Failed OTA? Get a New Battery!

[lesz]

Hey Guys,

Just thought I'd post this since there are a bunch of 21's getting ready to make their 3 year anniversary. Outside of the first 6 months or so (July 2021 car purchased), when Ford did not have the OTA down very well; I have received regular OTAs generally about 1-2 months after the EA guys on the forum. Last year I had an OTA that just kept failing and it required me to have the dealer do a hard-wire update. Of course when I asked the Service Guys "why it failed", all I got were shoulder shrugs. Since that time, as most of us have, I've received multiple OTAs over the last year, not having a single failure.....Until last week.

About 10 days or so ago 24-PU0102-CHG-SUFX showed up for download. Over a 4-5 day period I tried to download it many times. Every time, there was a failure as "conditions were not met". When I read the possible conditions, nothing stood out to me as a problem. The car was acting normal, no issues. I keep that battery indicator in my cigarette lighter inside the center glove box and it read 14.1 (as it had since I put it in)......So what the HECK???

So, I figure back to the dealer to have them do the OTA. They keep the car for 2 days and (really poor communication on their end....I'll get to later) then pick her up on Saturday morning. To my shock, I start to drive away and see the OTA was not installed. So, I go back in and talk to the "weekend service mgr" and he looks at my ticket and says the battery was low (and under warranty) so they gave me a new battery. I was unsure if that would be enough to get the OTA downloaded since my battery voltage according to my "cigarette lighter" never indicated anything nefarious was afoot.

I took the car home, after making an 8am Monday appt to have the OTA downloaded, and parked. Then just for kicks and giggles, I attempted to download the OTA again. Well, LORDY LORDY it worked. So the battery was the culprit!!!

Now the Service Dept. wierdness: Dropped the car off on Thursday am, never heard from service manager. I called Friday morning and he tells me, "they checked the battery it was fine, they should be done in about an hour". So, I assume he means with the download!!! Hence my confusion picking up the car on Saturday!?!?

Long Story for a short Public Service Message: Our batteries have a 3 year warranty, and a lot of stress running these electronics. If your getting OTA failures or just want to have your battery checked do it.....You may get a new battery, worth I'm sure $200 or so!!!!

I have a 22 GTPE and also had difficulty getting a large OTA to update. I tried running the car in my garage with all the accessories and lights off for four hours on two consecutive days - it appeared to do little for the 12V battery. my dealer picked the car up and tested the 12V battery. It tested fine, and they were able to charge it to 98%. When they drove it back from the dealership to my house it went from 98% to 78%. What I have found that seems to be true for my car:
1. i’m retired and don’t drive my car often or very far. I need to make sure a couple times a week I drive it or 45 minutes or so.
2. I charge my car all the time in a temperature controlled garage, but all that seems to do is maintain the 12V battery. I’ve seen no evidence charging the lithium ion batteries actually increases the charge level of the 12V battery.
3. the other thing that seems to have really helped, and this was a suggestion on this forum, I keep my key fob in a Faraday box now.

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[CWSpook]

you're going to the "vehicle dashboard" not the ".......account" page, it will appear as in my case "chris' account".

Thanks! That did it.

 

[azerik]

Dropped from 80% to 72% over night. I've been keeping an eye out for a decent charger.
Looking at the camera in my garage I don't see the car waking up. No accessories or added things that should cause the drain. I'll keep an eye on it. it's just past the 3 year mark.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Dropped from 80% to 72% over night. I've been keeping an eye out for a decent charger.

You could just get a couple of PL320s. They will charge as well as act as a PSU for your FDRS pleasure.

 

[zvez]

Dropped from 80% to 72% over night. I've been keeping an eye out for a decent charger.

it sounds like you have a parasitic drain, or failing 12v battery you shouldn't have to do anything to keep the 12v in good state of charge.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Dropped from 80% to 72% over night. I've been keeping an eye out for a decent charger.
Looking at the camera in my garage I don't see the car waking up. No accessories or added things that should cause the drain. I'll keep an eye on it. it's just past the 3 year mark.

It’s normal for it to lose about 10% in the two hours after turning it off.

 

[MICO]

You are looking vehicle page. Illogically, Ford put the LVB SoC on the Account page.

Mine says “Tires Good.” They are only good because I got new tires and wheels recently. My OEM tires were shot at 16K miles.

 

[MICO]

you're going to the "vehicle dashboard" not the ".......account" page, it will appear as in my case "chris' account".

Where did you find the SOC of the 12v battery. The charge level is the high voltage battery?
I went to Ford.com/my account then where?

 

[Shayne]

No 12V status anywhere in the car or the app. Car will not boot or go in gear when the 12V is too low. Car will not install OTA's if the 12V is too low. But we need to go to a web site to monitor it. Even my junkers of old had a alternator gauge so owners could make sure the 12V was charging right but this high tech EV has nothing. Cover the 12V with large plastic covers to make it difficult to access and then make the car totally depend on a tiny 12V AGM battery. My computers now boot with a dead CMOS battery but not this car.

Ford please give us 12V status in the app on the vehicle page in status beside tire pressure. Have no need for alexa games or BC but 12V status is something that needs to be monitored in this vehicle as it has such a huge impact and causes problems for many over and over again.

 

[RickMachE]

Dropped from 80% to 72% over night. I've been keeping an eye out for a decent charger.
Looking at the camera in my garage I don't see the car waking up. No accessories or added things that should cause the drain. I'll keep an eye on it. it's just past the 3 year mark.

We just went away for 3 weeks. I put it on my Battery Tender. Works just fine.

 

[zvez]

Where did you find the SOC of the 12v battery. The charge level is the high voltage battery?
I went to Ford.com/my account then where?

No, on the named account the SOC is the 12v battery, this is covered in some depth on Mach Lees excellent 12v FAQ thread, the first post.
You log on to your ford.com " my account", then click on the person icon again in the upper right corner, the dropdown menu select "......account" NOT "vehicle dashboard" it will list the 12v battery SOC (this is NOT the HV battery status) along with tires- "good" and range. This updates after every access of the car, charging driving etc. https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/12v-battery-faq.32744/

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