I think 12V battery died

[rzanzerkia]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

Thanks

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[RodHower]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

Thanks

I don't have an answer to your question, but I want to follow this thread. My daughter has a 2023 Premium AWD with 36k miles, original battery. I have a 2023 GT with 16k miles, original battery. We live in NE Ohio and the low night time temperatures are dropping to -3F

 

[rzanzerkia]

Thankfully I have Ford Premium Care 5yr/60K miles and I am at year 4/24K miles.
I called Ford Roadside and also booked a tow from my App.
Waiting for tow company to call me so I can be present to unlock the car and put it in neutral.

Regardless of the outcome I am disappointed that car stranded my wife. In 40+ years of owning cars no car had ever stranded us. At least I could limp back to home or jump start, but this one will NOT go in Drive (even though looks like 12V is ok). Main battery was fully charged and it has 180 miles of range so it’s not that.

I even tried jump cables for 20 min, no luck.

 

[Vgkfan]

I believe ford roadside is covered for the first 5 years. Not always the best service, but hopefully you get lucky. If your 12v is the original, I’m leaning towards that as the issue, even though some of the steps you tried seem to contradict that. Maybe roadside service will have some ideas to try before towing. Good luck.

 

[moritzes]

...
Regardless of the outcome I am disappointed that car stranded my wife. In 40+ years of owning cars no car had ever stranded us. At least I could limp back to home or jump start, but this one will NOT go in Drive (even though looks like 12V is ok). Main battery was fully charged and it has 180 miles of range so it’s not that.
...

Similar (not nearly as bad!) happened to me just last month in our Prius. The 12V couldn't kick it off and wouldn't even let me take it out of Park. Get this, though, I was stranded in a Walgreens parking lot that it shared with ... an AutoZone. Luckily for me the jump did work and I took it home and put it on a charger. No problems since, though I haven't tried to start it in the negative temps we're getting now.

 

[SummerlinBob]

P. M. preventive maintenance on the overall, is generally cheaper, less annoying, and less time consuming. Nothing lasts forever and I will never understand why waiting until something fails is preferable to replacing parts at a reasonable timeframe. On ICE vehicles there's, belts, battery, oil, fluids, sparkplugs etc. on EV's, a 12v battery every three years is about the extent of it. There are numerous posts that have demonstrated that it's a reasonably prudent idea to replace the 12v at three years on the Mach E

 

[jksu]

getting stranded sucks. always worse when wife is involved too. i haven't yet by my 12V but on my job1, i was stranded when the HVJB died.

curious if you have all the latest OTA updates? because wasn't there supposed to be one that would provide some sort of warning/alert if the 12V is low?

this forum has taught most of us, just proactively replace the 12V at 3yrs.

but if you're not on this forum or cold/heat has prematurely killed or weakened your 12V, the early warning that morning would have helped you decide to either try to trickle charging, DIY replace or get it to a dealer ASAP before getting stranded.

 

[Feliks]

Sound like you have the plastic shroud off, if you tried to jump start the car. As the 12v starts to get into low states, it will throw lots of codes and messages, some of them will prevent from going into gear. However, the battery may still have enough juice to power the seat and such, but not enough registering to close the contactors and start the car, etc.

Do you have a multimeter? If so, test to see what the voltage is at rest. That is, with the car off for 30–60 minutes (e.g. everything is of), measure the voltage across the battery.

• 12.6–12.8V = healthy
• 12.3–12.5V = aging
• <12.2V = weak
• <12.0V = failing

If you're steady state is at 12.2.v or less, it's weak and/or failing... and you may get stranded again. This could be because the battery is old and is not holding charge (most likely by a long run), or the DC-to-DC converter is not charging the battery. To test this, start the car and test the voltage across the battery... if it's 12.5v or less, then the battery is not getting charged (this is very unlikely... but possible).

 

[Adventureboy]

Yes, ICE cars are 5-6 years on a battery (I even had one that went 10 years). EVs are 3-4. at best. My wife's MME is 3.5 years, and I have a new battery sitting in the garage ready to go in, although the existing one hasn't given us any trouble yet.

 

[Blue highway]

Yes, ICE cars are 5-6 years on a battery (I even had one that went 10 years). EVs are 3-4. at best. My wife's MME is 3.5 years, and I have a new battery sitting in the garage ready to go in, although the existing one hasn't given us any trouble yet.

... it will not give you any trouble... till it doesn't work at all.

 

[Adventureboy]

... it will not give you any trouble... till it doesn't work at all.

Yes, that is the ultimate truth - and also the reason the new one is already in the garage . I just haven't had the time to change it out yet. It takes a bit longer to change it out for the MME since you either have to remove the frunk tub or the top brace. Lightning and most other cars take about 10 minutes. I'll be changing it out in a couple of weeks.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Thankfully I have Ford Premium Care 5yr/60K miles and I am at year 4/24K miles.
I called Ford Roadside and also booked a tow from my App.
Waiting for tow company to call me so I can be present to unlock the car and put it in neutral.

Regardless of the outcome I am disappointed that car stranded my wife. In 40+ years of owning cars no car had ever stranded us. At least I could limp back to home or jump start, but this one will NOT go in Drive (even though looks like 12V is ok). Main battery was fully charged and it has 180 miles of range so it’s not that.

I even tried jump cables for 20 min, no luck.

Hi Robert,

Send me a DM with your VIN and dealer info, I want to get eyes on this so we can work with your dealer to fix what is going on.

 

[Maquis]

Yes, ICE cars are 5-6 years on a battery

I just installed the 5th 12VB in my daughter‘s 2019 Honda last night.

 

[johnnycombo]

My Lightning just did the same thing Saturday, got a new battery from Advance Auto. Also made a trip to the dealer for a yearly state inspection and they said it also needed an programming update.

 

[rhougey]

My 4 years of trouble free days are over…
With the cold New England temps and car was not driven for the last 3-4 days.
So today my wife took the car to a store about 4-5 miles from the house.
After 2 hours when she tried to start the car she is getting all kinds of warning and can’t put the car in D.
So I went there with my other car, jumper box (Blue Fuel) and jumper cables.

Car locks and unlocks.
Pressing start gives all kinds of warnings (see pics).
Pressing off moves seat back.
I tried using a Jumpbox but no luck. (To the red post under the plastic cover on the driver side and negative terminal next to it, NOT on the battery itself).
I tried adding jump wires for good 20 minutes, no difference.
I locked up the car and left in the parking lot for the day.
I do have the Ford PremiumCare warranty ($50 72 months/60K, I am at around 24K miles.
I talked to local Ford dealer but too busy to let me talk with service adviser to see what is covered and what’s not.
If tow is covered I would have it towed to local Ford dealer.
Questions:
What should be my next steps to get the car at least home so I can trickle charge the battery?
Maybe use jump wires again tomorrow and charge for 1 hour or more?
Trying to avoid unnecessary two and potential damage to the car.
Clearly I am going to replace the battery (is it possible to DIY)?
Does PremiumCare cover tow and 12V battery replacement?
What about the diagnostics?

Thanks

You’ve been on the forum since 2021. Surely you knew you were tempting fate with the 12VB at 4 years. I would go grab a battery at the dealer, should be about $135, grab some tools and go change it out wherever it is. Or your dealer may be able to send a technician to where it is stranded if you want to pay them for the install. Many dealers have traveling technicians.

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