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Orange wrench light in dash


cremefrasier
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The orange wrench can come on for many many reasons. It is a power train fault warning lamp. You'll need a dealer or someone with an odb2 reader for any more information.

 

My orange wrench came on weather relatedly for many months and did not store the trouble code. I had to wait for the weather and light to coincide with a dealer being open and have a hybrid tech who wasn't all booked up that day. It turned out, that in my case, the electric heater was defective and has been replaced twice since.

Edited by openair
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The orange wrench can come on for many many reasons. It is a power train fault warning lamp. You'll need a dealer or someone with an odb2 reader for any more information.

 

My orange wrench came on weather relatedly for many months and did not store the trouble code. I had to wait for the weather and light to coincide with a dealer being open and have a hybrid tech who wasn't all booked up that day. It turned out, that in my case, the electric heater was defective and has been replaced twice since.

Oh wow. Has it had any effect on the car for day to day stuff? Just left a message with my guy at the dealer and waiting to hear back. It's only been two months which is why it is a little concerning

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Yes, it was very annoying. No heat and the Ev now and Ev later modes became disabled and would force you to drive on the battery only. After they replaced it the first time there was an intermittent manure smell coming from the new heater. They refused to do anything about the smell as it "was too intermittent to diagnosis." Only once the new heater also died and began throwing the same trouble code was it replace again. This time by a different dealership and the smell has not returned.

 

Plus countless trips to dealers in the hopes that this time they would find a trouble code or to ensure the orange wrench was not coming on for a different reason.

Edited by openair
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Yes, it was very annoying. No heat and the Ev now and Ev later modes became disabled and would force you to drive on the battery only. After they replaced it the first time there was an intermittent manure smell coming from the new heater. They refused to do anything about the smell as it "was too intermittent to diagnosis." Only once the new heater also died and began throwing the same trouble code was it replace again. This time by a different dealership and the smell has not returned.

 

Plus countless trips to dealers in the hopes that this time they would find a trouble code or to ensure the orange wrench was not coming on for a different reason.

This is very concerning. Did either dealer tell you that this is normal "wear and tear" or something else. Wondering if it's an underlying issue with these cars. What year is yours?

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No. Just that unless they can see the problem it doesn't exist and they will make no accommodation for the weather and intermittent related nature of the issue. Most trouble codes will be stored so they can be retrieved at the dealers leisure. Mine is a 2014. There have been a few posts on these forum of others with similar issues with a lack of heat. Some end up also having their heaters replaced. Others software fixes it. It is definitely not normal wear and tear. First time it was replaced under the bumper to bumper warranty. Second time under my premium care Esp. Neither covers wear and tear items.

 

You'll hopefully have a faster resolution as the trouble code should be retrievable. However Ford has shown me their true colours. They have shown me how they handle real, not routine, issues that are not cut and dry to diagnosis. It's easy for any dealer and manufacturer to fix routine things and it is how they handle the hard stuff that matters. This will be my last Ford.

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No. Just that unless they can see the problem it doesn't exist and they will make no accommodation for the weather and intermittent related nature of the issue. Most trouble codes will be stored so they can be retrieved at the dealers leisure. Mine is a 2014. There have been a few posts on these forum of others with similar issues with a lack of heat. Some end up also having their heaters replaced. Others software fixes it. It is definitely not normal wear and tear. First time it was replaced under the bumper to bumper warranty. Second time under my premium care Esp. Neither covers wear and tear items.

 

You'll hopefully have a faster resolution as the trouble code should be retrievable. However Ford has shown me their true colours. They have shown me how they handle real, not routine, issues that are not cut and dry to diagnosis. It's easy for any dealer and manufacturer to fix routine things and it is how they handle the hard stuff that matters. This will be my last Ford.

Damn! I've been the biggest Ford guy since my old Escape literally saved my life in an accident so I hope my dealer is a little more accommodating. Taking it in a little later, will update when I learn more. Thanks for the info

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The OBDII dongles are cheap enough that you should probably pick one up and keep it on hand. I have this one. The only way to know why it's on is to get the code. And like openair said if the car isn't keeping it between power cycles it'll be an annoying exercise in timing it so that a service tech can read it off. Get an OBD reader and be done with.

 

openair, I didn't realize you had your electric heater replaced twice. My was faulting out too with the same symptoms (EV+Now and EV+Later locked out). I had it replaced under warranty and haven't had any problem since. I believe the price tag would have been upwards of $1000 had it not been warrantied. That scared me into getting the Ford ESP.

 

cremefrasier, I love this car and I have no regrets in getting it. However, understand that the hybrid unique warranty may not cover some things that you think it would. For example, the electric heater openair and I had to have replaced would not have been covered after 36,000 miles. You can actually get the genuine Ford ESP from several authorized dealers online for a fraction of what your dealer may quote you. You might consider getting one if you haven't already.

Edited by bdginmo
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The OBDII dongles are cheap enough that you should probably pick one up and keep it on hand. I have this one. The only way to know why it's on is to get the code. And like openair said if the car isn't keeping it between power cycles it'll be an annoying exercise in timing it so that a service tech can read it off. Get an OBD reader and be done with.

 

openair, I didn't realize you had your electric heater replaced twice. My was faulting out too with the same symptoms (EV+Now and EV+Later locked out). I had it replaced under warranty and haven't had any problem since. I believe the price tag would have been upwards of $1000 had it not been warrantied. That scared me into getting the Ford ESP.

 

cremefrasier, I love this car and I have no regrets in getting it. However, understand that the hybrid unique warranty may not cover some things that you think it would. For example, the electric heater openair and I had to have replaced would not have been covered after 36,000 miles. You can actually get the genuine Ford ESP from several authorized dealers online for a fraction of what your dealer may quote you. You might consider getting one if you haven't already.

So my car is at the dealer and the only thing they told me is that it's a hybrid specific problem and the hybrid tech has to look at it. Said it will be there through the weekend. I am so upset. This is a 2 month old car!!! And they only gave me a Fiesta as a rental so I'm also waiting on something else to rent because that thing is awful!

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So my car is at the dealer and the only thing they told me is that it's a hybrid specific problem and the hybrid tech has to look at it. Said it will be there through the weekend. I am so upset. This is a 2 month old car!!! And they only gave me a Fiesta as a rental so I'm also waiting on something else to rent because that thing is awful!

 

So they were able to at least read the code? I wouldn't sweat it too much right now. I'm pretty sure my electric heater was defective when I bought it. It got fixed and I haven't had a problem since. 

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So they were able to at least read the code? I wouldn't sweat it too much right now. I'm pretty sure my electric heater was defective when I bought it. It got fixed and I haven't had a problem since.

Nope they haven't read the code yet as far as I know. At least they swapped the Fiesta for an Escape so I'll be happy until it gets fixed up. My fusion didn't have any of the same symptoms as yours, I checked before I gave it to the dealer.

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So my car has been at the dealer for a week and I had to call this morning to get some sort of explanation. 4 different trouble codes came up and they can't pin point what exactly is triggering the problem. Guy said they drove it the past two days and they can figure out what the problem is. Ugh

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My 2015 had a wrench light and the 12V battery died on 2 occasions. The dealer checked and cleared the codes and couldn't duplicate the problem. I got it back and it was good for one day, then it happened again the next day. I called the dealership back and they asked where I was charging and suggested it may be the charging station causing the issue. I cleared the codes with a handheld tuner and charged at work on 1 of 2 chargers. No issues. The next day, I tried the other charger and the issue came back. I checked the codes and they were the same as before. Ends up it was a bad charging cord causing the issue. They replaced the plug when I showed proof of the issue it caused and I never had another problem again.

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They've had the car for 10 days now and after getting Ford engineering involved, no one can figure it out. I guess the good news is they said the light is off, but it's been a frustrating week and a half. I've argued with the owner of the dealer and gotten corporate involved. The service manager said I should be able to get the car back on Monday. As a poster said above, Ford is has REALLY shown their true colors on me and I honestly can't wait to pay my disposition fee in 2 years and move on from them. I am going to ask them to pro-rate my lease for the time they had the car, in addition to fueling and charging it up. That's the least they could do in my opinion.

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The good news though is that you live in a country with proper lemon laws.  Once you get the vehicle back, if the orange light comes on again take it back to the dealer.  Get paper work confirming the ornage wrench was on.  Three sets of paperwork confirming that (depending on your local variations of lemons laws) should allow you get to the vehicle bought back or in your case get out of your lease early with no penalties (and get your payments back?).

Edited by openair
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I actually spoke with a lemon law attorney yesterday. He told me the next time it happens to record a video of the light being on and the odometer reading. All I have right now is the initial paper work that only says "customer states orange wrench light came on". The service mechanic saw it when I dropped the car off but essentially I have no "proof" of it ever being on.

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So I finally got this issue resolved...I think. On Sunday I got a notification from my Ford mobile saying that my alarm went off. The service center at my dealer is closed on sundays so it was really strange. I called the dealer and they said everything was fine. Monday I told the service manager about it and he said that they were going to replace the 12v battery to hopefully fix all the issues. Ford engineering had recommended this to them so that's what they ended up doing. Fortunately, I got the one service advisor who actually saw the light on to sign the work order and they changed the wordage to how I wanted it. So while they were never able to recreate the issue, they said replacing the battery should solve the issues. Because the dealer had my car 2 weeks, I had them gas, charge, wash/detail and they are pro-rating my lease for this month. I'm just glad to have my car back!

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