Deep Sleep Mode - 12v battery drained dead [update: Mach-E jump started]

[Shayne]

Actually they figured out it's not the battery itself. That's an important piece of data. He further has it documented in his file. Important piece of data in case it turns out to be a lemon. From a problem finding perspective and legal perspective, it's very much worth getting out of bed.

I think people easily forget these are incredibly complicated pieces of machinery with millions of lines of code in their software. We get accustomed to things just working right when the reality is there is a ton of trial and error. It's a false narrative to say this technology has been around for a while. You can't just take what the other guy did. That's IP theft. You have to build from the ground up and that comes with a lot of trial and error. (see basically every piece of technology amazon built or google. Anyone remember the microsoft zune?)

We all took a risk buying a new car. Ford might have been in this business for quite a while but this is still their first ground-up BEV. There will be problems. So giving them data to sort these problems, even if it is just a battery is functioning properly, is important to working out the problems. If you're not comfortable with that risk, that's fine and very reasonable. (i'm ok with it because i drive 10-20 miles a day and could take the lightrail if necessary or use my wife's car). There's a growing market of options.

Personally this forum has given me more calm about this, as it is a stark reminder of what I signed up for but also because it is a friendly place to find solutions. I relayed a lot of the concerns I've seen on this site to my dealer, so he can be better prepared (my dealer was bought by a better auto group here in CO) for the day my MME arrives. I told him i've spent a lot of time learning about these vehicles and BEVs in general. I would appreciate if my salesman had the same basic knowledge I do. So while it can be unnerving to see all the issues, big and small, remember it will only make the vehicle better.

Not really any risk here anyway; it is a 12v problem only and it does not go into gear so I see no safety concerns. It is under warranty. Possible a bit of an inconvenience but we can take that. Old and no emergency to date. Just love this vehicle and no 12V problem that will get solved is going to take it away from me.

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[zvez]

UPDATE: I was the first person at the dealership this morning for their service team to look at the vehicle. They were able to look up the vehicle diagnostics and see that there was a power train fault. Their first instinct was the 12v battery. They pulled it and ran tests on the 12v battery and said it came back fine. They put it back in and took it for a drive. No issues. So, they gave me my keys and off I went.

They made a note of it and sent the information on to Ford. They also said this was the first one that they have seen problems with...I laughed as they have only sold two and told them they're hitting 500. So, I am the guinea pig for this dealership and their service team. The price we pay for being early adopters I think is worth it! It's like driving a Unicorn with all of the stares and looks people give. Two people in below zero temperatures have already rolled down their windows at stop lights to talk about it.

I will continue to monitor the situation and update here. But hey, a warm up is coming, we'll be hitting a high of 10 degrees F today in the St Paul area!! This weekend we may even finally get into the 20's!!

Guess the question now does it have a slight power drain (as in the f150 article posted) or is it temperature related a combo or something else?

 

[GoosePond08]

So basically they did nothing and told you nothing. Hardly worth getting out of bed for that.

Hey don't worry. I heard Ford is all over it and well aware!

 

[agoldman]

Hey don't worry. I heard Ford is all over it and well aware!

hearing that, and having Ford comment are two very different things. I'm about to take delivery on a $60k BEV. I'd like Ford to comment about this one way or the other.

I've actually had this issue on a day one volvo Phev a couple years ago. Turned out to be user error, Setting up the car without the car actually fully running and burning the 12v out. But that was one and done. I'd be ok with a one time fluke failure. So we wait and see what they find.

 

[GoosePond08]

hearing that, and having Ford comment are two very different things. I'm about to take delivery on a $60k BEV. I'd like Ford to comment about this one way or the other.

I've actually had this issue on a day one volvo Phev a couple years ago. Turned out to be user error, Setting up the car without the car actually fully running and burning the 12v out. But that was one and done. I'd be ok with a one time fluke failure. So we wait and see what they find.

LOL I was joking... I'm nervous as all hell.

 

[Shayne]

Possibly a couple of modules are not shutting down which is causing the 12v power drain. My dealer is on it and Ford is providing a good quick response from what he said (they are on it to).

First time it happen I unplugged (always plugged in as real cold) waited a couple of hour went back an it fired up. This time not the same luck so no work around here yet.

Does not go into gear so they may be sending someone out; that's as good as tesla and they are only 25 miles away. Bet my Ford dealer is quicker. No probs small hiccup just want no damage to the 100 KWh one.

 

[RockDaphne98296]

I am wondering if the issue that is being experienced by a few forum members with their 12V batteries is the same as my 2017 Fusion PHEV experience - it seems awfully familiar... In the first year of ownership my 12V battery died, which I found out the hard way powers the doors (including the door post keypad). I was a little surprised (and new to PHEVs at the time) that the fact that my BEV Battery was fully charged meant nothing. Long story short - it turned out across the board the Fusion Energi's had a 12 V battery problem - something in the environmental system would run down the battery while parked, so the dealer uploaded a SW patch and replaced my battery under warranty (at the third visit to the dealer for service).

Hopefully it won't take multiple service visits to resolve for those experiencing it now on the Mach E. For my own experience - the Fusion PHEV wasn't that new on the market - but if I hadn't looked it up on a forum just like this and pressured my dealer with the data, it likely would have taken more than three visits and frankly that was too many visits... It was a SW update and a battery replacement to fix it. And it hasn't happened again.

MY FE - which is currently being transported from Kansas (it was in the "stop ship" group) to Washington State and due for delivery by Feb 25th, I will be asking my sales rep to ensure the battery is fully tested when they prepare it for delivery.

 

[ClaudeMach-E]

Possibly a couple of modules are not shutting down which is causing the 12v power drain. My dealer is on it and Ford is providing a good quick response from what he said (they are on it to).

First time it happen I unplugged (always plugged in as real cold) waited a couple of hour went back an it fired up. This time not the same luck so no work around here yet.

Does not go into gear so they may be sending someone out; that's as good as tesla and they are only 25 miles away. Bet my Ford dealer is quicker. No probs small hiccup just want no damage to the 100 KWh one.

Make sure the towing if needed is a flat bed transport.

 

[Psipunk]

JamieGeek said:

The 2012 Focus was notorious for killing 12V batteries; it wasn't until around 2014 when Ford fixed that with a software update.

My 2013 FFE Killed its 12V battery a couple of times.


Dang. It took 2 years for them to acknowledge and fix the issue?

I know with my 2015 F-150 I had the doors freezing shut in the winter and I could not get into it unless I turned on remote start and warmed the vehicle first for like 20 minutes. Recenly its been sub freezing here with snow and the same issue is happening. They finally put out a service bulletin on that like 4 years later. Lol

 

[JamieGeek]

JamieGeek said:

The 2012 Focus was notorious for killing 12V batteries; it wasn't until around 2014 when Ford fixed that with a software update.

My 2013 FFE Killed its 12V battery a couple of times.


Dang. It took 2 years for them to acknowledge and fix the issue?

I know with my 2015 F-150 I had the doors freezing shut in the winter and I could not get into it unless I turned on remote start and warmed the vehicle first for like 20 minutes. Recenly its been sub freezing here with snow and the same issue is happening. They finally put out a service bulletin on that like 4 years later. Lol

Keep in mind Ford only sold about 100 Focus Electrics per year (especially back in '12 and '13). Sure that isn't an excuse but I don't think there was a full court press working on the issue either.

 

[BlueMach]

Keep in mind Ford only sold about 100 Focus Electrics per year (especially back in '12 and '13). Sure that isn't an excuse but I don't think there was a full court press working on the issue either.

The C-Max Energis and Fusion Energis had the same issue at one point around that time, not sure if it was the same reason. It took a while for an update then too.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Possibly a couple of modules are not shutting down which is causing the 12v power drain. My dealer is on it and Ford is providing a good quick response from what he said (they are on it to).

First time it happen I unplugged (always plugged in as real cold) waited a couple of hour went back an it fired up. This time not the same luck so no work around here yet.

Does not go into gear so they may be sending someone out; that's as good as tesla and they are only 25 miles away. Bet my Ford dealer is quicker. No probs small hiccup just want no damage to the 100 KWh one.

Wait, just to be clear: Did your LVB go dead while the car was connected to the EVSE? Do you have any "wake up" times scheduled to either charge or condition during the day?

 

[Woeo]

I just had my Mach E battery go dead yesterday at only 27°F. I trickle charged it back to life (disconnected the negative cable and attached trickle charger from positive jump port to negative terminal on the battery. After reconnecting the negative lead it started back up.

It's now at the dealer to have diagnostics run on it.

Mark,

Thought it would be helpful to have a more detailed record of what steps to take to trickle charge.

Which of the frunk panels did you find it necessary to remove?

Edited to add Mark’s reply:

I didn't have to use the bumper system as my driver side door was open.
I had to remove the rear luggage cover and the left luggage cover.
One could probably just connect the jumper cables or trickle charger to the jump points you picture. However, in my case, the car was trying to start up whenever the negative cable was attached to the negative post of the battery, so I disconnected the negative cable from the negative post of the battery and attached the negative lead from the trickle charger to the negative post on the battery. For details and images, see
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/dead-low-voltage-battery-lvb.3490/

End of Edit


To Open Frunk

1. Remove the cover at the front of vehicle below the headlight. Press firmly on the top right of the covers edge, then pull the raised section on the bottom left toward you.
2. Pull both wires out of the opening to reveal both terminals.
3. Connect the external power supply to the terminals

To Charge battery

• Connect the positive (+) jumper cable to the positive (+) jump point of the discharged battery vehicle.
• Connect the other end of the positive (+) jumper cable to the positive (+) terminal of the booster vehicle battery.
• Connect the negative (-) jumper cable to the negative (-) terminal of the booster vehicle battery.
• Make the final connection of the negative (-) jumper cable to the negative (-) ground point of the discharged battery vehicle.
• Unlock the driver door. See Unlocking and Locking the Doors Using the Remote Control.

Positive Jump point

Negative ground point

Removing the Rear Luggage Compartment Cover

1. Start at the rear edge of the left-hand side.
2. Pull upward at the clip locations shown to release the clips.
3. Remove the cover.
4. To install, reverse the removal procedure.

Removing the Left-Hand Luggage Compartment Cover

1. Start at the rear edge of the left-hand side and work toward the front of the cover.
2. Pull upward at the clip locations shown to release the clips.
3. Remove the cover.
4. To install, reverse the removal procedure.

Removing the Right-Hand Luggage Compartment Cover

1. Start at the rear edge of the right hand-side and work toward the front of the cover.
2. Pull upward at the clip locations shown to release the clips.
3. Remove the cover.
4. To install, reverse the removal procedure.

 

[Shayne]

Wait, just to be clear: Did your LVB go dead while the car was connected to the EVSE? Do you have any "wake up" times scheduled to either charge or condition during the day?

No scheduled times to do anything except charge 10 pm to 10 am but never got it to work. Alway soon as plugged in and to 100%

It has been plugged in but not charging. It has 240V so you think it could charge a 12V? Got not plugged in notice once last night reengaged it and this morning unplugged notice again. When sitting I have ensured it is plugged in "drive conditioning" and "plugged in but not charging" info on app. It is charged to 100% another bump that has not reached an end. Ford shut me down due to driving too unbridled maybe .

 

[highland58]

The powertrain light that popped when looking in the manual on page 150 is under the the "high voltage battery" header. Wonder if it wasn't charging the 12v enough. My vehicle was built Jan 9. Did not go to speedway. It had religiously been on the charger every night since I got it Wednesday due to the extreme cold Temps. Outside it has been lows of -22 with a high of 0 for Saturday into Sunday and now Monday. I also had it precondition before I'd go anywhere while still plugged in. It's 22 above in my garage.

My FE was built on Jan 9th and did not go to speedway, I hope it does not have the same issue (when I get it)

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