Coming up on 3 years - replace 12V?

[DennisD]

I have 70k on my 2 year mache (Nov 27th 2022). Is this 3 year warranty on this battery subjected to mileage? I do have an extended warranty until 75k... no idea if this would be covered though.

Mileage is not a factor in most cases in regard to warranty. I have never seen a mileage limit on a battery but rather time. Almost every battery that I have owned has a "shelf" life if you will and whether it has miles or not, the "shelf" life is pretty close to being accurate more times than not no matter the miles driven. Once in a while you can get more than the years rating on the battery but I don't like to take chances. I found that the fewer the miles the worse off you would be with a battery. That goes against the grain on almost all of parts of a vehicle btw.

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[GrisGris]

Mine is 32 months old. I started charging it a couple of times every week with a batter tender hoping it lives beyond three years. I have prepared myself with mache-Lee’s string trick. When it dies on me I just have to call for jump start. It shouldn’t be too hard unless it’s in middle of nowhere. If I need to go to remote places in the near future I would replace it before the trip. It looks relatively easy to swap out with the cross bar removed. The bolt down nuts tighten torque is 66 ftlb. BTW.

Tried searching but couldn't find it. What is the "string trick"?

 

[Eagertrader]

A RESOUNDING "YES!!!!". MINE DIED WITHOUT ANY WARNING ONE WEEK BEFORE THREE YEARS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

 

[MoonRiver]

Tried searching but couldn't find it. What is the "string trick"?

here you go. You don't want to broadcast to the whole world or our Mach e will be all gone at no time.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/anti-lockout-solution-for-2023-2024-mach-e.37697/

 

[mkhuffman]

The solution @markboris installed is hands down the best 12V mitigation solution anyone has implemented. Ford should steal the idea and put it on all MMEs. With a solution like this, you can jump the 12V battery even if you cannot get into the Frunk.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/12v-battery-access.29646/post-674869

 

[66fastback]

Yeah, mine is 3 years old to the week and did not update. Then I got a ”stop safely now” message. It was in my home garage and after I put it in emergency neutral the tow truck driver was able to push it out to the driveway. The service advisor told me today that it has 11% charge. My guess is the message was to prevent the battery from completely dying. I don’t have an estimate for how long it will take or how much yet, but I’ll update when I do.

 

[MoonRiver]

Yeah, mine is 3 years old to the week and did not update. Then I got a ”stop safely now” message. It was in my home garage and after I put it in emergency neutral the tow truck driver was able to push it out to the driveway. The service advisor told me today that it has 11% charge. My guess is the message was to prevent the battery from completely dying. I don’t have an estimate for how long it will take or how much yet, but I’ll update when I do.

Good thing it warned you and it happened in your garage. I started charging it with deltran battery tender a few times overnight a week, because we drive it no more than 20 miles a day. Will see if it out lives 3 years.
Also wonder why your HVB not charging it with only 11% full. It was said once it drops down to around 50% it gets charged by HVB when in drive or in charge.

 

[HuntingPudel]

The solution @markboris installed is hands down the best 12V mitigation solution anyone has implemented. Ford should steal the idea and put it on all MMEs. With a solution like this, you can jump the 12V battery even if you cannot get into the Frunk.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/12v-battery-access.29646/post-674869

Probably can’t push the kind of amperage needed through those small connectors. I am putting a similar solution into my 2024 and I am pretty sure that the wire gauge won’t support the amperage needed to cold boot the car. I guess I will find out after I install it. Won’t be for a while since I have a lot of stuff above it in the pecking order. ?‍?

 

[Mach-Lee]

The solution @markboris installed is hands down the best 12V mitigation solution anyone has implemented. Ford should steal the idea and put it on all MMEs. With a solution like this, you can jump the 12V battery even if you cannot get into the Frunk.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/12v-battery-access.29646/post-674869

Caution - that will let you charge the battery at a slow rate, but it will not allow enough amps to start the car with a failed battery or shorted cell. The car can use power faster than you can feed it in through that small cable. This could result in the car boot looping. A high-amperage jump start would be required to overcome the situation.

From my perspective when faced with a failing 12V situation, that cable would be more useful to drain the 12V completely to get the frunk to open with a jump pack.

 

[mkhuffman]

Probably can’t push the kind of amperage needed through those small connectors. I am putting a similar solution into my 2024 and I am pretty sure that the wire gauge won’t support the amperage needed to cold boot the car. I guess I will find out after I install it. Won’t be for a while since I have a lot of stuff above it in the pecking order. ?‍?

Could be. Bigger wire and a bigger connection point next to the charger point may be necessary. Maybe something like what you did inside the frunk.

 

[MoonRiver]

Probably can’t push the kind of amperage needed through those small connectors. I am putting a similar solution into my 2024 and I am pretty sure that the wire gauge won’t support the amperage needed to cold boot the car. I guess I will find out after I install it. Won’t be for a while since I have a lot of stuff above it in the pecking order. ?‍?

I have the same feeling too, besides you have to have an electric plug for your battery charger. What if there is none?

 

[GrayWolf]

Swapped my 2021's 12V battery but, as I've mentioned privately to others: the strut tower bar's 18mm socket was too tough to remove with a normal socket wrench (even when using a hammer to try to loosen it up). So I removed the rest of the beauty covers and the frunk tub. A bit more effort, but it paid off.

My only quibble is that my dealer gave me a 12V battery from 7/2024 that had its top stickers looking mangled enough that I'd asked "is this REALLY new? -- Oh well. Got it home and it had an 80% charge on it - so I used a 4 amp charger from Amazon to top the 12V battery off before performing the swap.

Lost 2 beauty cover pins (but had the spares that I bought from the parts department, too) and a single 10mm socket.

The job is do-able as a DIY project - but it was a bit more work than I anticipated. Not a big deal, though.


Finally - Saw this out on Reddit, so our 2021 MY cars 100% do need to have the 12V battery replaced ASAP or else we can get randomly stuck while out-and-about...

 

[BayPoodle]

I just had my 2023 in for body work (because all the sensors in the world apparently cannot save me from myself) at the dealership where I bought it. The work had nothing to do, or really near, the 12v, but they proactively replaced it at no cost to me. To me that suggests some people in the know think replacing is better done than not.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

Welp, I am coming up on 4 years now (original battery on my FE which I took delivery of in early 2021) and this thread motivated me to get a new battery and swap it out this weekend. Thanks!

 

[jksu]

my last car, a volvo, was just as bad. dead 12v every 3 years almost to the day, usually with zero warning and stranding me.

so while i 100% agree it's lame that a modern EV can't seem to keep the 12V charged and the longevity kind of sucks (esp considering it's an AGM), the phenomena of car's being stranded by a dead 12V definitely isn't new...

after have it happen to us twice on different cars (the others were hondas), i now routinely just replace the 12v in our cars just prior to 3 yrs to not deal with the risk/hassle.

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