Completely DEAD!!

[All Hat No Cattle]

It does not come with complementary Roadside Assistance. Ford never has had this. It does come with Complimentary Roadside Assistance. I've owned Fords for many years, and used the Roadside Assistance, and not once did the driver pay me a compliment though.

That is correct. But that cute answer avoids the obvious. Why doesn't the OP just call Ford Complimentary Roadside Assistance for help? Or does that not work for the MME?

OP, you need to work on determining why your 12V battery died. Read the first part of my article for ideas: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-recondition-service-your-12v-battery.11069/

Say what? Where in the Owner's Manual does it say that if your MME does not run , " OP,you need to work on determining why your 12V battery died". I can't seem to find it saying that.

Or that you should drill some holes in the frunk to access the 12 volt battery. HUH???

Are MME owners really supposed to put up with do-it-yourself warranty service?

And some forum members became upset when J.D. Powers gave the MME the rating that it did.?????

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[Mach-Lee]

Your quiescent current of 80 mA is too high, it should be in the 20's. So something's draining it 4x faster than normal. SoC is also a little low at 71%. When you first turn on the car it should be at >75% if the battery isn't getting drained.

This still really confuses me. I've seen several people report that this is how their car works, but mine only wakes up the first couple of times I go near it with my phone/fob. After that, it just stays in its standby state until I open a door.

FWIW I've helped several people solve their drain issues by having them turn off welcome lighting. For whatever reason on some Mach-E's the lights keep activating all day and drains the 12V down to the 30-40% range that triggers an alert message. Turning if off fixes it.

 

[Motomax]

Most ICE vehicles have a battery voltage meter or charging system fault indicator built into the vehicle dashboard, but the Mach E does not. I wish Ford would include a voltmeter feature in the Sync System on a software future upgrade and some configurable notification software along with some historical LVB low voltage charting/graphs data. This way, the user community can monitor the LVB charging status/performance and take corrective actions before having an unfortunate scenario, like the one MV10858 had. I believe the technical capability is resident in the Sync system, Ford just needs to do it and not trust Ford Pass as a solution because it is notoriously unreliable. I would suggest the reason the automotive manufacturing/design community put battery charging system indicators in ICE vehicles was because of the many potential charging system failure modes and the serious negative user experience risks. In this case, an EV is no different than an ICE vehicle; i.e. if your 12v battery dies, everything stops and with the MME you are locked out of the car because entry depends on the LVB.

While that would be great for us technical people, providing too much information would cause ford too much of a headache from people who don’t understand what they are looking at. I can only imagine how many complaints they would get from a battery reading 12.2v when the “internet” says a running car should be 13.5-14.5v haha.

The vehicle does know when there’s an issue with the battery. I’ve gotten a few parasitic drains warning because of my dashcam. One of the problems is that EV batteries “cycle” a lot more than gas vehicles, the battery isn’t always “full”. The other problem comes when the battery fails between checks. Even your dash battery meter won’t help you there.
I’ve had several bad batteries in gas cars and not once did the battery dummy light come because the alternator keeps the voltage up. The dummy light is also always on before starting your vehicle so it’s quite literally useless.

 

[RWG]

If the 12V is completely dead you will not be able to open the driver’s door to pull the hood release since there is no manual key cylinder. Hence the 12V leads to open the frunk with external power become necessary. A jump pack inside the vehicle will also do you no good since you won’t be able to access it.

When the battery isn’t dead, you can’t allow unauthorized persons to open the hood. So a simple cable in the wheel well won’t work.

So if you consider those two requirements, the cables in the front become one of few solutions if you have a keyless system.

 

[RWG]

Mach Lee; all good points & advice. Although I still wish the Ford team would have considered a backup key option, just like most legacy key FOBs.

I admit to being a bit of a Nerd so I can deal with a lot of technical ambiguities and data. Therefore me looking at a Cigarette Lighter Voltmeter is not a problem, but I agree, it would be a disaster for many others. That is why I would prefer an "intelligent" LVB voltage analysis/data app in the Sync system.


So far, the experience of owning a Mach E has been satisfying on 2 fronts; i.e. it is a fun thing to drive and it has very interesting /fascinating technology which is an intriguing challenge. However, sometimes we depend too much on technology and that can get us into trouble.

 

[dtbaker61]

Your quiescent current of 80 mA is too high, it should be in the 20's. So something's draining it 4x faster than normal. SoC is also a little low at 71%. When you first turn on the car it should be at >75% if the battery isn't getting drained.



FWIW I've helped several people solve their drain issues by having them turn off welcome lighting. For whatever reason on some Mach-E's the lights keep activating all day and drains the 12V down to the 30-40% range that triggers an alert message. Turning if off fixes it.

or..... turn off BT on your phone while you are home, turn it back on when you are actually headed out to drive.

regardless, if your 12v battery is at 70% SOC, above 12.0, when you get in to drive it's fine as it will start charging as soon as you turn on to drive somewhere. And, the system *should* wake itself up to charge, even when sleeping, if needed.

If however the battery went completely dead, you REALLY need to get to a Dealership so they can pull DTC and determine what the cause is.

putting in a 12v voltmeter is really just for a little peace of mind until you can get into a dealership. as long as it shows 12.0+ when you get in, and 14+ when car is 'on', then you should be fine until you can get an appt at the Dealership.

 

[Deleted member 14221]

That is correct. But that cute answer avoids the obvious. Why doesn't the OP just call Ford Complimentary Roadside Assistance for help? Or does that not work for the MME?



Say what? Where in the Owner's Manual does it say that if your MME does not run , " OP,you need to work on determining why your 12V battery died". I can't seem to find it saying that.

Or that you should drill some holes in the frunk to access the 12 volt battery. HUH???

Are MME owners really supposed to put up with do-it-yourself warranty service?

And some forum members became upset when J.D. Powers gave the MME the rating that it did.?????

Is JD Powers related to Austin Powers? Last time I checked, there was no automotive review journal named “J.D. Powers.”

Regarding that article, it was merely being pointed out that the “review” by JD Power was more of a click bait article than anything else. After being scrutinized, it was revealed the article lacked foundation, lacked merit, and was not based on any serious journalistic expertise. Additionally, the vast majority of these complaints on this forum happen to very a small minority of MME owners, and they are amplified greatly, which is why the complaints about the MME appear widespread when, in actuality, they are few and far apart.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Or that you should drill some holes in the frunk to access the 12 volt battery. HUH???

There is no such requirement of course. People are quite free to leave the frunk trim covers in their OEM holeless state. The terminals can be accessed in the manner Ford apparently intended, by “ripping” the covers off. Drilling holes is simply so there’s a convenient way to access the terminals without having to remove two trim panels. Nothing more, nothing less.

Much of this discussion, as you’ve observed, begs the original issue, a dead low voltage battery that should not be in that state. The OP needs to get the car to the dealer. Tow it on a flat bed, jump it (with or without the use of self installed battery terminal access ports), or charge it up and drive it there.

 

[reeflife]

I never had this happen in my 19K mile ownership of the MME. This did happen to me once within 2 months of owning the Genesis GV60. A portable 12V battery jumper brought it back to life instantly. I've since put on a bluetooth 12V battery monitor and learned a little bit about the 12V battery in an EV.

The voltage will always read lower when the car is awake. While the car is awake, the lowest I've seen was 12.2V, 12.4 is more typical, which makes sense since the electronics are drawing on the 12V battery, lowering the voltage reading. It takes about 6-8 minutes after closing all doors/hood/trunk for it to go to sleep. While it's sleeping and fully charged it reads 12.9V, but 12.7-12.8V is more typical, and lowest I've seen was 12.6V and the car will top it off with the HV battery. When the car is started, it will always read 14V+.

To get a true reading the car has to be asleep. I assume the MME works similarly, while the car is asleep vs awake vs "engine" running. This is the graph when I checked on it last on my GV60. Those little dips at around 12.5V is when the car is awake.

I would like to know where you found the Bluetooth monitor? What brand?

 

[All Hat No Cattle]

Much of this discussion, as you’ve observed, begs the original issue, a dead low voltage battery that should not be in that state. The OP needs to get the car to the dealer. Tow it on a flat bed, jump it (with or without the use of self installed battery terminal access ports), or charge it up and drive it there.

That is exactly right. I don't understand why the MME experience should be any different than than my Ford Edge experience.

My 10 month old Edge had a battery failure sitting in my garage. Called Ford Roadside Service and in two hours a service van shows up. The tech does a quick check of the battery, and determines that it is a dead cell problem. Must not have been an unexpected problem, because he pulls out a brand new battery and installs it, problem solved.

Why can't that be the MME experience, instead of discussing it for days on a forum? It is a $50-60K vehicle, and it should not require do-it-yourself warranty repair.

As an aside, I wonder how many women are on this forum?

 

[Jimct]

Where do you recommend keeping your portable jump starter? From what I understand, if the 12V is dead, then you cannot open the doors or the frunk.
I have a jumper box, but if I keep it in the car, and I'm away from home and the battery dies, then it would be effectively useless because I would not be able to get into the car to retrieve it.

That to me was the major drawback with the MME, the inability to access the car or frunk release without a portable jumper; keeping it in the car does you no good. Virtually every other car lets you use a manual key for access, but not this one. It also means anyone with a jumper has access to your frunk via the wire leads in the front. I can only recommend you keep a portable jumper in the house, another at work if you can, otherwise you'll have to rely on a friend or roadside service. In my opinion a major design flaw.

 

[SnBGC]

That to me was the major drawback with the MME, the inability to access the car or frunk release without a portable jumper; keeping it in the car does you no good. Virtually every other car lets you use a manual key for access, but not this one. It also means anyone with a jumper has access to your frunk via the wire leads in the front. I can only recommend you keep a portable jumper in the house, another at work if you can, otherwise you'll have to rely on a friend or roadside service. In my opinion a major design flaw.

According to the workshop manual, those leads only work if the LVB is low. So, applying 12v to those bumper wires won't do anything on a car with a healthy battery.

I think the "no place for a manual key lock cylinder" comes from the younger engineers who believe that mechanical contraption is archaic and obsolete. Which in many cases is true if the LVB never fails. The problem is 12v batteries don't last forever and sometimes they go flat without any warning.

Really it comes down to many younger drivers don't have any desire to perform any sort of maintenance. Many won't even check the air on their tires which eventually required the government to get involved and require TPS systems.

Back up camera the same thing.

We don't even have spare tires anymore. People don't want to solve mechanical problems. If rebooting or a software update doesn't solve the issue then just call a tow truck I guess.

Remember the days when we checked engine oil and coolant levels at every fill up? Seems like decades ago....

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I don't understand why the MME experience should be any different than than my Ford Edge experience.

Partly because they're very different vehicles. besides stating the obvious, the MME uses some very different technology, but your general idea is quite correct. I present you with one difference and one similarity. The similarity? Our 2020 F150 raptor also has an AGM battery. And it has AGM battery 'mishaps" as well. They're a bit easier to deal with though -- a Noco battery jumper and a shortish drive in the truck.

The difference? I present you with the map update for the Raptor:

Either that or have it idle in wifi range for 90 minutes plus while it downloads and installs.

Why can't that be the MME experience, instead of discussing it for days on a forum? It is a $50-60K vehicle, and it should not require do-it-yourself warranty repair.

The battery access points are an oversight by Ford and the original team. They went with solid panels because they did not anticipate any significant or serious AGM battery issues. Installing the access points simply makes charging and adding a power supply connection for FDRS easier. As for everything else, some of the discussion was simply to troubleshoot some obvious issues ( such as the third-party programs that are constantly polling the car, or certain dashcam configurations, etc). Others were to educate, but the bulk are cause we like to flap. a lot.

I wonder how many women are on this forum?

More than you might think. A lot more. Given the nature of forums, a fair number are incognito in their forum names.

 

[MachTee]

I would like to know where you found the Bluetooth monitor? What brand?

Here you go.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W4R2L8P

 

[All Hat No Cattle]

All Hat No Cattle said:
I wonder how many women are on this forum?

More than you might think. A lot more. Given the nature of forums, a fair number are incognito in their forum names.

OK, LOL. Then how many women on this forum can troubleshoot a dead 12 volt battery?

Let's hear from them.

Look, I want Ford to sell a million MME's a year. But they are not ever going to hit that goal if they don't solve the quality and customer service problems of the MME. I happen to be married to a wife that is more of a gearhead than I am, and she was hot for the MME the first time we saw one. But not so much now.

As the OP said in Post #11, " My local dealer when I called said they couldn't look at it until December".

And we are approaching the 2023 model year.

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