Factory battery ongoing issues

[Hans Moleman]

I bought my truck new 2 months ago. I got a CarFax report and it said the dealer replaced the battery twice before I bought it. They also replaced it again after I bought it.

It sat on the dealer lot for 9 months before I bought it.
1. The dealer replaced the battery the 1st time at 1 month after the truck arrived on their lot.
2. The dealer replaced the battery the 2nd time at 5 months later.
3. The dealer replaced the battery the 3rd time at 3 months later (next day after buying it) because the low battery voltage caused a service engine soon light as I was driving home.

That‘s 3 batteries in less than a year. I hope the current battery will live longer now that I drive my truck regularly.

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[Xman]

Regarding all these battery issues and how much the F150's "avionics" draw down battery powder when the vehicle is off, how well is my future truck going to do when I go into the wilderness for 5-7 days?

 

[Kodiak]

Regarding all these battery issues and how much the F150's "avionics" draw down battery powder when the vehicle is off, how well is my future truck going to do when I go into the wilderness for 5-7 days?

Maybe get a Faraday pouch to keep your key fob in when you are not using it. That should cut down some vampire power draw while you are out in the wilderness.

 

[Xman]

So, a Faraday pouch will be a good thing both home and away!

 

[Gros Ventre]

As to a faraday pouch... if you don't have one toss your key fob(s) in the microwave when not using them... As to the battery... Battery's don't like to sit around... so that history above is no surprise. Unless they were driving it nearly every day, that replacement history is no surprise. At the end of the day, I'd go out and buy a non-Ford battery (as I did 4 months after delivery) and be done with it. I'd bet that will solve your issues.

 

[Snakebitten]

So, a Faraday pouch will be a good thing both home and away!

Another alternative is to remove the FOB battery while you are going to park the truck but be in its proximity for a few days.

The Mach-E has PAAK (phone as a key) so you don't need the FOB. But if you are queasy about traveling without a FOB, you can remove the battery and stow it somewhere in the vehicle hidden.

 

[scott011422]

Been about a week since that Battery update. Overall, I'm not really seeing much in changes. Truck is still discharging the battery to some setpoint, then only charging it for that ignition cycle. So I'm still at 12.55 roughly. I did see a handful of times where the truck charged and was above the setpoint, But I don't know the reasoning for that, Hasn't happened enough to see any trends on it.

I wish that once the truck hit that low limit setpoint, The truck would set some kind of bit where EVERY CYCLE would be a charge cycle until the upper limit (100% SOC) setpoint is reached. That would make things so very much better.

 

[Dadofjax]

They won't be able to fix it dealership are completely incompetent unless the computer tells exactly what to do they won't know what to do.

You can keep going back for a few months keeping records then filing a lemon law. Even if they fix it ask your lawyer about cash and keep option that way you can get some compensation for your troubles and keep your truck.

 

[BluePB]

2023 PB had instance where it would not start. Stepping on the brake and pushing the start button produced an error message (something like "stop as soon as possible" even though I was still parked) and then clearing the error it would go into accessory mode. Did this multiple times and then gave it a 5 min rest. Of course it was Sunday and I was out of town with a trailer in tow. After 5 min rest, power system finally came up in "ready" mode and drove normally although check engine light was on. Got home and called dealer on Monday, who did online diag and found numerous communication error codes (something like truck's various computers were not talking to each other). Brought in to dealer today and they replaced the battery and updated a bunch of software.

Before leaving the dealer's parking lot, I cycled the power a few times, and when powering down got message on the big center screen I had never seen before, something like "shutting down to save power", with a brief progress bar followed by all dash displays shutting down. Apparently it's in low power mode since interior lights etc. are not working. Dealer attempted "battery reset" with no change in result. Apparently they are stumped now and waiting for Ford tech support help which they said could take a couple of days. Starts and runs fine but annoying with no interior lights getting into a black hole in the dark. So I'm sure I'll have the joy of bringing it back in to the dealer yet again to fix this new problem. On the up side, my wireless Apple carplay actually stays connected to my phone now. I had given up on this after a couple of other unfruitful trips to the dealer and resorted to plugging the phone in to USB for carplay.

Any thoughts on how to get out of low power mode? Driven about 50 miles since new battery was put in (all in one day on two legs with a short stop).

 

[Gros Ventre]

2023 PB had instance where it would not start. Stepping on the brake and pushing the start button produced an error message (something like "stop as soon as possible" even though I was still parked) and then clearing the error it would go into accessory mode. Did this multiple times and then gave it a 5 min rest. Of course it was Sunday and I was out of town with a trailer in tow. After 5 min rest, power system finally came up in "ready" mode and drove normally although check engine light was on. Got home and called dealer on Monday, who did online diag and found numerous communication error codes (something like truck's various computers were not talking to each other). Brought in to dealer today and they replaced the battery and updated a bunch of software.

Before leaving the dealer's parking lot, I cycled the power a few times, and when powering down got message on the big center screen I had never seen before, something like "shutting down to save power", with a brief progress bar followed by all dash displays shutting down. Apparently it's in low power mode since interior lights etc. are not working. Dealer attempted "battery reset" with no change in result. Apparently they are stumped now and waiting for Ford tech support help which they said could take a couple of days. Starts and runs fine but annoying with no interior lights getting into a black hole in the dark. So I'm sure I'll have the joy of bringing it back in to the dealer yet again to fix this new problem. On the up side, my wireless Apple carplay actually stays connected to my phone now. I had given up on this after a couple of other unfruitful trips to the dealer and resorted to plugging the phone in to USB for carplay.

Any thoughts on how to get out of low power mode? Driven about 50 miles since new battery was put in (all in one day on two legs with a short stop).

Have you replaced the battery with a non-Ford battery? First the truck is always on; Second if the battery is faulty, as I think mine was, then the software runs the risk of triggering some things we don't like; Third if you're going to try the "Master Reset," don't forget the small battery under the pax rear seat on a Powerboost. Best I can offer is that these problems seem to disappear when the battery is replaced with a non-Ford supplied battery. When my battery, at the four month point after delivery, began giving me some squirreley readings while on the road for Thanksgiving travels... I pulled into a convenient NAPA store and bought an off the shelf, catalog battery. I wasn't even knowledgeable enough of things to do anything other than drop it in and get back on the road. A couple days later after arriving home I gave it a "wetting down" charge. Not a peep since out of my electrical system. I know, its a guarantee item and Ford ought to make it right... But ya know, how many trips do you want to make to your Ford dealer for them to "make it right?"

 

[scott011422]

Been about a week since that Battery update. Overall, I'm not really seeing much in changes. Truck is still discharging the battery to some setpoint, then only charging it for that ignition cycle. So I'm still at 12.55 roughly. I did see a handful of times where the truck charged and was above the setpoint, But I don't know the reasoning for that, Hasn't happened enough to see any trends on it.

I wish that once the truck hit that low limit setpoint, The truck would set some kind of bit where EVERY CYCLE would be a charge cycle until the upper limit (100% SOC) setpoint is reached. That would make things so very much better.

I did notice today that the "Fan 5" Hack no longer works. I can to nothing to force into the 15v range.

 

[KTM753]

I did notice today that the "Fan 5" Hack no longer works. I can to nothing to force into the 15v range.

Have you updated the PCM with an over the air update recently?

 

[Samson16]

Maybe get a Faraday pouch to keep your key fob in when you are not using it. That should cut down some vampire power draw while you are out in the wilderness.

Faraday pouch! I love this forum. Now I will work that into random conversations this week as a challenge! We used Faraday cages around certain CRTs back in my Air Force days to prevent the commies from getting our secrets lol

 

[scott011422]

Have you updated the PCM with an over the air update recently?

I received a PCM update on 5.8.24, but i already have another pending.

 

[KTM753]

I received a PCM update on 5.8.24, but i already have another pending.

I have noticed in a few different battery threads that the recent PCM updates have changed the charging strategy a lot. The fan setting above 5 and headlights on no longer change the charging strategy, as you have found out. The good news is the folks that have gotten the update said the new charging strategy is way better. I will try to find the post describing this and link it here.

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