Reduced Scheduled Maintenance for Hybrid Vehicles?

[Best F100]

I need some help from other hybrid owners, or those with more maintenance knowledge than me.

I bought a used, 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 69,000 miles this summer. As a former government car, Carfax showed it had been in for servicing every 5,000 miles (I found out later this was Kendall 5W20 Blend). So I bought it, feeling pretty good about it.

So far, so good. No problems. Fuel mileage in my 80% highway/20% city, 45 mile daily commute has been between 47 - 50 mpg. Currently using Motorcraft 5W20 Full Synthetic. I may do a UOA on it at 7,500 miles. Havoline 0W20 will be the next oil I use.

I am still learning about the differences between the gasoline Fusion and the hybrid version. For example, from my manual A) oil change intervals are 10,000 miles, B) transmission fluid intervals are 120,000 miles. Here, the manual says, your ecvt transmission does not comsume fluid. It is designed to be "filled for life." (I don't know about that one, I'm trying to figure out HOW to put in 5 qts of fresh Mercon LV transmission fluid, ASAP). C) No alternator, no starter motor, no torque convertor, no clutch, no transmission bands to wear out or service.

So perhaps any of you Toyota Prius owners, or other hybrid owners, with more than 100,000 miles, can tell me what items will wear out or break?

I'm not concerned about the hybrid battery, because I figure I can get one from the junkyard - from other crashed Fusion Hybrids. Several NY City Ford Escape taxis on ebay reached 325,000 miles with their orginal batteries. I hope to reach 400,000 miles. With this mild Tennessee climate, I just may make it.

 

[Barkleymut]

Doubt you will be able to get a battery from a junkyard, that is going to be by far the easiest and most profitable part to pull. Someone else is always going to get to it first. That said it will be interesting to see how long yours lasts.

The tranny would be my biggest concern on this vehicle, as you mentioned get the fluids changed out soon and stay on top of them. Other than a CVT and the battery I cannot imagine there is much difference from a standard car.

 

[friendly_jacek]

You still need to change air filter, cabin filter, coolant, and brake pads (almost never though). Congrats on the hybrid.
Lets hope this thread will not be attacked by BITOG's resident hybrid haters like the last ones.

 

[Best F100]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
You still need to change air filter, cabin filter, coolant, and brake pads (almost never though). Congrats on the hybrid.
Lets hope this thread will not be attacked by BITOG's resident hybrid haters like the last ones.





It also says, "there is no air filter element. The air cleaner is self cleaning and is expected to last the life of the car". I don't know about all that, I haven't found an air filter or air cleaner yet - so where ever it is, I hope it is cleaning itself!

As for haters, "haters are always going to hate". I'm waiting for one of you guys to buy the 2013 Fusion Hybrid, to see how much, if ANY, improvement is over the current one. When I fill up my gas tank, the projected fuel range display reads "747 miles to empty". I mean, how big a bladder you got, man?

 

[oggb]

The 2010 Fusion hybrid used the same transaxle as the Camry hybrid, I think. If they aren't the same they are very close cousins. Starting in 2011 Ford began using its own "e-CVT" in the hybrid models. If this is correct, your transaxle should have a drain plug and a check plug which you can use to refill it, much like my Prius. Pretty easy to DIY, and I would definitely change it every 60-75k or so.

Engine oil will easily go 10,000 miles so long as you can keep your fuel economy high as you have been.

The air cleaner is much akin to the unit that was/perhaps still is used in the Ford Focus. Some of those were equipped with vacuum gauges to tell if it ever needed to be changed and very few people have ever found it to be necessary.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Interesting info on the air filter. I just checked the air filter in my Prius @ 20,000 miles and it's clean, amazingly like new. The manual requires changing it @ 30,000 miles, though. No self cleaning there.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Regardless how long a gas tank will lasted, on a long trip I always stop at either rest area or gas station after 2-3 hours drive, 4 hours max. You need to get out of the car to stretch and go to bathroom (and have a cigaret if you smoke).

I found that a splash of cold water on the face will keep you awake for another 2-3 hours drive.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: Best F100

So far, so good. No problems. Fuel mileage in my 80% highway/20% city, 45 mile daily commute has been between 47 - 50 mpg.

Wow, that's fantastic.

Originally Posted By: Best F350
So perhaps any of you Toyota Prius owners, or other hybrid owners, with more than 100,000 miles, can tell me what items will wear out or break?

Not a Prius, but my Insight hybrid has >250,000 miles. What wore out was the battery, but that's just because of bad design and being a 1st-generation beta-tester model for hybrid technology. Other than that, pretty much nothing. Watch out for the CVT transmission in your car, that's all.

 

[Thermo1223]

All Ford Hybrid tech is done in house they just payed for license fee's from Toyota so to not have a patent war. Considering the current debacle between Samsung & Apple that was a smart move.

 

[mechtech2]

My thinking is that the engine runs less, and won't heat up properly in many circumstances.

This indicates a shorter OCI is best.

 

[Best F100]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
My thinking is that the engine runs less, and won't heat up properly in many circumstances.

This indicates a shorter OCI is best.






I can tell you don't own one. I totally disagree with that "won't heat up properly in many circumstances" statement.

The engine kicks in first upon A)starting and accelerating, and B) when cold. Electric motor kicks in when warm and upon steady driving under 47 mph. It is not like driving a golf cart, like some folks believe. So if you lived in the Yukon (in winter), you would be in gas engine mode for quite a while, before you would be in EV or electric mode.

Recommended OCI listed are in the 7,500 to 10,000 mile range, so I would guess Ford would have an idea what OCI is best. Ford Escape Hybrid taxis in NY City were sold with 325,000 miles, ( original engines & batteries), so I guess those engines had enough heat.

 

[mechtech2]

It is really silly to determine wisdom is appropriate only if you own one.
YOU own one, and don't know what to do, for instance.

I work on uncountable cars that I do not own.
Airline mechanics work on planes they do not own.
Etc., etc., etc..

My reasoning is still valid to me.
There are many circumstances where the engine is lightly used, and of course some where it's heavily used.

Good luck only trusting people with empirical [and often erroneous] experiences.
Schools and universities are built on vicarious experiences.

 

[rcy]

Originally Posted By: Best F100
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
My thinking is that the engine runs less, and won't heat up properly in many circumstances.

This indicates a shorter OCI is best.



I can tell you don't own one. I totally disagree with that "won't heat up properly in many circumstances" statement.

The engine kicks in first upon A)starting and accelerating, and B) when cold. Electric motor kicks in when warm and upon steady driving under 47 mph. It is not like driving a golf cart, like some folks believe. So if you lived in the Yukon (in winter), you would be in gas engine mode for quite a while, before you would be in EV or electric mode.

Recommended OCI listed are in the 7,500 to 10,000 mile range, so I would guess Ford would have an idea what OCI is best. Ford Escape Hybrid taxis in NY City were sold with 325,000 miles, ( original engines & batteries), so I guess those engines had enough heat.


True. When I had my RX400h, fuel economy typically dropped from 8.1 l/100km to 10+ l/100km in the winter months. Aside from winter gas, the colder weather caused the gas engine to run longer and more often. Two obvious reasons - the catalytic converters need to be hot for emissions control and the coolant needs to be hot for cabin climate control.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

As with any car, engine temps are determined by use profile. With the OP doing 80% highway, he will have little problem with this issue. My usual battery use profile can range from 50-64% of a tank to 25%, so YMMV. Winter will bring more heating requests and that will run the engine more, as well.

Even with a lot of city driving (which means engine-off a lot more) my temps stay pretty much normal. There will be hills. There will be low-batt conditions which will bring the engine online. There will be highway merges. I still take my hybrid out for fairly regular highway use to keep the oil happy just like I do in my other cars.

Battery replacement with used ones isn't a big deal, from what I hear. I don't think you can simply go into most places with your wrenches and grab one out of a wreck. Liability law being what it is, I suspect batteries would be removed by an expert and placed on a shelf until a buyer comes in or orders one online.

I change my oil at 5k mile intervals. I'll probably begin stretching that out to 7.5k mile intervals. Maybe. Maybe not. I still have to put it up on the 5k's to rotate tires, so an oil change isn't going to be any big deal to do while I'm futzing with tires.