Coolant bypass valve?

[dmen]

Hello

For the past month or so I've been getting a yellow wrench light "check manual" warning within a few minutes of driving. The car seems to be driving fine, the only thing I've noticed is lowish battery capacity-- in this weather last year I'd get a full range prediction of 100+ miles, now more like 80-90 and it seems to be ~17kWh down from 18.5-19 last summer. Well between normal aging and the battery connector recall issue resulting in a switch out where I probably got the bad end of the swap deal since my mileage is only 35000, so it's probably unrelated. Anyway I took it to Ford dealer after a few days, they got a code P26A3: engine coolant bypass valve performance and said I could keep driving until the part came in a week or so. They ordered a new bypass valve which came and was replaced yesterday.

Well, on the way home the yellow wrench pops up again! That evening and this morning it popped up right away, but if I turned the "ignition" off and on again a few times it seemed to stay off. At first (before the work was done) the wrench seemed to come on when regen braking or hard accelerating- not when cruising or at a stop. Now it comes on as soon as I put it in Drive. Needless to say I'm annoyed. I ran a vehicle health report and all is good there. So I'll take it back and see what they make up this time.

Anyway, anyone have any issues with coolant bypass valve before? Or better yet anyone have something that was mistaken for coolant bypass valve malfunction?

Thanks

Dan
2012, 35000 miles

 

[HannahWCU]

Sorry I didn't reply to this earlier, but I have not been on the forums in a while.

Yes I had that problem. Had to take it to a certified EV dealer to get it repaired correctly. It has worked fine since it was replaced.

I suspected it was some sort of overheating problem when my wrench light came on as it only did it on particularly hot days and only under certain driving conditions (higher speed, highway runs, I suspected it came from the higher amperage draw for extended periods of time, > 20 minutes)

 

[davideos]

There are 3 coolant loops. One that does the on-board charger, one that does the motor, and one that does the cabin heater. There are 3 bypass valves...one for each loop as well as a pump. The car can configure the 3 loops into one loop for when you replace your coolant and need to purge the air out...unfortunately, you'll have to have the dealer to do this for you as there is no way to configure this yourself without special equipment/computer. I think the loops could be configured in other ways depending on what the motor / battery / cabin heater need.

I don't think there are any flow sensors but it could be that there is a sensor that detects the position of the bypass valve and if it isn't where it is supposed to be, you get the error...since if the bypass valve isn't where it is supposed to be, then the system could over-heat....just my theory.

I would do yourself a favor and look into getting the OBDLink MX and Forescan software. You can use it read the errors and even see the position of the sensors. It doesn't necessarily tell you the position it supposed to be, but it might. I've noticed on some settings you can see the "request" as well as "current". Search the forums for more info.

Regards

 

[Guest]

Yup its the bypass valve. better prep it with some gauze pads and 3 in 1 oil. Im gonna need some 30 weight ball bearings..............

Its all ball bearings nowadays... :lol: :mrgreen: