Weird Behavior from Fusion Hybrid -- Gas Engine Won't Shut Down

[nelsonlu]

During my yesterday morning commute, something rather odd -- and which had never happened to my Fusion Hybrid previously -- occurred. About 15 minutes into my commute (by which time the engine appeared to have been warm enough -- it had already turned off and on and off a few times), the engine simply stopped shutting down, even when the car is stopped at red lights; rather, it remained on and simply charged the battery passed the "full" indicator on SmartGauge. I became a little alarmed (while I know that "full" on the gauge isn't, in reality, "full," but I was concerned whether battery may overheat), turned into a parking lot, turned the car off, and turned it back on. Same behavior. I then called the service person at the dealership; he didn't think it was a safety issue, and during my conversation with him (by which time the car had gone about 15-20 minutes without the engine shutting down), the engine went back to its normal behavior. I also ran a vehicle health report, which said that everything was fine.

 

My semi-wild guess is that it was a software problem that eventually corrected itself on some kind of automated reset. However, I am wondering whether if anyone else has seen this behavior or not.

Edited October 7, 2009 by nelsonlu

[GaryG]

During my yesterday morning commute, something rather odd -- and which had never happened to my Fusion Hybrid previously -- occurred. About 15 minutes into my commute (by which time the engine appeared to have been warm enough -- it had already turned off and on and off a few times), the engine simply stopped shutting down, even when the car is stopped at red lights; rather, it remained on and simply charged the battery passed the "full" indicator on SmartGauge. I became a little alarmed (while I know that "full" on the gauge isn't, in reality, "full," but I was concerned whether battery may overheat), turned into a parking lot, turned the car off, and turned it back on. Same behavior. I then called the service person at the dealership; he didn't think it was a safety issue, and during my conversation with him (by which time the car had gone about 15-20 minutes without the engine shutting down), the engine went back to its normal behavior. I also ran a vehicle health report, which said that everything was fine.

 

My semi-wild guess is that it was a software problem that eventually corrected itself on some kind of automated reset. However, I am wondering whether if anyone else has seen this behavior or not.

 

The computer was doing a battery conditioning more than likely. I had this happen while on the highway once in my '05 FEH set on a 60mph cruise control setting. All of a sudden the battery SoC began to climb on my SGII to 82% and then started discharging with battery assist. With battery Assist at 60mph my instant MPG went to ~90mpg until the battery discharged to the normal 52% which is the high range for MG1 to charge. It was real neat having the SGII set on SoC and Instant MPG and seeing this happen. I had it happen like you did in City driving prior to the highway experience and didn't have a SGII SoC gauge and the FEH would not go EV no matter what I did. It's all normal and explained in your owner's manual to some degree but exspect it to happen every so often.

[nelsonlu]

The computer was doing a battery conditioning more than likely. I had this happen while on the highway once in my '05 FEH set on a 60mph cruise control setting. All of a sudden the battery SoC began to climb on my SGII to 82% and then started discharging with battery assist. With battery Assist at 60mph my instant MPG went to ~90mpg until the battery discharged to the normal 52% which is the high range for MG1 to charge. It was real neat having the SGII set on SoC and Instant MPG and seeing this happen. I had it happen like you did in City driving prior to the highway experience and didn't have a SGII SoC gauge and the FEH would not go EV no matter what I did. It's all normal and explained in your owner's manual to some degree but exspect it to happen every so often.

 

Ah ha. OK, thanks. That's good to know.

[rpreuss]

Ah ha. OK, thanks. That's good to know.

 

This same discussion just took place on one of the other FFH forums, fordfusionforum I think.

 

Anyway, although it is in the book, and we should be confident in the computer that is taking control of everything, it would help if there was an indicator on the instrument display that a "battery re-condition" is taking place and not to worry.

[ackbar]

Yes, it's normal. The battery reconditioning process requires that the ICE remain on. It frustrated me the first time I noticed this happen (because I always try to get the ICE to shut off as much as possible) but everything I've heard is that it's the normal process to keep the battery healthy and prolong its life.

[GaryG]

This same discussion just took place on one of the other FFH forums, fordfusionforum I think.

 

Anyway, although it is in the book, and we should be confident in the computer that is taking control of everything, it would help if there was an indicator on the instrument display that a "battery re-condition" is taking place and not to worry.

 

Of all things, my '09 FEH did a battery conditioning today for the first time! At first I thought the CAT was cooling down to much because it would go EV after the engine was On for a while. Then I saw the battery start to charge to much above normal and knew what to expect. The battery SoC climbed to 95% and then discharged in EV but the engine would start again when the electric motor got to hot or something. I did get one EV mode for 2.4 miles before a restart. While the battery exceeded 60% I had no regen from the brake pedal which was interesting to find out.