😭😭😭 POST BATTERY CONTACTOR RECALL -- FIRST JUNCTION BOX FAILURE 😭😭😭😭

[DevSecOps]

Also, I definitely saw more power limitation jail bars after leaving a DCFC for several minutes on the highway.

That's actually very normal and expected. They stay there for about 8-10 minutes.

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[Mach-Lee]

Scoop obviously has his opinion on this and it's valid. My comment on the other thread is because people think that this is a "fix". The thread title by Mach-Lee even says "fix". It's not a "fix" and people are rushing to the dealer over a 0.5% chance of failure to "fix" something that's not "fixable" with software.

Personally, I would rather it just fail on me when I'm stopped somewhere. The anxiety for me, and I'm a calm person, of it happening while driving would be much greater than "oh my car won't start". I would also be pissed that I have to drive under the limit with flashers on if I was on a freeway somewhere. Additionally, there's gonna be a lot of people here on the forum and elsewhere that see this message, stop and TURN OFF the car. That could indeed brick it, so therefore the warning could be far worse because someone could pull over along side the road and then be stranded. Normally, when I park places, it's not along the I5 (10 lane) freeway.

Todd, I updated my post with better language. I guess "fix" in my mind meant you won't get stranded, the software does work in that regard. But no it's not a "final fix" to me which would require hardware replacement. Hopefully that comes in time from Ford.

Also from the limit bars in scoopman's pic, it looks like you'll still have 33% power. That should be enough for you drive 70MPH. Acceleration will suck, but I think you'll still be able to drive the car on the freeway to the dealer. Other than transforming into an underpowered smart car, there isn't much drama here compared to before IMO.

I know @scoopman didn't want to push his luck trying a restart, but I think a lot of people would like to know if you can still drive after turning it off when you get the error. My guess is yes, because the power limit should have been applied before the contactor melted to the point of sticking (I hope). Ford will be looking at the damage level I'm sure, but maybe you could follow up with the dealer and see if they were able to drive it in the bay under it's own power.

I'm still going to recommend people get the recall software to prevent being stranded. That might be all it does, but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[scoopman]

That's actually very normal and expected. They stay there for about 8-10 minutes.

I was probably paying attention a lot to it this time

 

[scoopman]

Todd, I updated my post with better language. I guess "fix" in my mind meant you won't get stranded, the software does work in that regard. But no it's not a "final fix" to me which would require hardware replacement. Hopefully that comes in time from Ford.

Also from the limit bars in scoopman's pic, it looks like you'll still have 33% power. That should be enough for you drive 70MPH. Acceleration will suck, but I think you'll still be able to drive the car on the freeway to the dealer. Other than transforming into an underpowered smart car, there isn't much drama here compared to before IMO.

I know @scoopman didn't want to push his luck trying a restart, but I think a lot of people would like to know if you can still drive after turning it off when you get the error. My guess is yes, because the power limit should have been applied before the contactor melted to the point of sticking (I hope). Ford will be looking at the damage level I'm sure, but maybe you could follow up with the dealer and see if they were able to drive it in the bay under it's own power.

I'm still going to recommend people get the recall software to prevent being stranded. That might be all it does, but it's a step in the right direction.

I tend to agree with what you are saying. It was definitely still drivable and better than having the car bricked and not movable at all.

I will find out when I speak with the dealer tomorrow if they were able to start it up.

 

[scoopman]

Todd, I updated my post with better language. I guess "fix" in my mind meant you won't get stranded, the software does work in that regard. But no it's not a "final fix" to me which would require hardware replacement. Hopefully that comes in time from Ford.

Also from the limit bars in scoopman's pic, it looks like you'll still have 33% power. That should be enough for you drive 70MPH. Acceleration will suck, but I think you'll still be able to drive the car on the freeway to the dealer. Other than transforming into an underpowered smart car, there isn't much drama here compared to before IMO.

I know @scoopman didn't want to push his luck trying a restart, but I think a lot of people would like to know if you can still drive after turning it off when you get the error. My guess is yes, because the power limit should have been applied before the contactor melted to the point of sticking (I hope). Ford will be looking at the damage level I'm sure, but maybe you could follow up with the dealer and see if they were able to drive it in the bay under it's own power.

I'm still going to recommend people get the recall software to prevent being stranded. That might be all it does, but it's a step in the right direction.

In retrospect I think the biggest concern I would have here is that the messaging is so bad for this error that I don't think your average owner will understand that they really do need to get their car to their dealer. They will see something is wrong with the power limitation.

But for non-GT cars, they still have no power meter, so those owners would probably not realize as easily that something is really wrong with their car.

 

[chrisGT]

Tbh I don't think scoopman is so unlucky and fried the second HVBJB so fast under normal use. We don't know for sure if the HVBJB is actually fried or if this is a false positive. He is just the first person on a roadtrip after the update.
If the car starts without a warning tomorrow morning and drives fine then maybe it was just a false positive.
My guess is that the new software will have a lot of false positives after long road trips with DCFC.
But either way this Ford's Fiasco.

 

[redranger04g]

I think we only have the poll from our forum, but that is enormously flawed as a data tool. Ford knows this of course, but I would doubt this would be revealed to us. Logic would tell us that GT / GTPE will have more incidents of this as they have a ton more voltage and thermals affecting the contactors and their surrounding packaging than non-GTs.

For what it’s worth I don’t believe we’ve had any SR RWD have this problem yet, but I know there has been a SR AWD in here with the problem. Very limited, anecdotal data, would be interesting to see if the lowest risk SR RWD ends up bricking.

 

[shelnian]

Sorry if I missed this from one of the other threads, but how do we know a software fix isn’t possible? Was something revealed (unofficially) with a more detailed explanation of how/why the failure is occurring aside from it apparently being a temperature issue?

I believe the software monitors the voltage drop across the contactors and if a contactor voltage drop exceeds a certain value, the software displays the get service message and puts the MME in turtle mode. I believe Ford wants to reduce costs and is betting very few MMEs will suffer contactor issues so the software update is there to ensure the MME can make to to a safe location or dealership. My bet is that this MME would start again, but still be in turtle mode to prevent contactor failure altogether. My bet is that this MME could even be charged at a level 2 rate. Just guessing on my part, but it would be nice to know for sure what to expect.

 

[scoopman]

Tbh I don't thing scoopman is so i lucky and fried the second HVBJB so fast under nor al use. We don't know for sure if the HVBJB is actually fried or if this is a false positive. He is just the first person on a roadtrip after the update.
If the car starts without a warning tomorrow morning and drives fine then maybe it was just a false positive.
My guess is that the new software will have a lot of false positives after long road trips with DCFC.
But either way this Fird's Fiasco.

Ford's new procedures (found earlier in this thread) have the dealer replace the HVBJB and also perhaps the BECM, so they're not going to give it back to me and say it's fine after it throws this code.

 

[DevSecOps]

If the car starts without a warning tomorrow morning and drives fine then maybe it was just a false positive.

Edit: What he said ^^^^^^^

Yeah, but the service manual resolution to the DTC is to replace the HVBJB. So either way it's a bricked (maybe not technically bricked) HVBJB. The damage is done.

 

[scoopman]

I believe the software monitors the voltage drop across the contactors and if a contactor voltage drop exceeds a certain value, the software displays the get service message and puts the MME in turtle mode. I believe Ford wants to reduce costs and is betting very few MMEs will suffer contactor issues so the software update is there to ensure the MME can make to to a safe location or dealership. My bet is that this MME would start again, but still be in turtle mode to prevent contactor failure altogether. My bet is that this MME could even be charged at a level 2 rate. Just guessing on my part, but it would be nice to know for sure what to expect.

BTW after I pulled off the highway at a Carls Jr in the mountains, I read my DTC codes and cleared them. Once I cleared them there was no apparent power limitation on the display, although I drove it extra crazy slowly through LA local roads.

 

[voxel]

I have never in my life owned a car that is as unreliable as this car has been, and it's so sad because the car is great ..... until it doesn't work.

I wouldn't jinx it.. you also own an ID.4 and that car had weekly reports of electrical drive system errors and/or battery coolant pump failures back in the fall (when VW was actually delivering them beyond token amounts).

 

[Mach-Lee]

In retrospect I think the biggest concern I would have here is that the messaging is so bad for this error that I don't think your average owner will understand that they really do need to get their car to their dealer. They will see something is wrong with the power limitation.

But for non-GT cars, they still have no power meter, so those owners would probably not realize as easily that something is really wrong with their car.

Yeah I agree "Service vehicle soon" doesn't seem so urgent. Guess we have to know "Service vehicle soon" = "Drive to dealer immediately without stopping". They would have to update the IPC software to make a more tailored message display.

I believe the software monitors the voltage drop across the contactors and if a contactor voltage drop exceeds a certain value, the software displays the get service message and puts the MME in turtle mode. I believe Ford wants to reduce costs and is betting very few MMEs will suffer contactor issues so the software update is there to ensure the MME can make to to a safe location or dealership. My bet is that this MME would start again, but still be in turtle mode to prevent contactor failure altogether. My bet is that this MME could even be charged at a level 2 rate. Just guessing on my part, but it would be nice to know for sure what to expect.

I know I'm getting pedantic but it's NOT TURTLE MODE. You don't see the turtle icon in his photo. Much more power than that, enough to drive on the highway with limited acceleration. Turtle mode is like 5 MPH FYI. "Service vehicle soon" = likely failed HVBJB.

 

[Socalsp3]

New cars should have the new part.

Sorry to hear this happened to you and the software didn't fix this issue. I am awaiting my Premium SR RWD and having second thoughts on taking delivery with all of these issues.

Do you all know if the newly built vehicles after the recall date have an updated HVBJB that won't fail like these are?

Thanks.

Also no failure have been reported for sr rwd

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