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Hi, i'm jeff :D

I just "rescued" a 2006 FEH about a month ago, and even though I am just now posting, I have been lurking around here reading and learning all y'all have to share for the last couple of weeks. This is my first hybrid, which we very carefully picked out after doing a ton of reading and research - if a PHEV was available in our price range, I would have gone that route, but we decided we would get a vehicle that "could" be converted, and wait till prices come down a little or do it ourselves as a side project (leaning that direction.)

This FEH is a 2006, FWD, 33000 miles on it. we picked it up on the cheap side (mid trade-in value) because the seller was not happy with it's performance and was sure there was something wrong with it. (more below)

When we picked up the truck, the dash display read 22mpg. after driving it a while, I figured that would start to raise up to closer to the EPA estimated mileage, but it didn't, stayed right at 22 even thought we drove it carefully for ~60 miles. This was all in Houston - nice and flat :-) When it was time to head back to Austin, I filled it up, reset the mpg and hit the road. I averaged 36 mpg the first 30 miles ( town / 45mph) and 32 total for that trip (~160 miles, the hilly highway at 65mph definitely dropped my average some). Since then we have gone 2 tanks in town in Austin, first tank averaged 29, the second 31. We have been working hard training our selves to drive as suggested here and are slowly getting better, but the milage feels low for how careful we are driving it (very slow acc, coasting, slow stops (more regen than brakepad), keeping speed reasonable (30 - 50mph most trips) and using the tricks such as FS to lower RPM or going to EV mode when possible, etc).

Looking over the truck, it is obvious that it has been used and abused. the oil is dark, even though according to the display it is around 20% (8000 miles?). I know the guys who owned it before us put 10,000 miles on it in less than 2 months. The air filters (battery and engine) were both fairly dirty (I replaced them) and the cabin air filter had been completely removed (I replaced it too). The tires were only inflated to 30psi, now maintaining them at 44psi. The exterior of the vehicle has a lot of little marks, scratches and scuffs, and the interior shows it wear. All of that is why we feel like this was a rescue than a purchase!

So my questions (besides how in the world could they average 22mpg in this thing):
- What other suggestions would you have to check / maintain that might be holding back the mileage because of lack of maintenance or abuse?
- Any ideas how to "figure out" what we are doing / not doing with our driving to improve the mileage another 10%? (beside keep trying and experimenting?)
- Other than the scangauge, is anyone using or working on anything else to monitor SOC, eng / batt temp, etc?

Thanks again for all the great advise, and I hope I can become as helpful to others as y'all have been for me!

Hi,

Dan is in Cypress (Houston) and would love to meet you this Saturday. His wife has a Mercury Mariner Hybrid - virtually the same thing. Check out Houston Hybrid & Hypermilers Club (aka H³C) (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2008-4-12&e=40&c=1)

Some quick math tells me you'll have to average 30mpg over about 3000 miles to see that 22 move up to 23. It's just that you're working against a low of low numbers, and your higher mileage is a "drop in the bucket" at this point.

Hi and welcome Jeff

Everything you stated makes sense and it sounds like the prior owner never reset the average MPG gauge. Reset that gauge at fill-up, but it will not store data for a complete tank of gas. I recommend a SGII to monitor your tank and trip MPG information, and you will need to monitor Instant MPG and battery state of charge (SoC) at least to make those MPG climb. A good way to check for poor driving habits is the rear brake pads. If there is less than normal wear, the past owner drove it OK. My rear pads should last at least 200,000 miles and the fronts should never need replacing because of regen. I suggest Mobile 1 5-20W for the oil and filter every 10,000 miles. There was no factory cabin filter, but you can add one. Going below 44psi in the tires will hurt MPG, so I run mine at 50psi and check often.

The FEH gets it top MPG by running as much EV as posible, read my article "Hypermiling the Ford Escape Hybrid" on the home page. Any questions, feel free to ask as I monitor this site.

GaryG

A good way to check for poor driving habits is the rear brake pads. If there is less than normal wear, the past owner drove it OK. My rear pads should last at least 200,000 miles and the fronts should never need replacing because of regen.

The rear brake pads are almost gone.

The FEH gets it top MPG by running as much EV as posible, read my article "Hypermiling the Ford Escape Hybrid" on the home page. Any questions, feel free to ask as I monitor this site.

Thanks Gary - I have already read your article, infact it was one of the first things I ran across when I was researching getting an FEH and a great help and encouragement. Thank you for sharing all the tips and info you have learned about these vehicles and getting good mileage.

I am convinced that between the hills and the relatively short trips (15 miles) here in Austin we will never be able to get optimum mileage, but my goal is high 30's.

The rear brake pads are almost gone.

I am convinced that between the hills and the relatively short trips (15 miles) here in Austin we will never be able to get optimum mileage, but my goal is high 30's.

Jeff, if your rear pads are almost gone, this tells me the past owner must have been driving like a mad person with a lot of hard stopping. Cold weather will also reduce regen, so it could also play a factor as a combination of pad wear. The rear pads wear twice as fast as the front according to the workshop manual, but driving like this may change the rules with even the fronts. My rear pads have a little wear, but my front pads are like new (smooth rotors also) with 47,000 miles on them.

Start using "L" to slow you down first, and only use the brake pedal when necessary to slow faster when needed or stop. This takes the load off the ICE charging the HV battery and will increase your MPG overall and save the brake pads.

If traffic permits you to climb hills in EV (20-30mph), do it. For climbing with the ICE, hit the bottom of the hill near the speed limit and try to keep under 2,000 RPM's to maintain or slowly decrease speed to the top. Go EV under 40mph at the top with light brake taps in "D" or "N" and use "L" to keep you under a 41mph restart. Each restart cost you at least .3% battery SoC, so stay in EV as long as possible without a lot of restarts. Always think of battery energy as gas $ so steal all the regen you possibly can. That said, use "N" for all coasting and to increase speed on downhills. I shift my FEH like a race car from "D" to "L" to "N" constantly, even on the highway while drafting. Hills improve my mileage because I've learned how to climb and how to ride them down.

I don't consider a 15 mile one-way trip short. Even if the 15 miles is a round trip, I can maintain well over 40mpg in the FWD. Don't think it's not possible for you, just let me know when and where your having problems so we can help you here. I can help advise you if you give me details of where your having problems.

Get a SGii, I have two on my dash and may consider three in the future. Visit my photo gallery here:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=36

Thank you for your comments and your always welcome to the things I've learned.

GaryG

Welcome! The FEH should be able to give you some really good numbers if you push it. However 29 and 31 does sound pretty low for it. I would say it's likely that's there's something that's not working exactly as it should. How did you do on mileage on your last car? I just ask because a lot of people have different perspectives on what light driving is, and if you were getting 10% below EPA on your last car than it's likely you'll get 10% below on this car. Hypermiling takes a long time to learn to do well, and it takes a lot of work to break old habits.

If the oil is black and there are scratches on the car, it's likely they drove it a lot on dirt/off roads, so I would probably change the oil right away, even though it shouldn't need it for several thousand miles, as driving on dirt roads can add a lot of particles to the oil due to dust. You never know if the previous owner actually switched the oil or just pushed the little switch. Also, oil turning black quickly can be an indication of something mistuned with your engine (but not always). I don't know what oil the FEH takes, but look at some 0W-20, 0W-30 or, or 5W-40 synthetic as that's the really good stuff that will improve FE (though not hugely, 1-2% is normal, see if it's worth your money). Also keep an eye on your oil level to see if the thing is eating oil as it runs. Have you checked your spark plugs and wires? It is also probably worth putting some engine cleaner in your gas tank on the next fillup. Driving a car hard can have a lot of negative effects on it.

Good luck on your hypermiling!

Start using "L" to slow you down first, and only use the brake pedal when necessary to slow faster when needed or stop.

I do this a lot, but very often the ICE spins up and revs up to 2000+ RPM (or more correctly the gen spins the ICE up to 2000+ rpms). I know I need to get a SGii so I can monitor the SOC / temp & other parameters and try to see why.

Go EV under 40mph at the top with light brake taps in "D" or "N" and use "L" to keep you under a 41mph restart.

I have a hard time getting into EV with brake taps, especially above 30mph. In "L" I can accelerate up to ~35mph before the ICE kicks in, in "D" the ICE kicks in closer to 20mph.

That said, use "N" for all coasting and to increase speed on downhills. I shift my FEH like a race car from "D" to "L" to "N" constantly, even on the highway while drafting. Hills improve my mileage because I've learned how to climb and how to ride them down.

I will keep working on it, thanks for the encouragement. I do shift a lot, my wife doesn't, and so far she tends to be able to raise the average FE better than me. I am learning to pay more attention to my shifting too, especially since I accidentally threw it into "R" the other day while going ~40 (I thought I was in L, but was in D) - luckily nothing really happens! (smart truck)

I don't consider a 15 mile one-way trip short. Even if the 15 miles is a round trip, I can maintain well over 40mpg in the FWD. Don't think it's not possible for you, just let me know when and where your having problems so we can help you here. I can help advise you if you give me details of where your having problems.

My commute is too short if it is cold out - my office is ~2.5 miles from home. If it is below 60F the FEH seems to require a much longer warmup and will not allow EV mode until I am pulling into the parking lot. If it is above 60F, I can usually do okay, like 33mpg on the dash display.

My wife uses the FEH most days (and I walk), and the route to take the kids to school or pick them up is right at 15 miles round trip. (our other vehicle is a 15 passenger 1 ton van, we try to leave that parked unless we all go somewhere together.)

I don't know if you can help with our biggest problem, that is other drivers! :( Traffic tends to move 5mph above the posted limits, which vary from 35 - 60 in this area of town. I am so happy now when I go our and the school zones are flashing.... easy to keep in EV @ 20mph!

Probably the next biggest problem I am having is balancing EV / recharge / and ICE operation, especially around the hills. It seems often going up hill I am fighting to keep the ICE around 2000 RPM, and the charge/assist gauge shows I am charging the batteries on top of climbing the hill! Then I hit the top, RPM drop way down, if I am going slow enough (35?) I can even get the ICE to shut down with a FS sometimes, but if I try to use any regen (like stopping for a light, which all seem to be at the bottom of the hills around here) the ICE kicks back on and spins way up (if in L) or I get a lot of mechanical braking not regen if in "D". Then going up a hill again, the ICE is charging the battery and doing a lot of the work to get me up the hill. This shows up as one or two bars on the fuel economy meter and not good on the average mileage.

Get a SGii, I have two on my dash and may consider three in the future.

I just missed the last group buy, but I will get one soon. I would like to build a system maybe using our Prius friends CAN-View to give a better visual readout one of these days when I have more time....

How did you do on mileage on your last car? I just ask because a lot of people have different perspectives on what light driving is,

about average on our last vehicle, but since we have been learning to really drive over the last month, we have been able to raise our mileage in our other vehicle from 11mpg to 13mpg (doesn't that sound horrible? it is a full size 15 passenger 1 ton van, so that is actually doing pretty good!)

If the oil is black and there are scratches on the car, it's likely they drove it a lot on dirt/off roads, so I would probably change the oil right away, even though it shouldn't need it for several thousand miles, as driving on dirt roads can add a lot of particles to the oil due to dust.

Just got done changing it this afternoon. It was pretty bad really, I would say about like my older vehicles when I accidentally let them get to 6000 miles on a change. Drained it good with a warm engine, then put a new filter on and 4.5 qts Mobil 1 0W-20. After running it for a minute, it was right half way between the min and max on the dipstick. Hopefully that will help a little :rolleyes:

I do this a lot, but very often the ICE spins up and revs up to 2000+ RPM (or more correctly the gen spins the ICE up to 2000+ rpms). I know I need to get a SGii so I can monitor the SOC / temp & other parameters and try to see why.

I have a hard time getting into EV with brake taps, especially above 30mph. In "L" I can accelerate up to ~35mph before the ICE kicks in, in "D" the ICE kicks in closer to 20mph.

I will keep working on it, thanks for the encouragement. I do shift a lot, my wife doesn't, and so far she tends to be able to raise the average FE better than me. I am learning to pay more attention to my shifting too, especially since I accidentally threw it into "R" the other day while going ~40 (I thought I was in L, but was in D) - luckily nothing really happens! (smart truck)

My commute is too short if it is cold out - my office is ~2.5 miles from home. If it is below 60F the FEH seems to require a much longer warmup and will not allow EV mode until I am pulling into the parking lot. If it is above 60F, I can usually do okay, like 33mpg on the dash display.

My wife uses the FEH most days (and I walk), and the route to take the kids to school or pick them up is right at 15 miles round trip. (our other vehicle is a 15 passenger 1 ton van, we try to leave that parked unless we all go somewhere together.)

I don't know if you can help with our biggest problem, that is other drivers! :( Traffic tends to move 5mph above the posted limits, which vary from 35 - 60 in this area of town. I am so happy now when I go our and the school zones are flashing.... easy to keep in EV @ 20mph!

Probably the next biggest problem I am having is balancing EV / recharge / and ICE operation, especially around the hills. It seems often going up hill I am fighting to keep the ICE around 2000 RPM, and the charge/assist gauge shows I am charging the batteries on top of climbing the hill! Then I hit the top, RPM drop way down, if I am going slow enough (35?) I can even get the ICE to shut down with a FS sometimes, but if I try to use any regen (like stopping for a light, which all seem to be at the bottom of the hills around here) the ICE kicks back on and spins way up (if in L) or I get a lot of mechanical braking not regen if in "D". Then going up a hill again, the ICE is charging the battery and doing a lot of the work to get me up the hill. This shows up as one or two bars on the fuel economy meter and not good on the average mileage.

Much better details and questions Jeff!

I know you understand what the spin-up is, but let me explain how to control it. Shifting to "N" stops all power into and out of the eCVT, except the generator (MG1) can still charge the HV battery above 6mph while the ICE is running. Shifting to "N" will stop the run-up, but you will lose regen and the brakes are from the pads only. The run-up means you are exceeding the charge limits and or the battery is full or system is cold or hot.

It doesn't matter if you accelerate in EV in "D" or "L", the speed you get to should be the same. To be honest, I never use the brake tap in "D" anymore, I've always used "L" to go EV. If "L" does not allow EV under 40mph, I shift to "N" and cut all regen for the light taps on the B pedal. I very seldom have a problem going EV under 40mph with "L" or the "N" B taps. Understand you have control of EV when all the normal conditions are met. Of course there is FAS if you want to go advanced, but that's another subject.

Shifting to increase MPG is about skill and timing, it may or may not be for you. I grew-up with racing and manual shifting, so it come easy for me to know when and how to shift. Shifting to "L" is like down shifting in the corners to slowdown, but with the FEH, you get the advantages of regen. BTW, I've shifted to "R" also by mistake!

If you haven't read my thread on the FEH warm-up strategy, it is important you understand it for all cold starts. I just went on a short cold start trip to the store which was 2.6 miles round trip. The battery SoC when I left was a low ~42% at start-up. My "Today" SGII reading when I returned was 27.2mpg. Coldest start for the day at ~73F for 1.3 miles and shopping $60 later, returned home with 27.2mph. Short trips average with the entire tank works quite well if you have longer mixed driving trips during the week. A 7.5 mile drop off the kids and back with a cold start and very low SoC has a possible 48mpg average. Headwinds and tailwinds alway effect MPG with the FEH/MMH.

Driving 35-60mph with traffic is not the problem with MPG, it's how you accelerate to speed that matters. Once you get to the speed of traffic at a low RPM, the FEH gives you many choices to save MPG with the flow of traffic. Neutral coasting, ICE off at 40mph, and P&G are just a few winners. You can't drive like this every minute, you just have to take advantage when you can.

I drive defensively and don't provoke road rage if I can. Some of my techniques involve getting into a turn lane to let others race on. After they pass by, I move back in the driving lane at my EV speed. Most, if not all my tanks exceed 600 miles with many into the 700 mile tanks in a FWD FEH. Many things are possible with your '06 FWD FEH Jeff, but you need to get your wife on board for that.

GaryG