Potential Focus Purchase

[norcalfocus]

Hey everyone, I am in the market and looking at a 2012 focus electric up here in northern CA. I wanted to see if there is anything specific I should be looking at when I go to check out the car. I have been reading the forum and have purchased a forscan ELM327 to check on battery capacity but wanted to see what else to check.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Anti_Climax]

Listen for any clunks from the drivetrain, see if you can pull the the plugs on the battery and look for coolant. You might see if there is a way to pressure test the coolant system.

At this point it would be near a decade old, so don't be surprised if the battery is less than 75% of the original.

 

[norcalfocus]

Thanks for the feedback. Does anyone have a screenshot of where the plugs are on the battery to pull? I have been searching and haven't seen anything. I want to make sure I have all the right tools before I drive to see the car.

Thanks

 

[triangles]

What plugs are you referring to? the battery is split in two. The lower pack is where the gas tank would be and the upper pack is between the rear wheels partially in the passenger compartment.

Honestly I would avoid a used FFE unless you can afford to be buying a paperweight. They made so few there are no aftermarket HV battery options and ford buys up all the salvage car batteries so they have batteries to use for refurbished warranty claims. Check the coolant level. If it's low RUN, do not walk from that car. The main battery failure mode is by cells swelling due to age/abuse and this pulls the coolant lines apart flooding the battery with coolant. Then you have a paperweight because the vaporware "new" battery from ford will cost more than you paid for the car.

 

[Anti_Climax]

Based on what I see in the manual, doesn't look like there are plugs.

Now I'm really curious what was referenced before.

 

[Heima]

Please see the latter half of my post for the location of the drain plugs:
https://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=33962#p33962

 

[Anti_Climax]

Thanks

 

[triangles]

LOL I was thinking electrical plugs, not drain plugs :lol:

On a more serious note, I just checked my coolant and it is low :shock: My warranty expires tomorrow. I think I'm checking my plugs tonight...

 

[triangles]

Yay it was dry! Those plugs are a pain to pull out and almost harder to push back in. Especially when it's cold and snowing.

I did change the coolant this summer and have just recently used the heat for the first time since. I'm hoping the low coolant was just burping the air out of the heater loop. otherwise I'm not sure where a 0.75 to 1 qt of coolant disappeared to.

 

[Anti_Climax]

It holds several gallons, so it's pretty easy to end up with large voids.