Powerboost wouldn’t start today

[stlgrym3]

My wife took the truck to home depot today, and after she was done shopping the truck wouldn’t start. She told me the truck was in “Full Accessory Power Mode”. She tried shut off and restart the truck several times with no success. I had her check the onboard generator, they were all off at the time. Just when I was ready to call the tow truck, she called and said the she was able to start up the truck after another try. Has anyone experienced this before? It’s scary that issue like this would surfaced randomly and then gets resolved on their own.

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[wrgrimes]

Yes, there are many versions in this forum with slight variations.
Mine and others appear to have been related to bad 12v batteries. So far, I have been good since replacing the battery.
I monitor the 12v and hybrid batteries with OBDLink. I don’t leave the truck with low (~42%) hybrid charge.
Some people can start with remote. Others always Accessory start; OK message; then start with foot on brake (2 stage start)
Generally OK after 20min.
Possibly a software fix by the end of the year?

 

[stlgrym3]

Thanks for the reply. Any particular ODBLink tool you recommend?

 

[HammaMan]

Thanks for the reply. Any particular ODBLink tool you recommend?

Having read many cases, my money is leaning towards a module not waking up fast enough causing a communications error. They're going to OTA a patch eventually. I don't think it's the battery. On key start a whole bunch of modules startup very quickly and in a particular order. I believe the situation is that one module is a few fractions of a second slow in starting up and the error throws. Just spit balling but it may be the GWM causing a buffer of communications literally a few milliseconds long and the whole startup sequence craps out.

When it does this it throws a bunch of error codes if you're able to read it right then. When you close the door and leave it sit for a few minutes, it will fire right up and all codes magically are gone. This points to them knowing about the issue and clearing the codes on next fire. What they're likely working on is trying to increase the time out / error out margin of whatever modules are panicking and because ford has ZERO control over each module's software, they have to get the modules manufacturer to make the code changes and test them.

There's over 100k PBs on the road and everyone that catches it once seems to end up here. That makes it a nightmare for them to actually test something that's rare. I think we've been testing their fixes without knowing it with OTA pushes. Only after however many trucks they're playing with don't error out on startup will they know for-sure it's "the fix".

When I self-induced it on my truck, a whole bunch of modules were really mad they couldn't talk to other modules. Basically if something doesn't respond to another module immediately, the truck just thinks it's the end of the world and gives up until the door is closed for a few minutes and you try again.

 

[wrgrimes]

Thanks for the reply. Any particular ODBLink tool you recommend?

OBDLink MX+

Having read many cases, my money is leaning towards a module not waking up fast enough causing a communications error. They're going to OTA a patch eventually. I don't think it's the battery. On key start a whole bunch of modules startup very quickly and in a particular order. I believe the situation is that one module is a few fractions of a second slow in starting up and the error throws. Just spit balling but it may be the GWM causing a buffer of communications literally a few milliseconds long and the whole startup sequence craps out.

When it does this it throws a bunch of error codes if you're able to read it right then. When you close the door and leave it sit for a few minutes, it will fire right up and all codes magically are gone. This points to them knowing about the issue and clearing the codes on next fire. What they're likely working on is trying to increase the time out / error out margin of whatever modules are panicking and because ford has ZERO control over each module's software, they have to get the modules manufacturer to make the code changes and test them.

There's over 100k PBs on the road and everyone that catches it once seems to end up here. That makes it a nightmare for them to actually test something that's rare. I think we've been testing their fixes without knowing it with OTA pushes. Only after however many trucks they're playing with don't error out on startup will they know for-sure it's "the fix".

When I self-induced it on my truck, a whole bunch of modules were really mad they couldn't talk to other modules. Basically if something doesn't respond to another module immediately, the truck just thinks it's the end of the world and gives up until the door is closed for a few minutes and you try again.

I agree wholeheartedly! Like any other computer, sometimes they need a reboot. I just wish there was a “short cut” to avoid a 20 or more minute wait.
For me, battery was not charging adequately per dealer diagnostic printout. Related to Full Accessory freezing or coincidence? It did get me a new battery.

 

[JustHere4Research]

I know these are the small sample size, but this is why I can’t help but shy away from PB. Too much new technology and things that can go wrong in such a complicated machine.

 

[wrgrimes]

I know these are the small sample size, but this is why I can’t help but shy away from PB. Too much new technology and things that can go wrong in such a complicated machine.

Powering a travel trailer or work equipment are excellent reasons to get a PowerBoost! If the generator is not important to you, probably not the correct tool. I believe the MPG is some improved, but not doubled or anything major (I do like eating lunch idling with air conditioning in Louisiana without the gas gauge crashing to E). It is powerful and quick, maybe not for racing, but nice when merging. I find it to be stable and solid as a rock. Apparently, the frame is beefier, and the center of gravity is lower related to the hybrid battery.

 

[stlgrym3]

Makes sense. The truck was sitting at garage for almost 10 days without been driven. However, the issue did not occur when the truck was first started up by my wife, it occurred after been driven for 30 minutes.

 

[Snakebitten]

There is what appears to be a pretty sure fire way to get the truck to start if/when this happens. But it's also likely it will start after a certain amount of time passes.

Like HammaMan, I believe it finally starts after the module(s) that wasn't happy with the failed attempt, "resets".
If you remove all 12V power for a moment, it appears to accomplish the reboot/reset, and you are on your way. Problem is, the Powerboost has 2 batteries so it isn't as convenient as just pulling the negative cable under the hood.

Regardless, I know that I'd be willing to pull both negative cables before I'd wait on a tow truck. Especially considering the truck is going to start before the tow truck arrives.

Hopefully Ford gets this software update compiled soon. But what would be good news for you is that it not be something that happens again. Certainly not to your wife.

 

[HammaMan]

Powering a travel trailer or work equipment are excellent reasons to get a PowerBoost! If the generator is not important to you, probably not the correct tool. I believe the MPG is some improved, but not doubled or anything major (I do like eating lunch idling with air conditioning in Louisiana without the gas gauge crashing to E). It is powerful and quick, maybe not for racing, but nice when merging. I find it to be stable and solid as a rock. Apparently, the frame is beefier, and the center of gravity is lower related to the hybrid battery.

That e-motor gives it plenty of power where it matters vs the 3.5L alone -- so much more that can be done though. It gets to speed quite quick with little fuss and little noise. I'm really hoping they're hiding the 70kW motor version to drop on any competition. Toyota's 'version' of the pb doesn't impress me at all and I've owned 5.7. Toyota is using the taco hybrid platform in other vehicles and it looks promising. Everything using that platform comes with a 2.4kW inverter native like the base PB does -- the tundra has no inverter yet because tundra buyers don't care for that kind of thing, per Toyo anyway .

Every time the power goes out or someone wants to plug in something substantive pretty much anywhere, having a little power plant with you suddenly makes loads of sense. It's also convenient it's the most energy efficient generator on the market.

 

[HammaMan]

Makes sense. The truck was sitting at garage for almost 10 days without been driven. However, the issue did not occur when the truck was first started up by my wife, it occurred after been driven for 30 minutes.

HVAC blower at setting 5 or higher when being driven

 

[Snakebitten]

HVAC blower at setting 5 or higher when being driven

I swear you could call it a good bug in the logic. (code)

 

[Davexxxx]

There's over 100k PBs on the road and everyone that catches it once seems to end up here.

That few? Never thought to check but would have figured higher.

Lawd! We be cutting edge.

So a 1% failure rate would be 1000.

There is a bunch of posts but is there a 1000 trucks with the failure?

An intermittent failure at that?

One that for many, a fresh battery, makes go away?

 

[Davexxxx]

I swear you could call it a good bug in the logic. (code)

Its weird. To the point of being hard to believe. But far as we know, harmless and easy, so ...

 

[HammaMan]

Its weird. To the point of being hard to believe. But far as we know, harmless and easy, so ...

A simple 'hack' to bypass untold amounts of effort for a cumbersome BMS system with numerous data points that can't keep 2 AGM batts at a satisfactory state of charge so that all systems function as intended. Another illustration of the inefficiencies of large corporations that continue down paths of repetition without stopping to ask what good the additional complication brings. It's a little amusing at the effort they've put into the BMS logic with its variables, explanation materials and such, and yet we still get the best performance with one little trick that ignores it all.

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