Start the timer -- in for recall work

Took mine in today for recall work after 3 SSN's in 2 weeks. Each time, the car hadn't been plugged in for 2-3 days, and I found the bulletin where that was fixed with a reflash.

They're going to do the open recalls (harness, etc), and don't know if they have a tech who can do the work. Gotta love a low production car and being outside the targeted regions.

Anyone have experience where their local dealer couldn't perform the recall? What happened?

I just took mine in and didn't have much of an issue. However, they did say that they found a defective connector with a bent lead. Not sure if that was done during this visit or when they pulled the battery and sent it to Ford for repair almost 2 years ago. Anyway, I got the car back next day....although unwashed and not charged . The only noticeable change was the orange power cable under the hood.

I believe part of the recall is to reprogram the computer; and I'm noticing something with the AC I didn't notice before...it shuts itself off. It seems to be related to the heat outside. The hotter it is, the sooner it shuts off. I think it is diverting the cooling function to the cooling of the battery vs the cooling of the driver. When climate power consumption goes to 0, "Other" power goes up....not full scale or anything, but maybe adds 10% total consumption for that gauge. If it isn't too horribly hot, it still cools the cabin when climate power goes to 0, but when it was 95F outside, the AC definitely was not cold.

davideos said:

I just took mine in and didn't have much of an issue. However, they did say that they found a defective connector with a bent lead. Not sure if that was done during this visit or when they pulled the battery and sent it to Ford for repair almost 2 years ago. Anyway, I got the car back next day....although unwashed and not charged . The only noticeable change was the orange power cable under the hood.

I believe part of the recall is to reprogram the computer; and I'm noticing something with the AC I didn't notice before...it shuts itself off. It seems to be related to the heat outside. The hotter it is, the sooner it shuts off. I think it is diverting the cooling function to the cooling of the battery vs the cooling of the driver. When climate power consumption goes to 0, "Other" power goes up....not full scale or anything, but maybe adds 10% total consumption for that gauge. If it isn't too horribly hot, it still cools the cabin when climate power goes to 0, but when it was 95F outside, the AC definitely was not cold.

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Strange. In the 95+ heat we've been having here, my AC is working just fine.

I'll watch the AC behaviour for sure. Mine cools fine, I've never had it switch off by itself even in 100+ degree days. I do not use the temperature controls, I set the unit to max cool and adjust the fan speed.

They put me in a regular Fusion loaner, can't complain.

I've been reading around the forum and I got an idea I'm going to try. Just so happens that the day before I took it in, the battery went dead. It was odd because I drove it on Friday, parked it in the garage in the evening and plugged it in. Everything appeared fine until noon on Saturday when I received an alert from the car that the 12V battery was low. By the time I got to it, it was 6pm and the car wouldn't even start. I measured the voltage and it was 9.5V. And, it turns out the car didn't charge Friday Night/Saturday Morning. I think some module stayed on although the car was turned off fully. Once upon a time I had the radio stay on after I had shut the car off and the only way I got it to go back to normal was pull the fuse.

I think perhaps the module that controls the AC got messed up when the voltage dropped. Someone had a different problem with their AC here on the forum and was able to correct it with a few selective fuse pulls. I'll probably work on it tonight and see how it goes. Like I said, although it has been hot this week, I've never seen this behavior.

ATL-FFE said:

I'll watch the AC behaviour for sure. Mine cools fine, I've never had it switch off by itself even in 100+ degree days. I do not use the temperature controls, I set the unit to max cool and adjust the fan speed.

They put me in a regular Fusion loaner, can't complain.

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Why? You paid for Automatic Climate Control. Let the car do it's job.

scottt said:

Why? You paid for Automatic Climate Control. Let the car do it's job.

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I can't speak for someone else, but I don't use manual mode for a couple of reasons. First, if the car is in the cool garage (like 65 F) and it is sunny and warm outside (like full sun and 85 F) the car will turn the heater on if the temp is set at a normal temperature. I have no idea how long but it is a huge waste kWh. As soon as the sun shines through the windshield in that situation I want cool air on my face, not warm air on my feet. Second, I have owned three Fords with "automatic" control. I have found that no mater what I do, I have to adjust the temperature more often than I like to stay comfortable. I alway have to turn the temp way down to get enough cold air blowing when I first get in and then slowly raise the desired temperature. The Lexus we owned would need little adjusting. It would do what I expected without having to second guess the system.

FFEsquared said:

I can't speak for someone else, but I don't use manual mode for a couple of reasons. First, if the car is in the cool garage (like 65 F) and it is sunny and warm outside (like full sun and 85 F) the car will turn the heater on if the temp is set at a normal temperature. I have no idea how long but it is a huge waste kWh. As soon as the sun shines through the windshield in that situation I want cool air on my face, not warm air on my feet. Second, I have owned three Fords with "automatic" control. I have found that no mater what I do, I have to adjust the temperature more often than I like to stay comfortable. I alway have to turn the temp way down to get enough cold air blowing when I first get in and then slowly raise the desired temperature. The Lexus we owned would need little adjusting. It would do what I expected without having to second guess the system.

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Interesting. With my FFE I usually either had it on vent/LO and controlled the Fan, or auto and let it cool. The reasoning was similar: was trying to minimize kWh consumed by the HVAC.

In the C-Max I just set it at either 70 or 72 and leave it there. Since the C-Max will start the engine to make heat I don't have the same issues as in the FFE.

In previous Ford's I've owned with the auto HVAC (gas Focus, the wife's cars) I've just left it on 70 and never touched it.

scottt said:

ATL-FFE said:

I'll watch the AC behaviour for sure. Mine cools fine, I've never had it switch off by itself even in 100+ degree days. I do not use the temperature controls, I set the unit to max cool and adjust the fan speed.

They put me in a regular Fusion loaner, can't complain.

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Why? You paid for Automatic Climate Control. Let the car do it's job.

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Simple. The car will turn the heater on to achieve a temperature, and I don't want to use the heater. By setting it to max ac and recirc, no heater.

Mine just did the stop safely now thing. It was charging all day at work, I got in and SSN

there is less than a month left on the lease. I think I will have it towed to the local Ford dealer in Monday and tell them to keep it.

What a disappointing way to end my time with this car

Going on 2 weeks now. Earlier in the week, MFM lost its ability to contact the car.

I've determined that the Fusion, while certainly comfortable, falls down with the gas motor. If they stuck a 180-200 mile range battery pack in the thing, they'd have a Tesla model 3 right now.

I'd like to have my Focus back now.

Another week with the loaner, and the delay is blamed on 'special grease' that was only available in CA. Maybe next week. . .

ATL-FFE said:

I've determined that the Fusion, while certainly comfortable, falls down with the gas motor. If they stuck a 180-200 mile range battery pack in the thing, they'd have a Tesla model 3 right now.

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I would love to see that!

One more update --

They tell me they found 'the rear connector cracked' which means the entire battery pack was removed from the car and shipped out for repair.

I wonder if I get a new battery pack. That'd be cool.

Service advisor said "a week or two" -- then says "well, they say about 7-14 business days"

I'm guessing I'll be driving the loaner Fusion for the next month.

ATL-FFE said:

One more update --

They tell me they found 'the rear connector cracked' which means the entire battery pack was removed from the car and shipped out for repair.

I wonder if I get a new battery pack. That'd be cool.

Service advisor said "a week or two" -- then says "well, they say about 7-14 business days"

I'm guessing I'll be driving the loaner Fusion for the next month.

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Same experience here. Drove the loaner Fusion for almost a month.
The replacement battery was probably a re-build, from another FFE that sent theirs in. The battery age of the "new" one is less than the one I had, according to ForSCAN.

6 weeks in, still no car. They tell me that my battery was shipped out last week (after sitting around for 2 weeks waiting on the shipping container?!) and expected back any day now with a repaired connector.

I raised the question of getting my battery back, or getting back another one with more use/older. They assure me that I will get my battery, not another one. We'll see.

Mine has been in now for a month. I can't return it at lease end because it's not driveable...what a mess!

michael said:

Mine has been in now for a month. I can't return it at lease end because it's not driveable...what a mess!

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That's their problem not yours.

Done. Got the car back today. They ended up replacing basically every HV harness in the car, and I got MY battery back. So far, so good. It'll be nice to ignore gas stations again, and not have to listen to the buzzy Fusion.

Finally terminated my lease today. Car has been in shop for a month, still not fixed, still no indication when it might be fixed.

No longer my problem!