My instructions on restoring the hybrid EV function on the Ford Fusion Hybrid approaching the 8/9+ years mark.

[Jackson16]

On 10/4/2019 at 2:01 AM, allen84 said:

 

Knowing Ford, They probably won't turn back the age of the battery back to year 0 or 1 as most have already had done if it were in a brand new condition.  They will protect their asses once again, as they know it has been almost 10 years for the HVB and the current state that it's in.   Would they honestly think that we would keep driving the car for another 10 years or more?

 

For the most part, the engineering dept,  would probably program the age to roll back 3-5 more years at the most to keep it from completely dying on you which will unable you to run the car. But can it really happen though?.  They might think that this would be more than suitable enough to muster any more life out of the HVB before it is really recommended it starts to need replacing.  Just like the oil change reminder, when reaching 10% oil life, instructing you to change oil soon, to 0% to "oil change required".  They will possibly program in a similar message this time with something like "Replace HVB soon"  to "HVB replacement required to optimize EV".  So now owners won't be left in the dark wondering why their car's EV isn't working anymore, making trips to the dealership with no answers and wasted attempts and money in trying to figure it out with no answers.  This is my guess as one of the probable outcomes.

 

We are really in a dilemma here.  Do we ignore Ford's message saying "Do not attempt any repairs at this time" and circumvent it ourselves to give us full new life out of the HVB?  Or do we take on Ford's official fix, knowing they may full well reprogram the software, which might give you back a few more years of EV at most, before they start to force a message upon us basically saying:

 

"Don't be a cheap ass, replace your HVB to get your EV back.  You've driven the car for 13-15 years.  Have you considered upgrading to our new 2023-2025 Energi model?  Stop by our dealer today for more details"

 

I really can't wait for what solution Ford will bring out.   Aside from hoping that they will flat out come out and say, Free replacement of your entire HVB to our new and improved generation of battery cells.   ( I wish...that would assure me to be a continued customer of their products), but we all know this would be the least likely of cases.

Hi Allen, I’m having  an issue with my 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid has only 91K miles and the problem is the EV mode not working ! It’s running like non hybrid straight gas .. I want to know witch laptop I should buy to download the software? Thanks man you helped a lot of people you are the king ? LOL 

[allen84]

1 hour ago, sofiane said:

Hi Allen, I’m having  an issue with my 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid has only 91K miles and the problem is the EV mode not working ! It’s running like non hybrid straight gas .. I want to know witch laptop I should buy to download the software? Thanks man you helped a lot of people you are the king ? LOL 

 

Buying a laptop is pretty expensive just to perform this operation,  Unless you're in need of one for personal use/work/school (Black Friday is coming up, I guess you could get one for great price lol).  You could always borrow one from a friend or a family member to do this.  A laptop running Windows 7 or 10 should be good enough.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by allen84

[Notacab]

Hey guys im new to this forum. I have a 2010 fusion hybrid and these problems have just started with me in the past 2 weeks. Does anyone else get a surging in the engine when accelerating? Im assuming it has to do with the battery issue also. My car now runs on the ice almost all the time except at stop lights. The EV mode wont come on at all. Im hoping this will fix my issue. Im just waiting on the obd to come in this week and will give it a try. I will report back and let you guys know what happened. Oh one question has anyone had the wrench light come on when its warm out going 70+??. Wondering what that is all about. 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Notacab

[asicking]

Since I applied the fix at 300k miles I went from about 37-38 mpg to 43-46 mpg. On trips through rural areas (max speed 40 mph, infrequent stops) I get 55mpg+. I also have better quick acceleration from a full stop. If I were you I would install the fix and keep searching for help (or just take the car in for service) on the surging issue. I’m in New England; this summer my wrench light came on frequently after high speeds combined with warm temps, even after the fix. I haven’t seen it since weather has cooled.

[Notacab]

The wrench light doesn't come on now that the temps has dropped So for now ill leave it be. My mpg is pretty bad now. I use this car to do uber and when i got home last nite i was getting around 33mpg. It was at 40+ back in the summer. How high does your EV green level go up to? Mine is down at the very bottom. The letters EV rarely comes on. Just curious how high its suppose to be so i have an idea when i apply the fix. 

[asicking]

My green level I think maybe goes up just above half way. I don’t pay much attention. If your experience is like mine, you’ll see the EV mode immediately operating like it did before its dramatic change. 

[Notacab]

That would be nice. I have never seen up at half. I have only owned the car for a yr. This is why im thinking my hesitation from a full stop is coming from the battery not working right. I hope this solves all these issues. Oh did u ever replace the batteries after 300k?

Edited November 11, 2019 by Notacab

[lolder]

6 hours ago, Notacab said:

The wrench light doesn't come on now that the temps has dropped So for now ill leave it be. My mpg is pretty bad now. I use this car to do uber and when i got home last nite i was getting around 33mpg. It was at 40+ back in the summer. How high does your EV green level go up to? Mine is down at the very bottom. The letters EV rarely comes on. Just curious how high its suppose to be so i have an idea when i apply the fix. 

In "Empower" dash display mode the EV limit line should go to the third line after HVB age change.

[asicking]

Sorry for confusion I may have caused. I can confirm that the green bar goes no higher than to the 3rd line on the display, as stated above. It does not go a little bit above half. 

[Notacab]

Its ok as long as i get the ev mode back would be great. 

[allen84]

3 hours ago, Notacab said:

Its ok as long as i get the ev mode back would be great. 

 

This is as big the as the green box gets (see picture below).  Same as when you bought the car brand new, when experiencing EV.     

 

Also to your question about the yellow wrench light.  I had it this summer. Suffered through it for 2 weeks until it got worse and worse.  Turning the car on and off got rid of it, but it came back every 10 minutes,  Eventually, you will get 2 yellow wrenches on the dash.  one small and a large wrench.  Continuing to ignore it, a check engine light will come on.    Plugged in my ODBII  said I had a P2112 - Throttle body stuck closed.   

 

There is 2 ways to fix this.  Very easy:

 

-Clean the throttle body with throttle body cleaner.    Mine was caked with thick black carbon, took almost an hour to clean it with a popsicle stick and toothbrush.  Apparently, you have to be careful cleaning the flap, as the gear controlling the position is delicate.  I was kind of rough with it.  After cleaning it, and put the throttle body back into the car, it only worked for a few days, until the problem came back.

 

-buy a new one from your dealer.  It's about $70.  I replaced it myself, and haven't had an issue since.  

Edited November 12, 2019 by allen84

[Notacab]

Thanks allen for the info. I have only owned this car for a year so i don't know how it looked like when new. Hopefully it will work and my car will run better. 

[Nizo]

I registered today just to say thank you allen84 for your clear instructions and help you provided to many many ford owners that I'm sure lost their mind trying to figure out why is this happening. I bought my Ford Fusion 2010 at 2015 and it served me well until 2018 when the ev efficiency dropped a lot, I went to 2 different mechanics to solve my problem none of them could help although they made me replace some of the car components like air and gas filters, spark plugs and cleaning fuel injector needless to say I almost gave up to the idea that my car turned into a regular one instead of hybrid until I found your post. You didn't only helped me, also helped FORScan and OBDLink because I bought their products. God bless you.

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Nizo

[allen84]

Tonight was the first real test on how the EV fix held up for me in the extreme cold.  On the way home from work, driving on regular roads, the temperature was registering was  -12 C (10 F).    I used the front window defroster as least as possible, only when I was driving around 80km/h (50 mph) is when I turned it on, but when I slowed down below 70 km/h (40 mph)  I turned it off.

 

After about 3 mins of driving, the EV activates with ease and no problems and stop lights.    I was able to try my best as I could to drive as much EV as I can while shivering and freezing my ass off.  

 

 

Total distance driven:  23 km (14.3 miles)

 

Total gas used: 1.5 litres (0.396 gallons)

 

6.8 L /100km  (34.6 mpg)

 

 

A couple of days ago it was -2 C (28.4 F),  I was able to get 5.9 L/100km  (40 mpg).  Same 14.3 mile drive.      Last year, I remember I was ranging in the high 8's to10 L/100km (27 - 23 mpg), in the cold months.

 

All summer and fall, I was ranging 45-50+ mpg easy.  My best this year was 4.5 L/100km (52.2 mpg)  on a 23 km drive (14.3 miles)    0.8 Litres gas used (0.21 gallons) on that trip.

 

Most short drives I did between 3-6 km (1.86 miles- 3.72 miles) netted me 60+ mpg easy this year.

 

 

0 problems with HVB so far, since performing the fix 5 months ago.  

[asicking]

My results are similar. Since I installed the “fix”, I’ve driven 13350 miles and burned 305 gallons - so  about 43.8 mpg. This was combined highway and suburban and rural driving. It was averaging 37 - 38 mpg before that.  That has saved me about $80 in gas spending after accounting for the $28 investment in the OBD scanner  

[edifice98]

On 11/11/2019 at 4:37 AM, Notacab said:

The wrench light doesn't come on now that the temps has dropped So for now ill leave it be. My mpg is pretty bad now. I use this car to do uber and when i got home last nite i was getting around 33mpg. It was at 40+ back in the summer. How high does your EV green level go up to? Mine is down at the very bottom. The letters EV rarely comes on. Just curious how high its suppose to be so i have an idea when i apply the fix. 

If your wrench light comes back on when the weather heats back up. Keep this TSB in mind. https://f01.justanswer.com/El_Jared/c8b4c207-a968-4ece-a8d4-b5831a3f8c6d_hybrid_pump_tsb.pdf

[Josh D.]

Fixed mine last night using this solution. 2010 Ford Fusion with 116,000 miles on it.  In the last couple of weeks I'd noticed that the hybrid engine was rarely cutting on, and the mpg was decreasing pretty rapidly. The solution seems to have worked extremely well.  The only hard part was that I have a Mac, and all the software is for a PC.  I used Virtual Box on the Mac to download Forscan and the driver for the Veepeak device into it. Once I figured all that out, it worked like a charm. (Crossover doesn't seem to recognize the Veepeak connected via USB, but Virtual Box did).

 

I also see some discussion on here about the wrench warning light.  I've had the same warning light, and I recently found a throttle body for about $40, half of what most other places charge. Came within a week and was easy to  install. Hope that fixes that problem.  https://www.getoemparts.com/oem-parts/ford-throttle-body-gasket-not-included-ds7z9e926d?c=bD03Jm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM%3D

 

 

[lolder]

The warning light a higher speeds and temperatures is likely a different problem than the throttle body. If the throttle body sticks closed, the car will barely accelerate or achieve any significant speed. I believe the overheating is fixed by a TSB that increases a cooling pump speed.

[Notacab]

UPDATE i replaced the throttle body with a new one and that solved the hesitation problem. It was pretty black and dirty on the inside of the plate. Also i did the battery fix and sure enough once i switched the year to 0 and click the check box i heard a clunk in the trunk. Took it for a

drive and the EV mode is back and goes up to the 3rd bar. I wanna thank everyone here for all the advice and help. This will be my new home for all my hybrid issues. THANKS AGAIN ALLEN!

[bangster]

18 minutes ago, Notacab said:

UPDATE i replaced the throttle body with a new one and that solved the hesitation problem. It was pretty black and dirty on the inside of the plate. Also i did the battery fix and sure enough once i switched the year to 0 and click the check box i heard a clunk in the trunk. Took it for a

drive and the EV mode is back and goes up to the 3rd bar. I wanna thank everyone here for all the advice and help. This will be my new home for all my hybrid issues. THANKS AGAIN ALLEN!

Congrats and glad to see the positive feedback on the help from here! I imagine having a car that performs the way it should after it wasn't has got to be amazing!

 

I would still think you can get good information from the HEV/PHEV forum as well, I gleamed some very good information when I was (and I might again) looking for a Fusion Hybrid (gen 1.5). I tried to get as many details on how it should be working as I could, as the 2 I drove didn't seem to healthy, just going by the average mileage of 25mpg on one, I think I knew to steer clear, but all the details in this thread also help determine health of a vehicle that I might not have much time with when test driving.

[DenverPed]

Anyone in Colorado know a dealer that does the fix? Or anyone who is able to do it for]me? Way above my tech skills.

My dealer is aware that Ford is looking into the issue (after I wasted $300). 
Sure miss my EV mode and good mileage

[DiNGoD]

I just wanted to say THANKS ALLEN!!!

 

I have also performed this fix to my 2010 Fusion and am amazed at the results after a few days driving it. My car is running beautifully again. I had forgotten how good the EV capabilities worked on the car in the first years I bought it. 

 

Ford should be ashamed of themselves for not figuring this out and dealing with it. I have spent over $400 in diagnostics/throttle body cleanings etc, not to mention the loss in gas savings, from the ICE running constantly.

 

Does anyone have a head office address or know who I should write to complain?

 

Cheers,

 

D

[andyross]

I'm guessing Ford was over-conservative with their battery age programming. Since it sounds like they are aware of the problem, their fix may be a software update that alters the routines to not age so aggressively. They need to test it since simply resetting the age may stress the batteries and be a fire hazard or other issue that could put Ford at a liability.

[akirby]

35 minutes ago, andyross said:

I'm guessing Ford was over-conservative with their battery age programming. Since it sounds like they are aware of the problem, their fix may be a software update that alters the routines to not age so aggressively. They need to test it since simply resetting the age may stress the batteries and be a fire hazard or other issue that could put Ford at a liability.

 

My guess is they set this at 10 years until they had time to do more testing and research but forgot to go back and change it.  Or maybe they just didn't think anyone would keep them more than 10 years (LOL).

[PaulGo]

Ford should have taken into account not only the age of the HV battery but the miles on the car along with the condition of the HV battery.