Another 12v (LVB) battery failure saga

[dsalad]

Job 1, 2021 MME Premium AWD Extended. Dang! Was on a road trip from Phoenix and staying San Jose, CA, my two teenage sons wanted to drive to Yosemite (4 hours away) to hike. I told them to have at it. They just got into the park and the car started making all kinds of mechanical noises and a "dashboard" full or messages. Naturally they called me, I said hold tight...I will call Ford and get you towed to nearest dealer. I have an ESP with Ford, but they said they could only tow me 36 miles and the last 50 miles would cost me $280. So I called USAA and they did it with my towing rider.

Dealership said they couldn't look at it for 2 weeks. I called Ford, they got the dealership to look asap.

I got flights home for me and my two boys. $670

Dead battery 12V confirmed. No batteries available, found one in Vegas...shipped to dealer.

Dealership drove the car 70 miles (!).

Dealer charged to 100%...I called them after a couple days and told them to drive it more to reduce SOC. They happily complied.

Car is still sitting in California, waiting for shipping. Comedy of errors with Ford and shipper and dealership. Hopefully I get it this coming Tuesday (a full month after the incident). Not holding my breath,

Just griping out loud. I still love the car.

It is plain crazy to me why the 12V battery can cause so many issues WHILE DRIVING! Seems like it would have the same voltage available to the electronics since the BMS is pushing volts to the battery from the HVB. Ford needs to fix their 12V monitoring and make a more graceful user-friendly experience!

ALSO...any chance something was damaged with the horrible grinding noises? Did it confuse the AWD system and possibly mash up some reduction gears or anything?

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[Blue highway]

When I was a teenager I caused my dads car to get grinding noises.

 

[strangeengine]

Which dealership?

 

[dsalad]

Not sure I should name names...but Haidlen Ford in Oakdale, CA. Their service advisor has been helpful. They focus mainly on the truck segment, so this was new to them (although they have a couple of big banners inside the showroom with Mach-E's on them).

 

[markboris]

Not sure I should name names...but Haidlen Ford in Oakdale, CA. Their service advisor has been helpful. They focus mainly on the truck segment, so this was new to them (although they have a couple of big banners inside the showroom with Mach-E's on them).

Richard, I live in Sonora which is between Oakdale (30 min away) and Yosemite (60 min away). Interesting Sonora Ford was not contacted since they are closer to the park (<50 miles) than Haidlen Ford. I have a good friend that bought her Mach-E from Haidlen Ford back in 02/21 and ordered a lightening from them also. They have treated them well both in the sales and service when they needed it. Wish I knew of your problem when it first happened as I would have tried to help out with transportation or whatever. I hope all goes well when your car is returned.

 

[SnBGC]

Job 1, 2021 MME Premium AWD Extended. Dang! Was on a road trip from Phoenix and staying San Jose, CA, my two teenage sons wanted to drive to Yosemite (4 hours away) to hike. I told them to have at it. They just got into the park and the car started making all kinds of mechanical noises and a "dashboard" full or messages. Naturally they called me, I said hold tight...I will call Ford and get you towed to nearest dealer. I have an ESP with Ford, but they said they could only tow me 36 miles and the last 50 miles would cost me $280. So I called USAA and they did it with my towing rider.

Dealership said they couldn't look at it for 2 weeks. I called Ford, they got the dealership to look asap.

I got flights home for me and my two boys. $670

Dead battery 12V confirmed. No batteries available, found one in Vegas...shipped to dealer.

Dealership drove the car 70 miles (!).

Dealer charged to 100%...I called them after a couple days and told them to drive it more to reduce SOC. They happily complied.

Car is still sitting in California, waiting for shipping. Comedy of errors with Ford and shipper and dealership. Hopefully I get it this coming Tuesday (a full month after the incident). Not holding my breath,

Just griping out loud. I still love the car.

It is plain crazy to me why the 12V battery can cause so many issues WHILE DRIVING! Seems like it would have the same voltage available to the electronics since the BMS is pushing volts to the battery from the HVB. Ford needs to fix their 12V monitoring and make a more graceful user-friendly experience!

ALSO...any chance something was damaged with the horrible grinding noises? Did it confuse the AWD system and possibly mash up some reduction gears or anything?

That noise was likely the parking pawl trying to engage. Sounds a little like a ratcheting sound right? That assembly looks fairly strong so you might be okay....

 

[dsalad]

Richard, I live in Sonora which is between Oakdale (30 min away) and Yosemite (60 min away). Interesting Sonora Ford was not contacted since they are closer to the park (<50 miles) than Haidlen Ford. I have a good friend that bought her Mach-E from Haidlen Ford back in 02/21 and ordered a lightening from them also. They have treated them well both in the sales and service when they needed it. Wish I knew of your problem when it first happened as I would have tried to help out with transportation or whatever. I hope all goes well when your car is returned.

Man! We coulda put a subwoofer and trunk button in it I had known! ?. Thank you for the offer…hoping it gets picked up today and back to me tomorrow

 

[dsalad]

That noise was likely the parking pawl trying to engage. Sounds a little like a ratcheting sound right? That assembly looks fairly strong so you might be okay....

Ahhhh. Possibly. I tried to upload a video to this thread when I created this post but it wouldn’t “take”. My kids had the wherewithal to grab a video of the noise.

 

[dsalad]

One more point to the saga. Even though I have a warranty that covers rental reimbursement, the servicing dealer is who arranges the rental. They don’t have a way for me to rent a car here in the Phoenix area when my servicing dealer is in ca.

 

[dsalad]

Richard, I live in Sonora which is between Oakdale (30 min away) and Yosemite (60 min away). Interesting Sonora Ford was not contacted since they are closer to the park (<50 miles) than Haidlen Ford.

They were on portal road and when I was searching maps, Sonora was only 10 miles closer? It seemed like oakdale was bigger than Sonora so I went with them

 

[markboris]

Man! We coulda put a subwoofer and trunk button in it I had known! ?. Thank you for the offer…hoping it gets picked up today and back to me tomorrow

Right? The trunk button would have been no problem as I have extra buttons since I’ve installed a few now. Don’t have extra subs laying around but could have thrown mine in and I would have gotten another one. Takes me a few hours to do that one.

They were on portal road and when I was searching maps, Sonora was only 10 miles closer? It seemed like oakdale was bigger than Sonora so I went with them

El Portal Rd and yes Haidlen Ford is a larger dealer. Again, I would have had no problem helping out. Wish I would have known.

I’m actually on a flight right now from Phoenix to Sacramento. Was here for my best friends daughters wedding. He’s the one I sold my Premium to last year. Drove it from my home in CA to Surprise AZ. Only stopped 4 times to charge and everything went well.

Let me know if you have any issues at Haidlen Ford getting the car home.

 

[dsalad]

One final update to close the saga out. My car was delivered last week. Ford ended up offering to pay one of my monthly payments, which will cover the flights. I'm generally happy with how it all went down, I feel bad for Ford having to spend so much on a 12V battery failure. I am now committed to just changing out my 12V battery every 24 months whether I think it needs it or not. Arizona is brutal on batteries and I don't want that to happen again.

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