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Go Time versus Remote Start.


Dag
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I've had my car a little over a month and figured this out finally.

 

Go times (require a plug in) will pre-heat/cool the car to a temp regardless of the climate control settings in the car.

 

Remote start, (no plug in required) will start the car and let the climate control heat/cool the car based on the last setting.

 

So as I try to preserve miles, and arrive home with the climate control off, my remote start does NOTHING to help warm/cool the cabin.

 

Is that all correct?

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  • 1 month later...

I just can't seem to get the go times to work. I set my go time for 6 am, but the car is not warm or doing anything when I check on it, and I set it to 85 deg. I can remote start from the app though and I assume since it it is still plugged in, I'm drawing from the plug and not the battery. Any idea what I should try to do? Or settings to look at? I've set and reset these a few times.

Edited by mczajka
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Couple things:

 

Are you using 120v or 240v charging?  If you're using 120v and your car blower is just circulating cold air, the 120v system cannot supply enough energy to make much of a difference.  If it isn't blowing anything at all, then there's a TSB you need to have the dealership apply for you (it's in several other threads) and it'll work as it should.

 

If you remote start through the app or through the keyfob, the car actually uses both the battery and the wall to heat your car.  It'll use the full 5+kw the heater can do in order to warm your car quickly.  It'll shave a bit of charge off of your battery doing that, especially if it's really cold.  Careful doing that if your car is in an enclosed space, such as an attached garage.  There is a chance that the ICE could kick on for varying reasons (low battery charge, WAY too cold, etc).

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I just can't seem to get the go times to work. I set my go time for 6 am, but the car is not warm or doing anything when I check on it, and I set it to 85 deg. I can remote start from the app though and I assume since it it is still plugged in, I'm drawing from the plug and not the battery. Any idea what I should try to do? Or settings to look at? I've set and reset these a few times.

 

This is the same issue that my car had, and was fixed this morning when they applied a software update in TSB 13-5-28.  The symptom was that even with the 240v charger plugged in and Go times set, the car would start drawing power from the 240v charger at the scheduled time, but no HVAC would come on.  Based on the postings of others here, I went to the dealer and asked them to apply the software update referenced in the TSB (reprogram the FCIM) and that fixed it for me. 

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Good to hear you have it all worked out, Jeff.  I've gone to remote starting instead of go times.  It's been about 35-45 degrees in the morning and a remote start 5-10 mins before I leave gives me the warmest cabin.  In the dead of winter, "warmest cabin" seems to be my priority over total cost of operation.  :spend:

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Preconditioning will work much better with your 240 V charger.  The 120 V charger is not up to the task. 

 

Good to hear you have it all worked out, Jeff.  I've gone to remote starting instead of go times.  It's been about 35-45 degrees in the morning and a remote start 5-10 mins before I leave gives me the warmest cabin.  In the dead of winter, "warmest cabin" seems to be my priority over total cost of operation.  :spend:

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Preconditioning will work much better with your 240 V charger.  The 120 V charger is not up to the task. 

 

Works for me now that the TSB was performed - mine set for 5:30am and connected to the 240V charger, does a good job of warming before I leave (am inside a garage), then I pull the cord and plug her car in and hers is also nice and warm when she leaves at 7am.

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Ok Jeff, I need some help. You must have a good service person at your local dealer. Unfortunately, while I love my dealer, it appears I'm working with a new service person. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! (like Charlie Brown would say)

 

I submit an online service ticket with two TSBs. The first one was the window up thingy, which they recreated and did. Unfortunately the 13-5-28 has nothing about Go Times and Cabin temp. in it, so I'm like having to play a game with them. Firstly, I must say that my car does nothing when the Go Times are set. Nothing inside comes on (I understand when they work, the screen is active inside the car?). The EVSE light just blinks (at the dealer and at home). I read your emails to them, and Clarence even looked up your name, and the CSR looked at your service ticket, but she was like "well, how am I going to get Ford to pay for this if it doesn't work?"

 

Backtrack to a few days ago. I submit a detailed Web service ticket. I get a call back to call her. I explain the problems in detail, reference the forums, reference jeff_h who just bought his car there. Jeff_h lives out of my area but took advantage of a good end of year value on the Fusion Energi.

 

Backtrack to earlier this morning. I drop the car off at 6:00 AM!!! No calls/questions during the day. When the tech. started working on the car, he/she could not find anything in their database. Then he looks at the Go Time settings. I had totally cleared them out (which was a mistake). Here's the writeup on the service ticket (mind you I filled out Web service ticket with the two TSB numbers and a complete explanation of what I want):

 

CUST STATES THAT GO TIMES HAS NEVER WORKED. OPTION WAS TURNED OFF AND NO SCHEDULE SET UP. SET UP SCHEDULE AND TURNED OPTION ON. GO TIMES SET FOR 8 AM AND 5 PM. TEMP SET FOR 85 DEGREES IN AM AND 72 DEGREES IN PM

 

Ok, you can continue reading after extreme laughter.

 

They assumed my Go Times weren't working because I never set them. Hey, throw me a bone and call me. Duhhh. Terrible assumption. Is this customer service 101?

 

I call the dealer on the way home today at about 4 PM..."what's up with the car?" Finally get a call back..."the tech noticed you never had your Go Times set." After about 5 minutes of arguing she finally agreed to wait until 5 PM (it was about 4:40 PM) to see if they would work. I don't think they were going to do this. I get there, and we wait. Nothing. She sets them for 5:15 PM...Nothing.

 

"Well, I need to speak with our warranty person, and they are gone for the day." "Why can't people just go out and start their car anymore...?" "If the TSB doesn't work, Ford will not pay for it." Blahh blahh blahh....More concerned about Ford not paying than the customer. I told her, "well, I had my car in there for about 20 days past fall...you have an unhappy customer...isn't that enough to do something?" I was very calm, because I know in the end, I will get a call from the dealer "how was your service?" and I can go over this story with them.

 

By the way, we looked up the build dates. My car was built on the same exact date as jeff_h's (I believe 2-12-13). I told her there's probably over a 50% chance this TSB will fix it.

 

Since I've had other TSB's installed and other warranty work done, is this like insurance and claims? Did they spend so much in the 20 days fixing my other problem that now they are going to nickel and dime every little thing?

 

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Edited by mczajka
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So these guys were smart enough to turn the GO Times to the 'on' position but not smart enough to adjust the time for 20 minutes in the future and hook up the 240V charger to watch the thing come on?  So much for checking one's work.

 

Actually I don't think my service advisor was familiar with the issue, but since I was waiting there he called me over (noted earlier in this thread or maybe in another) with the hybrid/EV tech standing there, and the tech said "OK can you explain what the issue is?" so I told him of the symptom that the GO Time indeed DOES come on since it is drawing power from the 240V charger at the scheduled time, however the HVAC system does not activate to bloe warm air into the cabin (did you tell your service dept that it does come on as schedule but just has no HVAC?), and that I left the printouts or repair orders from two other Energi owners who had this same issue, and once they had the software update for the TSB done to reprogram the Front Control Interface Module (FCIM) it worked fine.  So he said OK good enough and he'd apply the TSB software update. 

 

He did that, then found me in the waiting room and said he also applied another TSB (13-7-11) since there was another stored code (U019B) that was present (though nothing ever was displayed to me). So 10-15 minutes later they called me over to pick up the car, and I drove right out front and plugged into their 240V charger and came in and went back on my laptop and set the GO Time (and finished up my work stuff) and then went back out and how sweet the sound of that HVAC blowing the warm air.

 

So below is the repair order (RO) from my visit, you can print this out and show it to them and hopefully they will take care of it -- and if not, come on across the river and make an appt with my guys and I'll meet you there too -- the software update takes 20-30 minutes if that's all they need to do.

 

And yes, same build date (also shown on below RO)-- anyone can go to www.etis.ford.com and input their VIN and get their build date and also see if there are outstanding recalls or field service actions pending.  However the date format is reverse of what most are accustomed, and the model defaults to a Transit Connect, but I just got there to get build date and check for the outstanding actions due.

TSB_13_5_28_RO_zps29cb9375.jpg

Edited by jeff_h
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Thanks. How did you know the car was drawing power? My car appears to be doing nothing during this time (period before set Go Time). What exactly should happen? Any displays or lights on? Any similarities to remote start, which does work from my app.

 

My Leviton 240V charger has a blinking yellow light when it is charging the car... and when the GO time is working properly and it is pre-conditioning the car, the fans on are pretty high so if you walk out into the garage you definitely cannot miss hearing it.  I believe it is similar to remote start, as if you look at the pic that Mark posted in the gallery, his remote start was working OK but the GO times were not. 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/gallery/album/34-maintenance/

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They finally agreed to install the TSB 13-5-28 after discussing it with their warranty manager. Thanks to everyone who helped and sent me direct messages with ideas. That is what this forum is all about! Helping each other, especially the early adopters of this new technology!

 

I'll give you an update in a few weeks after I take it in.

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They finally agreed to install the TSB 13-5-28 after discussing it with their warranty manager. Thanks to everyone who helped and sent me direct messages with ideas. That is what this forum is all about! Helping each other, especially the early adopters of this new technology!

 

I'll give you an update in a few weeks after I take it in.

 

Sorry I didn't catch this thread until now, mczajka. Let me know how this TSB works out for you and I'll lend a hand, if necessary.

 

Ashley

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remote started the car while plugged in on a very cold day and the engine started in my garage. My question now is, could Go Times ever start the engine if it was really, really cold (say under 10 degrees)? Or are Go Times ONLY ALWAYS using electric.

 

Remote start has fired my ICE a couple times when I exited the car and it was locked in EV Auto after a commute... I haven't had it start when I left the car in EV Now.

 

Go Times will not start the ICE at all nor use power from the battery since it has an endless supply of energy from the wall.  I also assume they figured the car would most likely be plugged in within an enclosed space (a garage, attached or not) and wouldn't want it starting in that situation.

 

My car is locked in EV Auto as of this morning since the temps are -8F outside.  It fired my engine a mile from the house and it stayed on until I got about 1/2 mile from the office.  It is expected to get to 2 degrees today, so I know I'll be using gas on the way home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remote started the car while plugged in on a very cold day and the engine started in my garage. My question now is, could Go Times ever start the engine if it was really, really cold (say under 10 degrees)? Or are Go Times ONLY ALWAYS using electric.

 

Ditto. I've been unpleasantly surprised by the ICE running in the garage after a remote start. 

 

Go Times never start the engine to generate heat. Instead a Go Time will use the electric water heater to produce heat for the cabin.

 

On another note my electric bill increased this past time, probably due in part to Go Times and extremely cold weather. Either way I'm being more diligent about leaving the house at the configured Go Time (on time) and changed the setting from 72 to 65 to use less energy.

 

Glad you were able to convince your dealer to fix the car!! Holy crap.

 

In case someone else happens upon this with a similar Go Time issue, there's another thread full of TSB 13-5-28 Go Time successes as well:

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1362-go-times/

Edited by mmmhmmmm
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  • 3 weeks later...

What's a tsb? I'm getting my car tomorrow and want to make sure it's got the current software updates - if that even makes sence

 

Can the car auto update over wifi like an iPhone?

Technical Service Bulletin

 

Unless a car has the problem described in the TSB Ford will not authorize the dealer to install it.

 

No it can't update over WiFi.  Updates to MFT are sometimes done via a USB memory stick.

All other updates require that the dealer's specialized computer be connected to the car.

 

Peruse the stickies in the forum.  There are a lot of TSBs listed.

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