From SVS to SSN - The Tejon Pass Claims Another Mach-E

[Jimrpa]

It looks to me like your police department is overstuffed and underloaded.

Or simply suffering from ‘roof rage. A common affliction of many of our smaller rural “law enforcement” agencies in PennsylTucky” ?

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[macchiaz-o]

That is not necessarily good public policy and why we have a justice system and not “justice-bots” ?

Justice bots. Cool show, check it out.

https://www.netflix.com/us/title/80220334?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81397097

 

[Jimrpa]

Next question: has anyone experienced this failure on the east coast under less extreme conditions? For example, driving on I-95? Or does this only happen when driving in areas with extreme, rapid elevation changes?

 

[scoopman]

We just need to make sure it’s someone with an updated relay, or else they’ll likely fall victim to the pass of fail too. ? *

I don’t want to read about a line of failed MME GT’s on the side of the I-5 in the morning paper.


* it’s a trap!

My signature does reveal that Mach N Cheese is an extra beefy GTPE

 

[scoopman]

After reading all the comments, I am scared of being stranded. I have an upcoming trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain from Bay Area and will be driving through Tejon Pass.

I do know that you can roll into to Magic Mountain from the pass on 30%-limited failure mode power on actually really interesting local roads that run parallel to I-5. They're named things like The Old Road. Once you get to the middle of Tejon Pass going South you're close enough to civilization that it's not a complete disaster.

I would definitely get the recall software on your car so you have a limp mode if you need it -- and I hope you don't!

 

[scoopman]

@DevSecOps sorry about the trouble. I hope you and @scoopman are not starting a new trend, own a MME GTPE in the Bay Area and you get a failure. I am hoping to make it until the “real” fix.

On that note, if you get a SSN, and Ford has to replace the relays do you get new and improved or the same as what just failed? If the latter, then that is also just a short term fix and another failure waiting to happen.

A Ford dealer cannot order the old designed part. Even if they order the wrong old part number, they get the redesigned part. That is the "real fix".

Will it last 8 years and 80,000 of the EV powertrain warranty, I dunno. But MNC's been runnig great since the replacement, and I've only heard of one new-designed HVBJB that failed, and it failed right away after someone took delivery, so it probably was a manufacturing defect that wasn't caught at the supplier.

I have no worries about my HVBJB anymore -- just drove on a 3-hr each way road trip over the Golden Gate Bridge and some hills, and DCFC, and car is running great again.

I think you have to get your Machichinno to do a couple of serious launches, and do some repeated DCFC seshs in between, to get yourself the recall you deserve....

 

[scoopman]

Me too. Seriously. I'm retired and would be happy to help if I can. (Mind you I still have the extra mild burrito of an HVBJB, so who know how fast I'll be able to respond!)

Worse comes to worse, we can have that taco stand dealer in LA do a double-replacement on Taco Tuesday.

 

[HuntingPudel]

My signature does reveal that Mach N Cheese is an extra beefy GTPE

With habañeros! ??

 

[scoopman]

The root of your problem is you told your wife about the HVBJB issue. Ignorance is bliss, and my wife has no problem taking the MME on trips. ?

I was open about the junction box issues, and we decided to not take Mach N Cheese on our LA road trip --- until the recall software was out on FDRS 2 days before we left. We had no idea what the software would actually do if it detected a problem, and we thought it would be more protective than it was in preventing a problem....

Before the recall software, I only drove my car alone for anything other than local trips. Had little interest in having my 4 and 7 year olds stranded with a bricked car.

 

[RetiredDP]

I do know that you can roll into to Magic Mountain from the pass on 30%-limited failure mode power on actually really interesting local roads that run parallel to I-5. They're named things like The Old Road. Once you get to the middle of Tejon Pass going South you're close enough to civilization that it's not a complete disaster.

I would definitely get the recall software on your car so you have a limp mode if you need it -- and I hope you don't!

Drive "the Old Road" and you'll be amazed at how old it is...and how limited the traffic was in the Old Days...that little two-lane road was the access road from from NorCal to SoCal, freight trucks included! Fun drive though (take your time).

 

[snowdoggie]

Jeez last time I drove there it was snowing and there was a landslide right after... well sorry for your ordeal I am glad my MME PE has not been built yet

 

[devmach-e]

I'm going up to Monterey Car Week next weekend in my GTPE. I was planning to go up the Grapevine and cut across Pacheco Pass both ways. I usually take that route rather than taking the 101 to get up that way. Wish me luck.

BTW, my car started production on 4/20 and was deemed built on 6/17. I was one of the April GT builds that was held up for two months. So I have a Schrodinger's HVBJB. I have both the lean and the beefy HVBJB until we open up the box and know for sure. I hope I do not have to find out.

Take 101 the entire way, or cutover from I-5 at Lost Hills and then 101 the rest of the way. Doing Pacheco Pass means back tracking a bunch along 101 into Salinas.

 

[devmach-e]

All within the bay, so flat. While there are some decent passes getting out to the outer valleys, I don't see those in my commute.

Maybe flat along 101 or 880, but 280 up into Daly City from San Jose has plenty of elevation changes. As does 680 and 580. And 80 up to Vacaville from Oakland/Berkeley.

 

[MGHTYDX]

Take 101 the entire way, or cutover from I-5 at Lost Hills and then 101 the rest of the way. Doing Pacheco Pass means back tracking a bunch along 101 into Salinas.

But I'll actually be staying in Campbell, so I'd be backtracking in any event.

 

[A-A-Ron]

Preface:

First of all let me say this - I'm safe at home, no one is hurt, I'm not mad (I was actually joking with people in DM's while this was happening), but I'm still disappointed at Ford and this recall.

TLDR: Software recall applied, received SVS climbing the Tejon Pass 343 miles from home. Continued my drive home. Received SSN 120 miles from home. Dealer had no loaner, Enterprise had no rentals. Had to ask family to come get me.

So here's my story ---

I went on vacation with family to Newport Beach. It's a beautiful location and while I was down there we went to Disneyland, a concert, the beach and more. It's a place I visit many times a year and I absolutely love it!

Getting there I had to go through the central valley in California and transverse the Tejon Pass in order to drop into Southern California. I got there without issue, the car performed flawlessly. While I was in SoCal everything was great. No issues whatsoever.

Coming home however, was almost as exciting as the Incredicoaster!

Pre-Return Trip Data Points:

• Last night I charged to 100% SOC at the resort L2 charger
• Last DCFC was Monday - 4 days prior
• 2 occupants in the vehicle with luggage (350lbs Max)
• Temperatures 80-105F
• 22S41 was applied via OTA 9 days prior

Service Vehicle Soon:

89.5 miles into my return trip, and after a stop at Starbucks for a Bacon Gouda and Late, I began my ascent into the notorious "Grapevine" (Tejon Pass). At an elevation of 1750' above sea level on a 6.8% grade, going 83 mph while overtaking a BMW that decided to cut me off, I experienced SVS. I might add that at the exact moment, I took a bite of my Bacon Gouda sandwich... this might have been the ultimate straw that broke the camels back.

This is where it happened. Don't mind the truck full of goats -

Red line was my approximate location:

Service Vehicle Soon Data Points:

• 89.5 miles into my drive
• 99F at time of failure
• 1750' elevation
• 6.8% uphill grade
• 83 mph
• No previous DCFC for 4 days
• 59% SOC
• 23k miles on the ODO

The drive continues:

I continued to go over the Tejon Pass like a Prius without any power. Going up that thing with full jail bars was not fun. I then went into Bakersfield for a DCFC top up.

DCFC Stats (Bakersfield, CA):

• Arrived 35% SOC
• Left 89% SOC

At the station in Bakersfield I made some phone calls, opened up a case, called my local dealer and prepared some people at Ford for my car next week. We leave the DCFC station in route to the next, and last DCFC before arriving at home. We get to the next station without any significant events and we charge without any issue, this was in the town of Los Banos, CA (yes that means the bathrooms in English).

Second DCFC Stats (Los Banos, CA):

• Arrived 19% SOC
• Left 75% SOC

Stop Safely Now:

Just when I thought I was home free, the plot thickens. As we continued the drive all of a sudden I got Stop Safely Now. I immediately pulled into a parking lot and made sure to leave the car running. I was in motion when I received SSN at about 10 mph and I happened to be right next to a parking lot.

I parked the car in a good spot for a tow, backed into a stall with an open exit lane in front of me for easy tow access. I contacted some people at Ford again to see what I should do at this point. I never turned off the car, because I knew that if I did it would be game over.

We weighed the pros and cons of driving the car further and ultimately after some very helpful people consulted with people in the "know" it was determined that driving it home the 120 miles would be too risky. As luck would have it, there was a dealership just 2 blocks away. So the compromise was to drive to the dealer instead. This is ultimately what I did.

SSN Data Points:

• Electrical Data:
  • Vehicle reported:
    • Negative Contactor: 655.35v
    • Positive Contactor: 5.1v
  • Nominal values:
    • Negative Contactor: 0-1v
    • Positive Contactor: ~365v
• Average Speed up until this point: 69mph

The car was reporting voltage shorts at this point.

The Dealership:

I arrived to the dealership at 4:45PM, just a few minutes before they closed. It's a small town, they are a farming town and the population is just 39k. I didn't have much faith going in.

I go to the service desk and it's one guy. I told him what happened and he said "Let me get my EV techs, they were just trained on this." So he calls up a couple guys and they ask what happened and I told them. The guy tells me "I just got through training on this and I haven't actually worked on an EV before. This will be my first, and quite frankly, I'm scared." He was a really nice guy, they were all really nice.

I drove the car around the to side, turned it off and it never came back to life after that. -Dead-

The one thing it did do, which was weird is that I got an error saying the car wasn't in park when it was. Don't know why this happened.

Unfortunately, since it's a small town they only have 1 loaner and it was out. There's a singular Enterprise rental car facility in the town and it only has 5 cars, all of which were out.

They told me that I could get a hotel and on Monday they would get me into a rental. I asked what other options I had and he shrugged his shoulders. Ford roadside was of no help either. They didn't know what to do.

Ultimately, I had to call family, who drove down 120 miles to come get us and bring us home.

My Take:

The recall is garbage. I've been avidly outspoken about it as most of you know and I continue to be. While it did alert me to the potential issue, it didn't get me home and still left me stranded 120 miles from my house with SSN. Yes, you could blame this on the terrain, the fact that I had to DCFC and more, but reality is that a 450 mile trip was unsuccessful. I had no choice but to take that route and I had no choice but to charge. Ultimately, it's not a fix and shouldn't be considered one.

Ford Roadside was a complete waste of time in my case. I'll be escalating my complaints in this department for sure because they didn't care one bit that I was stuck there. They told me they could only drive me 35 miles and if my house was further I would have to pay for it myself.

If you get SSN don't turn the car off until you are in a safe area. Attempt to get somewhere in short distance and slowly.

Data:

I had 3 cameras rolling the entire trip. I also had data logging via the OBDII. I have a lot of data points and video to go through which will take time. If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Conclusion:

I still have a journey left. The car is sitting, dead, at the dealer, 120 miles away. I have no rental and the HVBJB still has to be replaced. I will update this thread with additional information as it happens.

When I got home I was looking forward to my new pillow that was ordered and delivered while I was on vacation. I thought, well at least there's light at the end of my tunnel for today. Gleefully, I open the box only to find the wrong pillow. I thought, well that sucks, and where's the other box that I was expecting ... hmmm I can't find it...

This car is a curse!!!

Glad you're home safe.

And I truly say this in good natured jest, but you're the one who tore into me here about how HVBJB failures never happen when driving and you didn't mind being stranded at home or work and I was scaring people with hyperbole for suggesting they could be stranded far from home on the side of the road. So no hard feelings, but how's that crow tasting?

On a serious note - the roadside assistance issue is a huge fail on Ford's part. They really need to do better at helping people they're stranding. And you're here enough to know what the issue is, what Ford can do, what options should be available; I can't imaging how it'd be dealing with this issue for a general consumer who hasn't spend some time on these forums. Can't wait to see your updates as you go through Ford's customer service department.

P.S. That has to be the saddest/funniest UPS status I've ever seen. How does someone lose the contents of a box and not notice the box ripped open and things went falling out the bottom?

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