Going downhill- car won’t start

[Motomax]

Hmm. You're probably right. I'm not sure. Weird that they refer to it as the low voltage service disconnect, though.

It sure would be convenient if it did disconnect the 12V battery from everything, no wrenches required.

It definitely would have been nice to have a quick way to reset the 12v systems. Everytime I read about these software issues, “have you tried unplugging it?” Keeps popping up in my head.

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[Ford Motor Company]

Soooo, I went up mount Washington, NH with 60%charge. Going downhill I put it on low gear (L) with one pedal drive on. The car shit down giving me all sorts of errors that we all heard of. I managed to turn it back on 5 minutes later using Ford pass app.

I’m almost 75% down and it did it again, except this time I have a flashing “P” on the gear that won’t turn off even if I switch the vehicle off. The fans have been on non stop.

I’m definitely not out of battery, and I don’t know what to do! Help?!

Hi there! I'd like to look into things on my end. Can you send us a message with your VIN?

 

[mikeho]

Having read this thread just before a road trip, I was concerned that this was going to happen, but I just wanted to report that going through the various mountains in the Northwest corner of California up Hwy 1 and down Hwy 101, we had no problems like this with our Mach-E.

 

[p_haze]

Hi
So we are vacationing in White Mountains and will be doing the Mt Washington auto road in a couple of days. Reconsidering after reading about all these issues. And because there will be a toddler in the car and a spouse who doesn't quite trust the car yet.

I have an MME FE so definitely one of the earlier builds and have not yet taken it for the PAAK update.
Any words of wisdom from the forum?
TiA

 

[Mach-Lee]

Hi
So we are vacationing in White Mountains and will be doing the Mt Washington auto road in a couple of days. Reconsidering after reading about all these issues. And because there will be a toddler in the car and a spouse who doesn't quite trust the car yet.

I have an MME FE so definitely one of the earlier builds and have not yet taken it for the PAAK update.
Any words of wisdom from the forum?
TiA

Don't use L or one-pedal going downhill and I think you'll be fine.

 

[smartino]

Are the 12v batteries lead acid? Wonder if there will be a li-ion option like Tesla's have had due to similar problems with the 12v.

Tesla doen't use Li-Ion either, they use AGM batteries just like the Mach-E. Seems this issue is related to going down steep grades. Somehow the HV battery gets overwhelmed and can't handle all the REGEN being sent its way. This is a known issue and Ford is supposed to have a fix for this, it might already be available.

 

[p_haze]

Don't use L or one-pedal going downhill and I think you'll be fine.

Interesting. I don't used 1pd. But was considering using L. So you think driving in L causes these problems?

 

[Prodigymd]

Interesting. I don't used 1pd. But was considering using L. So you think driving in L causes these problems?

I went downhill on L and without it. The car shut down both times. I used L the second time and it completely shut down the second time, the fans were on for a long time and then it just failed to turn on.
Getting the car towed took a long time. You can’t use your own tow company cause the owner of the auto road won’t allow it. I towed it down to the bottom, plugged it in, and boosted the 12v batter which was a hassle to get access to. I misplaced a few clips.
Highly recommend you don’t do it, or if you do, be prepared to have a back up plan. What made it worse was that t-mobile has no reception there.
The car was checked by the dealer for 30 mins and conveniently said “there are no errors, nothings wrong with the car”. I’m working with Ford directly to get it sorted out. Next check up on Tuesday. If they fail to identify the problem, I’m going to drive up again and get it towed to the dealer when it happens again. Clearly they didn’t believe me. I still have a $300 that I paid in cash to the towing company that I want back but Ford asked me to ask my insurance company to reimburse. I don’t want to do that. Also, because I couldn’t place the car in emergency tow mode to place it on the flat bed, the towing hooks bent the bottom side bars cause the rear wheel was fixed. As in, the front wheels were rolling while the rear ones were dragged on the asphalt.
I love the car, I just wish I didn’t have to deal with these issues this early, or ever ??‍

 

[Stang68]

I may have missed this in the thread, but OP what’s your build date?

 

[ChasingCoral]

Y'all are away of this problem on a similar steep hill descent in Norway, right?
https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...p-downhills-descents-overheating-mach-e.7702/

 

[machefan]

Moral of the story, get your MME updated by the dealer especially for early builds. Ford fixed so many software issues over the last 8 months. Most folks never experience any issues, just what you read here which is the nature of the beast.

I haven't had a single issue since getting the May updates, I am sure there are a few more I should get but everything is fine.

I have a dec 2020 build (FE)

 

[Prodigymd]

Moral of the story, get your MME updated by the dealer especially for early builds. Ford fixed so many software issues over the last 8 months. Most folks never experience any issues, just what you read here which is the nature of the beast.

I haven't had a single issue since getting the May updates, I am sure there are a few more I should get but everything is fine.

I have a dec 2020 build (FE)

I think my build date is February. It’s a Premium, AWD, ER. Also, the dealer said there were no updates. Paak? Oh, I didn’t ask for it so that’s why they didn’t do it. I hate dealing with dealerships. I was pissed on the phone with the service manager and asked me to find another dealer. Ok thanks man. You just proved my point.

 

[breeves002]

Interesting. I don't used 1pd. But was considering using L. So you think driving in L causes these problems?

The issue appears to be software related. Driving in L just adds more regen. You putting your foot on the brake also regens, so I'm really not sure how much it matters. It seems to be an issue with something in the front motor overheating after extended regen. Software update fixes it. Hopefully coming OTA soon.

 

[breeves002]

I think my build date is February. It’s a Premium, AWD, ER. Also, the dealer said there were no updates. Paak? Oh, I didn’t ask for it so that’s why they didn’t do it. I hate dealing with dealerships. I was pissed on the phone with the service manager and asked me to find another dealer. Ok thanks man. You just proved my point.

Your dealer is full of shit. There are no updates? Literally almost every module probably has an update. If they plug into FDRS they simply connect to the vehicle, and go to the updates tab. Then it lists every single module with an available update...which is probably...almost ALL of them. Pretty much every modern Ford out there has updates available for most modules...

I hate dealers too.

 

[blue92lx]

Your dealer is full of shit. There are no updates? Literally almost every module probably has an update. If they plug into FDRS they simply connect to the vehicle, and go to the updates tab. Then it lists every single module with an available update...which is probably...almost ALL of them. Pretty much every modern Ford out there has updates available for most modules...

I hate dealers too.

Top tier laziness or "EVs are taking our jorbs!" BS.

Come on, I can Bluetooth connect all of my cycling hardware to my phone and it'll automatically tell me which ones have updates. Ford can't be bothered to plug in an EV and let it do the work for them? Gtfo of here with that crap.

I'll be interested to see how many of these reluctant employees still have a job in 5-10 years, or they'll make it even more miserable because they were "forced" into working on EVs. You know.... Because the whole world has moved into the future.

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