Powerboost - no electric mode when driving

[AussieSteveGuy]

Just had my 2021 PB Lariat serviced for recalls and trans issue. Since picking up at dealership, electric drive won’t kick in…and noticeable lag when moving from standstill. When stopped, vehicle will ‘idle’ in electric. Dealer notes that they did unplug the batteries for a hard reboot.

Takeaway: something wasn’t plugged back in or dealer-config’d setting is incorrect.

Thoughts?

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[Stuckey in NC]

Dealership currently has my 21 powerboost for unresolved transmission issues. I went on a 30 minute test drive with the transmission tech after they did software updates last Thursday and noticed the truck would not go into electric mode. They still have the truck. They are pulling the valvebody to check something internally.
This truck has had transmission issues since day 1. 10,000 miles.
Hopefully this is not a new issue.

 

[Snakebitten]

If they performed the latest available PCM update you will not see EV mileage for a little while. Then after a few key cycles, drives, it will return to normal. Even potentially better than before the update.

It's been discussed in other threads.

That's not to say I can guarantee you that is what is applicable to your trucks.

 

[AussieSteveGuy]

Still same issue a week later. Something doesn’t seem right….

 

[Snakebitten]

No EV after a week of cycles is not right.
You are in Normal mode?

 

[AussieSteveGuy]

Yes. Tech had apparently unplugged (and supposedly plugged back in) the hybrid battery, when they did a hard reset on the system.
Even when I’m braking, the bar to show I’m charging/regenerative braking is tiny like it has nothing to charge.
As I explained to the dealer today, it’s like I’m driving a standard f150 that simply turns off the engine when I’m stationary. Waiting for dealer callback tomorrow.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Yes. Tech had apparently unplugged (and supposedly plugged back in) the hybrid battery, when they did a hard reset on the system.
Even when I’m braking, the bar to show I’m charging/regenerative braking is tiny like it has nothing to charge.
As I explained to the dealer today, it’s like I’m driving a standard f150 that simply turns off the engine when I’m stationary. Waiting for dealer callback tomorrow.

Hi there. This powerboost concern doesn’t sound like something we want you to experience with your F-150. Could you please send us a PM with your VIN and the name and location of your Ford dealer? I'd be happy to look into how I can assist you on my end.

 

[that1guy]

Hey what ever happened with this? I just picked up my 501a Powerboost and am not impressed with the MGP. I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer and its possible they put in lower octane, but my trips are getting between 14-15.5 MPG so I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. If I use eco coach and drive like grandma I get 15.5, If I drive what I consider to be normal, I'll get 14 or lower. only around 200 miles on it

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hey what ever happened with this? I just picked up my 501a Powerboost and am not impressed with the MGP. I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer and its possible they put in lower octane, but my trips are getting between 14-15.5 MPG so I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. If I use eco coach and drive like grandma I get 15.5, If I drive what I consider to be normal, I'll get 14 or lower. only around 200 miles on it

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your F-150 concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Hey what ever happened with this? I just picked up my 501a Powerboost and am not impressed with the MGP. I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer and its possible they put in lower octane, but my trips are getting between 14-15.5 MPG so I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. If I use eco coach and drive like grandma I get 15.5, If I drive what I consider to be normal, I'll get 14 or lower. only around 200 miles on it

Give it a little time. I was underwhelmed at first with the mileage on mine too as it got similar crappy mileage when I first got it. One big thing to note is nothing is broken in yet and the transmission is sill "learning." Make sure you are in Normal mode for starters. Continue being gentle on the gas and see how frequently you can get it into EV only mode on surface streets. Pull up the page "This Trip" on the cluster and use that. You may need to add it to the My Views. This will give you better trip info for that specific key cycle drive. The mileage report info shown on the Sync page isn't the whole picture. I want to say it's reporting ICE mileage only as mine still shows about 19 MPG but tank average is 24.8 mpg based on gallons filled/miles driven per tank.

Another thing to take into account is dealers get the absolute worst gas on the planet. Once I ran through the dealer gas (only got about 400 miles out of it and was sucking fumes.) I switched to 93 octane in it and mileage shot up from 16-18 to about 20 mpg average for the 1st 1K miles and now with 1800 miles on it and I easily get 23-24 mpg city and 28+ mpg hwy and get about 750 per tank with ease.

 

[that1guy]

Give it a little time. I was underwhelmed at first with the mileage on mine too as it got similar crappy mileage when I first got it. One big thing to note is nothing is broken in yet and the transmission is sill "learning." Make sure you are in Normal mode for starters. Continue being gentle on the gas and see how frequently you can get it into EV only mode on surface streets. Pull up the page "This Trip" on the cluster and use that. You may need to add it to the My Views. This will give you better trip info for that specific key cycle drive. The mileage report info shown on the Sync page isn't the whole picture. I want to say it's reporting ICE mileage only as mine still shows about 19 MPG but tank average is 24.8 mpg based on gallons filled/miles driven per tank.

Another thing to take into account is dealers get the absolute worst gas on the planet. Once I ran through the dealer gas (only got about 400 miles out of it and was sucking fumes.) I switched to 93 octane in it and mileage shot up from 16-18 to about 20 mpg average for the 1st 1K miles and now with 1800 miles on it and I easily get 23-24 mpg city and 28+ mpg hwy and get about 750 per tank with ease.

That's great to hear, thanks!

 

[RossRR]

Hey what ever happened with this? I just picked up my 501a Powerboost and am not impressed with the MGP. I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer and its possible they put in lower octane, but my trips are getting between 14-15.5 MPG so I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. If I use eco coach and drive like grandma I get 15.5, If I drive what I consider to be normal, I'll get 14 or lower. only around 200 miles on it

Personally I wouldn't get my hopes up that it will fix itself. Others have reported similar fuel mileage. The powerboost seems to have a wide bell curve distribution on fuel mileage with some reporting absolutely stellar gas mileage and others on the other end of the curve reporting mileage similar to what you are seeing. Personally, my bet is that Ford has cheaped out on fuel injectors and if you get one or two marginal injectors, the monitoring system doesn't detect them and they don't regulate fuel flow properly. Since the monitor doesn't detect them, Ford won't authorize your dealer to do anything about the problem, Ford doesn't want to pay tech's to troubleshoot the system. I hope I'm wrong and good luck with your issue.
BTW...with 10,000+ miles on mine, I'm averaging 20.7 mpg over that entire span and get pretty close to that each time I fill. I have never seen 24 on any fill and I drive pretty mildly, I don't try to hypermile it but I don't beat it either. On the highway and in the city, I drive the speed limit and use cruise control well over 90% of the time and usually see the truck's braking coach showing 90-100% most of the time.

 

[Harry Dangler]

Hey what ever happened with this? I just picked up my 501a Powerboost and am not impressed with the MGP. I'm still on my first tank of gas from the dealer and its possible they put in lower octane, but my trips are getting between 14-15.5 MPG so I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. If I use eco coach and drive like grandma I get 15.5, If I drive what I consider to be normal, I'll get 14 or lower. only around 200 miles on it

When I picked up my truck up from Granger it had 53 miles on it and it said 11 MPG with 496 miles to empty I drove 1642 miles back to Arizona City where I live and as I drove it the MPG kept increasing along with miles to empty. My last fill up was in Tucson and my display said 24 MPG and 805 miles to empty. I drove 53 miles from Tucson to my house and the the miles to empty still said 805 and 24.1 MPG. I was really happy with that
Edit
And I filled up 4 times, usually about 1/2 to 3/4 of a tank

 

[Snakebitten]

The only debate that I'd have regarding poor fuel mileage being from excessive fueling, is that it would throw the AFR off on the bank that is experiencing the faulty injector.
That WOULD be an easy thing to believe exists, but it wouldn't go unnoticed by the pcm and various sensors on these trucks.

You can monitor both the requested AFR and the resulting AFR for both banks.

No doubt there are faulty injectors in mass produced motors. But modern engine management reveals the symptoms

 

[that1guy]

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your F-150 concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

Thanks for the reply, it seems better for now. I'm still just on my first tank but getting closer to 20 mpg. I'm excited to put some premium fuel in, if it still seems poor I'll get in touch.

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