replaced twice, car has been jumped multiple times, have yet to find a mechanic that can figure out where the battery drain is coming from. At the end of my rope with Ford at this point. :mad:

stevedebi

" Again, the 300v batt. in the back has nothing to do with any of your electrical auto's needs other than to assist the drivetrain. "

Not quite. The traction battery also starts the engine by spinning it up via the electric generator.

One interesting thing about the FEH is that the 12v battery is only needed to supply power to the electronics (when starting the vehicle) - it does not actually provide startup power.

carysbluesky

Did you have an after market car alarm or any electronics installed? If so, you may find the culprit for the drain on your battery. It only takes one small bulb to drain your batt. in two days, especially if it's cold. It took over three months without use to drain my batt. A slow charge over six hrs brought it back to life; and, have no problems since.

carysbluesky

You're really splitting hairs. Without juice to the starter relay, you have no start; and, the relay gets its power directly from the 12v batt.

stevedebi

"You're really splitting hairs. Without juice to the starter relay, you have no start; and, the relay gets its power directly from the 12v batt. "

Well, I was hoping to clarify the manner in which the FEH starts. On most vehicles the 12v battery turns a starter motor; thus the 12v battery starts the car. On the FEH the main traction battery starts the vehicle. It is also why the FEH won't start in Neutral. I hope my original post was clear that the 12v only powers up the electronics.

Page 235 of my 2008 owners manual has a procedure for jump starting the high voltage battery from the 12v battery, but there is no means to provide a jump start TO the 12v battery, an interesting omission.

livelife4me

Thought I would post as this is the third time the car alarm has gone off in the middle of the night/morning. I'm awoken to the horn beeping and the lights flashing. No one is around the car trying to get in. When starting the car the next morning "passagener door adjar" message is in the display but the door (all the doors) is shut tight. My boss suggested the cold temp is making the alarm go off? Any thoughts or has the happened to anyone else? I live in Florida by the way and the temps have been getting quite low. :confuse:

stevedebi

"Thought I would post as this is the third time the car alarm has gone off in the middle of the night/morning. I'm awoken to the horn beeping and the lights flashing. No one is around the car trying to get in. When starting the car the next morning "passagener door adjar" message is in the display but the door (all the doors) is shut tight. My boss suggested the cold temp is making the alarm go off? Any thoughts or has the happened to anyone else? I live in Florida by the way and the temps have been getting quite low."

Are you positive that the dealer did not install an after market alarm? These are not permitted on the FEH, but I have read of some dealers installing them anyway, to generate money from the add-on.

From your description it sounds like a bad contact on the passenger door, but I just thought I'd mention the obvious.

debbie71

Was your battery problem ever resolved by Ford? My Escape Hybrid is having the same problem with the battery repeated dying, even after a new battery. Ford techs cannot find the problem and I am driving their loaner car. Help! Thanks!

cpatriaw

Hi,
Is it ok to charging the phone while the car is parked (engine off) ? i'm asking since it's still charging when the engine is off

thanks.,

gpelletier

I believe this is what caused my battery to die. I left the phone charging all night and in the morning the battery dead.

06hybrid1

I have an 06 Hybrid with 80,000 mi. The reverse lights won't go on. I had it into the dealer and they checked the fuses and bulbs but couldn't find the problem. Anyone else have this issue? If so, what did it turn out to be?

PF_Flyer

If the fuses and bulbs are OK, it pretty much has to be the switch that turns the reverse lights on when you move the gear shift into the reverse position. I just had this switch go bad on one of my vehicles and replaced it. It's also possible it could also be a broken/cracked/disconnected wire that runs to the switch, but my money would be on the switch itself.

But just to get this right... the dealer pulls the fuses, says, "These is OK", pulls the bulbs, finds out they're fine, stops at that and says he can't find anything wrong??

You might want to consider finding another service place if that's the case. That's sort of like saying, "The car won't start. I checked that there's gas in the tank and the battery has a charge... I can't find anything wrong"

06hybrid1

I was thinking the same thing! How hard can it be? I plan to take it to a different Ford dealership next time that hopefully has some more knowledgeable staff in the service department. Or maybe I should find a local guy since it isn't under warranty anymore anyway. Thanks for your response!

PF_Flyer

I suppose it's POSSIBLE that when the dealer said he checked the fuses and bulbs that he MEANT he checked the switch as well. But I sure would like to hear the words come out of his mouth rather than have to try and figure it out.

Before you let anyone chase some imagined electrical gremlin, make sure they've checked the switch and the wiring that runs to it. Other than the connection to the power source, that circuit has no interaction with any other electrical system in the car. So it HAS to be a continuity problem in the circuit somewhere.

ndfeet

2007 FEH came home shut the car off came back out an hour later nothing. The headlight were dim no dash lights and relays were clicking. Put a battery charger on it and then more relays started clicking odometer and tach were pulsing with the relay clicks. jumped it and it started. took it to the Ford dealer they said battery was shot and a relay was out. 4days later the relay is here now the low tire light is on and they say I need another part $253.oo to fix that. I said we will leave that and make sure the other relay fixed the first problem. Any idea's what would cause the first problem.

dgcarlson1

Not sure what's up with your relays. How many miles are on your '07 FEH?

Since I got my '08 FEH back after getting a new water pump at 80k miles I have had the powertrain (lighted wrench) warning come on and stay on three times. The FEH runs fine and I pull it over, turn it off and on again and the warning light goes away.It has not happened in over a month.

litlfish56

have you had the ABS Tone Rings checked? That's what the culprit was in my 2008 FEH.

litlfish56

Anyone experience your rear wiper coming on when you start your Escape Hybrid? Mine will start intermittently with no control on the stalk (turn signal stalk). It's like it is possessed. I will shut the car off, go back & open/close the rear hatch and it stays off. Next time I start up, it's back happily wiping the rear glass with no input from me (the driver) ...STRANGE! Wondering if there's a short somewhere.

litlfish56

Anyone expreience thier A/C shutting off (blower just quits!) while driving? It's happened several times over the past four years in our 2008 Escape Hybrid. I pull over, turn the engine off, restart, and viola! The blower A/C comes right back on. I swear, this car seems possessed at times. Anyone else experience this? Suggestions?

marcuscrv

I have a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid that has had the blend door, battery fans, MECS pump and transmission changed. Everything seems to be working fine except the cruise control and the power outlet. The green led blinks from time to time. Sometimes, it could be several times a day and other days maybe once or twice. The one thing I can tell you is if I start the car with a solid light, the light will stay solid the whole time the car is running, conversely, if the car starts and the light is blinking, it will stay like that till you shut off the car. Ford says there are no diagnostic trouble codes and they already have replaced the outlet. I brought it in with the light blinking and that is when they told me the socket is no good, but I think they do not have a clue what the matter is. The dealer called the Ford hotline, and they told them there are two tests to perform which my car passed. Any suggestions? I have brought the car back 5 times. Thanks, Marc

carysbluesky

"Wrench Light" diagnosed by Ford. Cooling Fans for the '06 FEH high voltage battery (HVB) needs replacement according to a "Technical Bulletin." (There is no apparent problem other than the light itself), and it's not covered by Ford's extended warranty, I believe the cooling fans are part of the "HVB system," which is warranted for 10 years. Are the cooling fans covered by the original 10 yr HVB warranty or not?

stevedebi

""Wrench Light" diagnosed by Ford. Cooling Fans for the '06 FEH high voltage battery (HVB) needs replacement according to a "Technical Bulletin." (There is no apparent problem other than the light itself), and it's not covered by Ford's extended warranty, I believe the cooling fans are part of the "HVB system," which is warranted for 10 years. Are the cooling fans covered by the original 10 yr HVB warranty or not? "

The Ford dealer needs to put in the warranty request for the entire battery pack, which includes the fan. The fan is not supposed to be replaced by itself. If the dealer requests the warranty this way, it will be covered. If they just put in the fan stock number, the warranty coverage will be rejected. Many owners have had their similar problem fixed under the 10 year warranty.

mingo1

I have 64K on my 08 FEH (just had a 60K service). It has been getting the wrench light, which cannot be diagnosed unless you bring to a dealer when the light is on, intermittently for about a year. There are no problems when the light is on and it does not appear after a cold start. Well, a week ago I was driving home when the "Master vehicle electrical hazard
warning lamp" came on along with a text message said to stop the immediately, which I did. I turned the engine off and restarted it. The warning was gone, so I resumed my trip home. The warning came on 2 more times in the 4 mi trip home. The error was reset when the engine was restarted. This is a scary warning! I researched this error on the internet and it appears there are many type of failures that can cause it (read: hard to fix). My research indicated this error strikes vehicles with 50K+ miles across all model years. I traded it in the next day. I don't want to deal with an intermittent catastrophic failure. I am normally 50-100 mi from home on the weekends in rural areas where there is little or no cell service. I lost my taste for hybrids.

:sick:

stevedebi

Sorry to hear of your problems. I hope you got good value for your trade in! Is your dealer very familiar with hybrids? I think that makes all the difference when dealing with this sort of thing. It may well have been the electronics pump in the front, that seems to be the most common. The intermittent light often means the blend door actuator is having problems, but the dealer has to perform special computer analysis to find this error.

Good luck with your new ride! What did you get to replace your FEH?

mingo1

Hi,

I like the Escape, so I bought a 2012 v6 Escape. It gets significantly poorer MPGs, but I really like the extra power of the v6. It is a real highway cruiser.

Regards

stevedebi

"I like the Escape, so I bought a 2012 v6 Escape. It gets significantly poorer MPGs, but I really like the extra power of the v6. It is a real highway cruiser. "

That sounds like a great car for you. You might want to check in on the Escape forums to meet with others that have that drivetrain.

edgaeta66

I don't know if this is the correct place for this question. The driver side rear widow will not go up. Any know what the problem might be.

mercmar8

2008 MMH 70,200 miles. Intermittently I will have no A/c. I turn it off then on again and it works fine for that trip. It now will occur but I also will have no front or rear wipers. They have replaced the Hybrid cooling pump, actuators and blend doors. But this keeps recurring. Any ideas?? At 59,000 I had the red triangle and loss of power issue. That was repaired with the cooling pump.