Lost all power, car started rolling

[txaggies07]

This is a quick recap of what happened almost a week ago. My car is working fine so this is more to let others know what happened and what I did to fix it.

I had my car parked in the driveway. I hopped in the car and moved it forward 40 or so feet into the garage. I turned off the car with the power button and the car started rolling backwards towards the driveway. The brakes really didn't do anything for me. The car rolled back a few feet before I could get it to stop (or it stopped based on something not the brakes).

The car would not turn on at all. Everything that happened was all very quick. I realized it never did the animation on the screen when turning off the car. I popped the hood so I could get to the battery. The doors were dead, but I was able to actually get into them a little. The back door did unlatch but I had to pull it open (the little kicker thing didnt engage).

When I attached a battery jumper to the 12V battery the car instantly revived. I could turn the car on and I moved it forward. I put a block of wood behind the rear tires this time before turning the car off. When I removed the battery jumper and turned the car off it instantly died again. I put the jumper back on and turned the car on and let the HV battery charge the 12V battery. I let it sit for 20min and according to the ford.com account page the 12V got up to 75%. I turned the car off and it went completely dead again. I hooked the 12V battery to my NOCO battery charger overnight, but that didn't help. Ultimately the 12V battery completely died.

The next morning I picked up a 12V battery from Ford. It cost me $205 and took about 10 or so minutes to swap out. The car has been running perfectly since.

To replace the 12V battery I did the following:
1. Remove the trim plastic around the frunk thing. I left the frunk in place completely.
2. Removed the nut holding the strut bar (or whatever that black bar is that runs from one side to the other right above the battery). I only removed the nut on the battery side and then rotated the bar out of the way.
3. Removed the 2 bolts on the battery retainer thing. They are on the windshield side of the battery at the bottom. 8mm socket.
4. Slide the battery towards the back of the tray (towards windshield).
5. Removed battery wires from battery (10mm socket) and tucked each of them out of the way and where they wouldn't touch any metal.
6. Pulled battery out and put new one in.
7. Steps 1-5 in reverse order.

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[GatorGrowl]

You have a 2021? Otherwise that’s pretty quick for a battery to die, even in the hot south.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Important - does the positive jump terminal feel loose? Does it wiggle or feel firmly attached? That came loose one time and caused total 12V shutdown.

Otherwise you had a battery that developed an open or short. That’s pretty rare but it can happen.

 

[txaggies07]

You have a 2021? Otherwise that’s pretty quick for a battery to die, even in the hot south.

Yes, 2021 First Edition. It was a pretty early on in the production run.

 

[sukhoi_584th]

Did you put it in park the first time? There's no pawl in the transmission, or it's somehow only run from the 12 V even when the HV is active?

 

[AZMMESTAR]

Was this the original 12V battery?
You stated it was a 2021 Vehicle.

 

[Adventureboy]

Did you put it in park the first time? There's no pawl in the transmission, or it's somehow only run from the 12 V even when the HV is active?

^^^^^
The MME automatically puts itself in park if you power off but I wonder if it didn't get to do that due to the 12v failure when you powered off.
Probably good practice to put in Park before shutting off even though it should be automatic just in case.
Glad you got it sorted.

 

[Jerrytball]

This is a quick recap of what happened almost a week ago. My car is working fine so this is more to let others know what happened and what I did to fix it.

I had my car parked in the driveway. I hopped in the car and moved it forward 40 or so feet into the garage. I turned off the car with the power button and the car started rolling backwards towards the driveway. The brakes really didn't do anything for me. The car rolled back a few feet before I could get it to stop (or it stopped based on something not the brakes).

The car would not turn on at all. Everything that happened was all very quick. I realized it never did the animation on the screen when turning off the car. I popped the hood so I could get to the battery. The doors were dead, but I was able to actually get into them a little. The back door did unlatch but I had to pull it open (the little kicker thing didnt engage).

When I attached a battery jumper to the 12V battery the car instantly revived. I could turn the car on and I moved it forward. I put a block of wood behind the rear tires this time before turning the car off. When I removed the battery jumper and turned the car off it instantly died again. I put the jumper back on and turned the car on and let the HV battery charge the 12V battery. I let it sit for 20min and according to the ford.com account page the 12V got up to 75%. I turned the car off and it went completely dead again. I hooked the 12V battery to my NOCO battery charger overnight, but that didn't help. Ultimately the 12V battery completely died.

The next morning I picked up a 12V battery from Ford. It cost me $205 and took about 10 or so minutes to swap out. The car has been running perfectly since.

To replace the 12V battery I did the following:
1. Remove the trim plastic around the frunk thing. I left the frunk in place completely.
2. Removed the nut holding the strut bar (or whatever that black bar is that runs from one side to the other right above the battery). I only removed the nut on the battery side and then rotated the bar out of the way.
3. Removed the 2 bolts on the battery retainer thing. They are on the windshield side of the battery at the bottom. 8mm socket.
4. Slide the battery towards the back of the tray (towards windshield).
5. Removed battery wires from battery (10mm socket) and tucked each of them out of the way and where they wouldn't touch any metal.
6. Pulled battery out and put new one in.
7. Steps 1-5 in reverse order.

Can I ask where you go on ford.com or the FordPass app to see your 12 V battery level all I see under ford.com is the main battery the tire pressure and the miles.

 

[B177y]

Important - does the positive jump terminal feel loose? Does it wiggle or feel firmly attached? That came loose one time and caused total 12V shutdown.

Otherwise you had a battery that developed an open or short. That’s pretty rare but it can happen.

@txaggies07 , make sure you check this ^^^. @Mach-Lee is the Mach-e master.

 

[zvez]

Can I ask where you go on ford.com or the FordPass app to see your 12 V battery level all I see under ford.com is the main battery the tire pressure and the miles.

log on to the ford.com site, then upper right hand corner click on the person icon, you'll see a dropdown list. The one you want is ".........account" (mine is "chris' account). click on that, it'll open a screen which will display the 12 v % SOC in the middle, it'll look like this.

 

[RKinWA]

Can I ask where you go on ford.com or the FordPass app to see your 12 V battery level all I see under ford.com is the main battery the tire pressure and the miles.

When you sign into Ford.com, you click on the account tab not dashboard, then once it comes up and settles, you will see it

 

[Jerrytball]

When you sign into Ford.com, you click on the account tab not dashboard, then once it comes up and settles, you will see it

OK, thank you I wish it would indicate 12 V because I was kind of thinking that was the big battery because it shows the estimated distance to the right? Cause I knew my big battery was at 90%.

 

[B177y]

Can I ask where you go on ford.com or the FordPass app to see your 12 V battery level all I see under ford.com is the main battery the tire pressure and the miles.

If you use Android, you can also see the 12 V on "Ford Status Widget" created by @kennelh :

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/android-widget-for-mach-e-less-complex.13563/

 

[Jerrytball]

If you use Android, you can also see the 12 V on "Ford Status Widget" created by @kennelh :

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/android-widget-for-mach-e-less-complex.13563/

iPhone

 

[RKinWA]

OK, thank you I wish it would indicate 12 V because I was kind of thinking that was the big battery because it shows the estimated distance to the right? Cause I knew my big battery was at 90%.

Yeah it's not intuitive, I just learned about it a few months ago, always thought it was big battery and it just wasn't up to date as it didn't match my charge level lol

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