Mileage drop after software update

[ConiferEric]

Thank you for noticing my post. People keep wanting to just tell me it is the colder conditions, but it was not nearly as low last winter. When you drive a vehicle every day you notice the subtle differences. But this is not even subtle. It is night and day. At least you are getting 18. I am under 15. Of course the dealership also wants to blame the weather. I truly believe it was something in the many modules they updated to get my truck to do bluecruise. In the end, I dont even use bluecruise. I just wanted to be current and have features like cameras while moving and I really appreciate that I can now use the target stickers on my 3 trailers rather than having to use the yaw kit. Again, thx for the reply! Happy Holidays!

Happy Holiday's to you as well!

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[imnuts]

AFAIK, none of the modules updated via OTA update would impact fuel economy. I don't believe that the PCM, or the module that controls the batteries and charging was sent out OTA. Those would be the only items that should affect fuel economy. Now, if a dealer applied updates, it is possible that they did update the other modules.

I am also noticing a large drop in fuel economy now that the weather is cold on the truck fuel economy meter. It dropped 10-15% on my drive, but I'd imagine that it would have been much more severe if I only had a 2-3 mile trip. I will say that after applying the PCM updates, my fuel economy is better in some situations, and worse in others. The place it is most noticeable is short trips and cold weather, and it is much worse until warmed up than it was originally, which is coincidentally the same situation you have.

The truck will not do electric only or really use the hybrid system at all until there is some heat in the engine. I haven't tracked the battery temperature yet to see where the cutoff is, but the transmission temp needs to be >60F before regen charging works, and the coolant temp needs to be >110F before the truck will go into electric only mode. If the HVAC is on for heat, the truck won't go into electric only mode until coolant temp is >140F.

 

[Biodtlpz]

AFAIK, none of the modules updated via OTA update would impact fuel economy. I don't believe that the PCM, or the module that controls the batteries and charging was sent out OTA. Those would be the only items that should affect fuel economy. Now, if a dealer applied updates, it is possible that they did update the other modules.

I am also noticing a large drop in fuel economy now that the weather is cold on the truck fuel economy meter. It dropped 10-15% on my drive, but I'd imagine that it would have been much more severe if I only had a 2-3 mile trip. I will say that after applying the PCM updates, my fuel economy is better in some situations, and worse in others. The place it is most noticeable is short trips and cold weather, and it is much worse until warmed up than it was originally, which is coincidentally the same situation you have.

The truck will not do electric only or really use the hybrid system at all until there is some heat in the engine. I haven't tracked the battery temperature yet to see where the cutoff is, but the transmission temp needs to be >60F before regen charging works, and the coolant temp needs to be >110F before the truck will go into electric only mode. If the HVAC is on for heat, the truck won't go into electric only mode until coolant temp is >140F.

Thank you for reply. You actually had some really good info in there. Yes. Dealer had to update ALL modules As they were having trouble with bluecruise update and ford engineers told them to update all modules. Happy holidays to you!

 

[mj1angier]

Winter blend fuel drops my mpg from 23 down to 22. Changing tires dropped it from 22 to 20. At this rate I will be down to what my F250 6.0 got lol

 

[Tosh]

30 days ago, at the start of my trips, my truck would go about 1/2 mile (or more) on electric. When the ICE fired up my MPG count would start at 999 then rapidly drop. Yesterday when I started out the ICE fired up immediately and the MPG started to count up from 5.

I would often see 25 MPG on my trip to the grocery store in the summer. I now see between 15 and 20 on the same trip. I live in Sublimity, and drive to Stayton. It's December now, and it's cold in the morning (my truck is parked outside in the driveway).

 

[jofo]

I had the same thing happen after tranny bucking update with my 21 Lariat PB. Prior to that I had 23 MPG for the life of truck, somewhere in the 18k miles range. No more bucking at all, to which I am very happy about. However, my daily commute that was in the 25/26 mpg range has dropped to 20/21. Now this is combined with cold weather, but I definitely saw a drop before the cold hit. I miss the better MPG, but not the bucking, so it’s a trade off that I am good with.

 

[darioa]

I'm not saying that I have never seen it count down, but that's a short lived phenomenon for me and only happens if the truck is in EV mode right out of the gate.

Like a fully warmed up truck starting in a large parking lot and has enough EV headstart to populate the "This Trip" trip meter.

I just don't believe a coldstart Powerboost in cold weather and only traveling 2 miles is ever going to get EPA mileage ratings. It's not much of an EV in that environment/use.
The PCM programming has EPA demands on it to get those cats heated up, as well as the programming to get some heat into the coolant loops for both the HVAC and the Battery.

I have a 2021 PW King Ranch with over 20,000 miles.

I monitor the battery's charge and the transmission temperature. As the cold weather comes in, I cannot get the truck to go electric until the battery is at least 42-45% charged (same as in the summer), and the transmission temperature is above 95-100 F. When I have a 2.5 mile run downhill in the summer I can get 25-30 mpg because the electric only mode starts soon after I get on my way. During cold weather (<40F), I am lucky if I get to 18 MPG during that short run. Going back though I may get above 18 MPG and it is uphill, but the transmission temperature is above 100F and the truck goes into electric mode in the flat areas.

It seams that the outside temperature also is a factor, even if the transmission is warmed up. I was recently able to go electric when the transmission was at 90F, but the outside temperature was in the upper 50s. When the outside temperature is in the 30s, the transmission temperature has to be above 100F before the truck goes into electric mode.

The oil temperature warms up quicker than the transmission temp, and I have not figured out what the correlation is betwen oil temp and MPG, that is independent of the transmission temperature. The truck goes on electric mode at various oil temperatures.

 

[Savannah Power]

Yep, My PB is back in the shop for week 6 & 7 in a 12 month ownership. Had the same thing after BC was uploaded. was 21-22, now 18-19. Totally eliminates the PB mileage advantage.

One interesting aside is I'm driving a 2023 XL with the non-turbo six. Start-stop is enabled, but instead of activating when the gas is pressed, which now (post-reprogram) activates the ICE within a second or two, resulting in jerky starts. The XL re-starts the engine when either the brake pedal is released, or the steering wheel is turned. The truck exhibits NONE of the jerky PB issues. So Ford, reprogram the PB to do the same, I bet it will solve a lot of owners' complaints.

It may also be worth trying the steering trick to see if that re-starts the ICE. I can't test since my PB is locked in service.

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