Electronic and/or battery issue that will not allow the car to start

Kenny,

Thank you for your reply. It is Orthodox Easter weekend here so we'll be back online on Wednesday when I'll get some DTC reads and I'll fly them over to you as soon as I have them. I also want to do some more testing so that I have clearer symptoms for a more precise guess.

So my move. I'll be in touch shortly. Thank you for your patience and desire to help.

Best regards from Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kenny,

Back on track here so here's a long message for you to build a picture.

I bought a 2015 Lincoln MKZ 2.0 Hybrid with a soft head-on collision (frame intact) from the States to export to Europe for my Dad as a gift, to make the old man happy with a great American car.

VIN is 3LN6L2LU4FR626585. Mileage is 55,100.

The car was run & drive and prior to purchase I had a video of the gasoline engine running rough because of a broken vacuum line. No issues during transport. The car would start fine and drive well enough to be moved around. It had both headlights smashed, as well as the radiator fan. Two of the three radiators (gas engine coolant and refrigerant) were cracked and leaked out.

When it arrived, I started it and it ran as in the video. The hybrid battery was showing at around 15% and after a short time it kicked into electric. That's how I drove it off the trailer and into the shop - on electric.

My mechanic started dismantling the front end to remove damaged components. Radiators were taken out, radiator fan too. I ordered some parts. Here's a chronological history of what happened next:

1. Vacuum was fully repaired. Car was started on gas and ran smooth. No weird messages on dash except a Check Engine MIL which was there before the purchase.
2. Main 12V battery went dead - possibly because it read hood as constantly open. (We then shorted the hood lock chain to simulate it being closed.)
3. The mechanic hooked a 12V charger to the battery for a few hours without disconnecting a terminal - like on a normal car. 12V battery was charged.
4. Everything that was disconnected during repair was duly connected. The only thing left disconnected on the car were the missing headlamps. Even the broken radiator fan was connected although damaged.

HERE PROBLEMS BEGIN:
5. We started the car on gas. It would start normally, again no weird messages on dash. It would run fine for about 10-15 seconds and turn itself off. NEW red message "Stop Safely Now" would light up on dash and not go away. Other messages would read "Full Accessory Power Active" (yellow) and "Check Headlamp System" (yellow.) Nothing else worth mentioning.
6. We noticed that the hybrid battery now showed completely empty.
7. Upon later attempts the same day the car would shift gears fine but never start again.
8. We checked the 12V battery's voltage and it was good. Nonetheless, since we could not check the amps, we put in a brand new 12V battery just to eliminate this as a possible cause, however highly improbable. Same behavior with the new battery. "Stop Safely Now" message remained active and car would not crank.
9. We put the old 12V battery back in place - no change again, as expected.
10. We left the car for a day - unlocked but presumably put to sleep.
11. On the following day 12V battery was fine but steps 5 through 7 happened all over again. Funny thing is the car would start to begin with when it couldn't the day before. For a brief minute at first ignition the "Stop Safely Now" message was NOT there. There was a green one - "Ready to Drive".
12. When the car started, during the short time it ran it wouldn't rev. Then it would go back to "Stop Safely Now" and die.
13. We left the car locked for a week over Easter, 12V battery charged and connected.
14. Today we went to see what's happening and steps 5 through 7 happened yet again.
15. We had a diagnostic tool today so we took some code readings.
16. We looked closely for visible signs of a damaged or disconnected electrical line at the hybrid PCM but everything looked intact, close to brand new.

This is where we're at so far. Here are the DTCs:

* P1A0C - Hybrid Powertrain Control Module - Engine Disabled (THE BIG ONE!)
* P0532 - A/C Refrigerant Pressure Sensor A Circuit Low (we know why)
* P0480 - Fan 1 Control Circuit Malfunction (we know why)
* P0073 - Ambient Air Temperature Sensor Malfunction (we don't know why but don't care)

No other codes. We tried resetting those but none could even be deleted except the first one.

So now the question is: How do we get this thing to start and rev and drive on gas?

Why would it start after it's been sleeping for a day and still not rev?

How do we get the hybrid batteries to charge when we can't drive the car on gas?

Thank you for your help, any tips would be highly appreciated. I'm in the dark here and I really need someone with hybrid experience to point me in the right direction.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Krassi Stoichev

No.

When it has sat for 24 hours or longer, no "Stop Safely Now" message is displayed and the engine cranks and starts but can't rev. 10 seconds later it dies, the message appears and the car won't crank again at all no matter what we do.

Your screenshots state it is possible that something else triggers the engine to shut off and not start again but I can't make any sense of it being alright when the car got here. Everything is connected as it was back then. We had a vacuum leak from a broken Vapor Canister Purge Valve/Solenoid and a cracked intake manifold. If the no-start was due to vacuum leak, it would have been there then and not now. Now the vacuum is repaired so we should probably exclude it.

I'm thinking, how possible is it that the car won't start because the hybrid batteries are completely discharged right now?

And let me just say that when the "Stop Safely Now" message kicks in the car does not maintain a limited function so one could pull over safely. It just shuts off right away. So it's not in limp mode. I know limp mode could display the same message but this is definitely no limp mode because the engine just shuts off. No time to even change lanes if you're on the road.

Good, that could point me in the right direction.

So what is the way to charge the hybrid battery at least partially? I watched some videos that this could be done via a 230-300V current in the realm of 1.4-1.5 amps in a couple of hours on the Japanese hybrids. What do I need to get this hybrid pack up a bit? Apparently, I cannot drive the car to charge it through the gasoline engine or through braking. There are no service shops that service hybrid batteries in the whole country. So I would really appreciate a good hint.

Thank you.

Kenny,

I have talked to a technician who will take out the hybrid battery this week so we can try to service it. Charge it rather. I will keep you posted when we get it out and then you and I can build a strategy.

Thank you for sticking around.

Meanwhile, I have a question:

Is the Level 2 charger an AC charger? What goes into the battery - AC or DC?

Thank you.

I've watched some videos on YouTube on charging hybrid packs. There's a shop in Venice, CA - venicehybridtech.com - the guy talks about charging different-sized packs via different AC voltage between 145V and 330V but always cut down to 1.4 amps. Below is a link where you can see the whole thing. He says that charges a hybrid pack in about three hours.

In the comments another guy who apparently does that for a living says WHY SO HIGH? Better charge slower at 250-300 milliamps in 10 hours to get the most badly discharged cells back to life when the rest are fully charged. And the Venice guy agrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx22rUnnrCU

It really makes me wonder how those Level 2 chargers you sent me will impact the hybrid battery if they are rated at 30-40 amps. This is over 100 times more than what seems to be the most recommended approach.

My car's hybrid battery has 74 cells which to their standard with Priuses is huge. They recommend charging it with a 330V current but still not over 1.5 amps. I'm totally new to this whole hybrids topic so please help me make some sense of it.

Thanks.

You explained it perfectly, just like I had it in my head.

The confusion, I guess, came from the fact that in my first big message where I explained the chronology of events, #6 states that the hybrid battery is now completely discharged so I took it you based your advice on this fact. You've been kind enough to read my messages and reply so don't worry, we'll get on the right track eventually. :D

So I'm taking it I need a slow charger now. We're having the battery pack taken down today and I'll send you pictures later so you can point me to where I hook up the charger when I find one.

Thank you again for your time.

The hybrid battery is out. Please find attached some photos.

Please let me know where I hook up the charger. You can circle the right terminals and shoot the pic right back to me.

I'm working on getting a slow charger. It's the only shot I have here. No service techs around. I can try calling someone in the States but people tend to be somewhat reserved when they see a weird unknown phone number.

P.S: What are the black-capped cells as opposed to the red-capped?

Sorry for the long silence, crazy prom season just ended here.

So when I check a dead battery for voltage, should there be any? To find the correct terminals to connect the charger, that is. The way I see it, right now I detect no voltage so I'm guessing the outer terminals of the cells with the triple caps would be the right ones to work with, please see photo.

No need to mention rubber gloves, of course.