Ford Code 34

[Crystle Rike]

Wellit has been a while since I've posted anything. Mostly I have had nothing new to report. My 2013 CMAX Energi has been running flawlessly for the most part. With 87,200 miles and averaging 64 MPG it has treated my family pretty well. My current tank is 84 MPG and expect it to drop with the cold weather. Anyway, we were getting all sorts of CHECK ENGINE lights and WRENCH lights in various combinations. I picked up an OBD2 code reader and it reported

The car START/STOP feature that turns off the engine at stop lights stopped working. Engine and transmission would surge while driving. The engine would stay on while coasting down hills or to stop lights. It was just frustrating since we knew it could be sooooo much better driving experience. We decided to take it in to get it all sorted out. My usual independent mechanic looked at the two error codes and said... not here. Better take it to Ford. I scheduled time with my closest Ford Dealer in Longmont Colorado. They spent 5 hours trying to diagnose what the problem could be. They came up with two potential problems:

Ford was recommending the controller replacement first. Geez... Ya think?!?!? The dealer had a Nissan Leaf on the lot. My wife has really wants to go full electric. So I enquired with the sales side what kind of deal I might swing with my CMAX traded in on the Leaf. They went out and looked at the car. My wife had a scrap on the front bumper, but otherwise in good condition. They talked to service and came back and said they would be willing to give me $2,000 as a trade-in for the Leaf. My jaw hit the floor! That's all my Ford was worth to Ford?!?! I think I paid $38,000 for this car and after 87,200 miles and 8 years it is only worth $2,000?? That's $0.41/mile depreciation. You would think I was driving a BMW or something similar to have that kind of depreciation.

So after sleeping on the problem and checking what a CMAX on Craig's list were going for, I figured it was worth gambling $1,100 since the Hybrid versions were going for $14,000. We ordered the part and had it installed today.

Well, it took several hours to replace, but seemed to go in OK. Service guy said fingers crossed this solves the problem. We were due for a Colorado Emissions test, so I figured I better run right over and get my emissions while all the lights were off. Crazy thing, I could not get my emissions because I needed to drive it for a while. There was no Computer Data for them to analyze. So I drove it home and as I got close to home and 2 miles left on my battery - The wrench light came on. I went home and my OBD2 reader reported:

The battery controller appears to be the source of the PODC9. So now it appears the Battery is the source of all the problems. According to Ford dealer, they want me to send the battery back to Ford for them to go Cell by Cell to find the issue with my battery. He guessed it would take at least a week for the service, but they have no idea. This was all new to them. They don't know how much it might cost. They claim a "new" battery is $13,500. Not sure what the cost of Servicing the existing battery to find the bad cell or cells.

So long story short - I really wanted to support Ford to start producing very fuel efficient vehicles in the US. I believe PHEV and all EV cars are the future -- especially when we consider Climate Change. I don't know how Ford is going to compete in this new world if they don't stand behind their cars better. I started looking at a Toyota Venza hybrid. It gets 40 mpg, but at least a Toyota will hold it's value. The hybrid system has a 150,000 mile warranty! In AZ, the state mandated Hybrid manufactures to warranty the systems for 150,000 miles. Maybe my CMAX will be worth more than $2,000 in AZ, I don't know but I'm pretty depressed about the whole thing.

I was able to charge up the battery and used my OBD2 reader to clear the POB24 error and was successful in passing emissions in Colorado. I guess that gives me a year to sort out what to do long term with my Ford. ?

Yes, I asked if anything about my problem was covered by warranty. They said no. I bought the first CMAX that came to Colorado. I picked it up Nov 5, 2012. They suggested I whine to the Ford Help number that they might be able to help.

I looked at the service manual and Dealer followed procedure which recommends replacing BECM at step 3 in troubleshooting procedures, if POB24 still exists. The remaining 5 steps are checks on charging HVB, HVB cell variation, check cell balance circuit, and the last two involve shutting car off for 24 hours twice and check cell variation and check for return of code. If code still there, replace HVB.

The issue is that Ford does not offer HVB rebuilds. Maybe call the company in the first link (search for closer one in Colorado) and get the scoop on rebuilding. Then perhaps negotiate with Ford on rebuild cost. I would not want my car at dealer with HVB removed and held hostage as to repair cost or a new battery cost.

Well, I just spent time on the Ford customer service line 800-392-3673 and they said they can not do anything about my Hybrid battery being 11 days out of warranty. I guess that is the simple accountant response, but a very sad response for somebody who wants to compete with Tesla with battery powered vehicles. I mean seriously, how can the public trust a car manufacture to produce a 250 mile range car when they won't stand behind a car with 20 mile range. 11 days out of warranty and Ford estimates $15,000 in parts and labor to fix my car. Great sadness! I guess you can see why Tesla's market value is so impressive!!! 1) They produced well engineered cars 2) they stand behind them.

Sounds like a great plan - hope to get there too in a couple of years. For those who can keep their car home most days (retired, work from home, whatever) you can keep a car solar charged with about 10 panels! That's using 15k miles per year, 250 W-Hrs/mile, average of 4kW-Hrs / kW of solar panels / day, 370 watts / panel, and only 70% charge efficiency. A commuter could split the mileage between two cars and still keep them solar charged most of the time. Think of it - an unending supply of free fuel for your cars that's completely under your control! In the long run, I think these two points are the real advantages for going electric. You wouldn't even need the cost or regulatory issues of connecting those panels to the grid. Just a simple DC to DC charger is all you would need. (Efficiency would likely be over 90% - not 70%.)

Drop-off location in a residential neighborhood with a 'shop' that is one of four mailboxes on a recycling shop. Every single 5-star review calls out the owner ("Chris") by name. Every single other review is 1 star. Sketchy as heck.

So I enquired with the sales side what kind of deal I might swing with my CMAX traded in on the Leaf. They went out and looked at the car. My wife had a scrap on the front bumper, but otherwise in good condition. They talked to service and came back and said they would be willing to give me $2,000 as a trade-in for the Leaf. My jaw hit the floor! That's all my Ford was worth to Ford?!?! I think I paid $38,000 for this car and after 87,200 miles and 8 years it is only worth $2,000?? That's $0.41/mile depreciation. You would think I was driving a BMW or something similar to have that kind of depreciation.

At some point I was trying to separate vehicle costs per mile into fixed cost per year and marginal cost per mile. I used KBB estimates for CMaxes of different ages and mileage to try to figure out what model they were using (I don't know if they use a model or base their numbers purely on auction prices) to figure that out. I wish I still had that spreadsheet, but if I remember correctly, the depreciation per mile was only about 8 cents per mile; the rest was all fixed depreciation per year.

That DOES make it a very affordable car for someone looking to buy their first hybrid, and the trim level is amazing for that price, but there have been issues with the 12V battery, especially on SEs and some issues with transmission. Mine still has 109K miles and no problems except for the 12V legitimately needing to be replaced.

We've had this same problem off and on for years. First brought to our local Ford dealer way before the warranty ran out, but the answer was always, the code is no longer active, so reset and see if it returns. That last time it happened (right before the 100,000 mile warranty ran out), the answer was "can't help you". We even complained to Ford and got nowhere. And to make it worse, they charged me $$$ to "diagnose" problem. Well, the problem is back and we are now at 104,000 miles. My wife suggested that Ford would fix it this time, since we had a "history". I'm 100% confident they will not, and will likely not even bother taking it in to spend more $$$ to "diagnose" the problem. They stopped producing this vehicle and seem content to just let us complain on forums about their refusal to fix a common issue, because there are too few of us to damage their reputation. Yes, I am venting, but this is the only "satisfaction" we will get.

I believe cleaning the contacts on the battery (like where the eyelets for the wires go over the post on the high voltage battery) will solve this problem and I provided a video of a similar issue on a prius to my ford service dealer. He shrugged me off and said they couldn't fix this unless they replaced the battery. He basically doesn't understand anything that isn't mechanical which is what is going to leave a bunch of people unemployed in the electrical revolution. ?

Anyway, the car still runs great and the light goes off after a few days. I have had no noticeable reduction in performance from this. I am not going to do my own car work and i'm not taking the car back to the dealer so I will drive it until it dies. For anyone wondering, when the car was new I was able to go about 30 miles in all EV mode and now I only get about 17 miles each day. Pretty good I think considering how old it is.

3a8082e126