Mach-e dead again

[Shayne]

Not sure if this helps you at all, but Ford advised for my car to replace the HV junction box and that should solve the problem of the car not properly charging the LVB from the HVB which has stranded me 3 times. I'm not even going to drive it if I have to turn it off for more than hour to do something so it doesn't die again. Need to wait 2 weeks until can get it back to the dealership. And this is the second MME that I know of that ford has advised this solution.

Thanks; not sure if they are related and the same fix? Some 12V I have read are dying driving but mine always parked? Good to know that they are trying to figure it out and get you rolling again. As long as they work on fixing the problems I am still on board trying to make it better. First year for them on new greener tech. It is not a small economy car step either. It is a gr8 offering just this basic bump needs to be fixed. We will see where it goes. 4.5 months to change the sobdmc so I could have a functioning charging schedule. I hear you it is going to take a bit to trust it again. I will leave it sit next winter also I hope to test it is fixed.

Sponsored

 

[Astraea]

Thanks; not sure if they are related and the same fix? Some 12V I have read are dying driving but mine always parked? Good to know that they are trying to figure it out and get you rolling again. As long as they work on fixing the problems I am still on board trying to make it better. First year for them on new greener tech. It is not a small economy car step either. It is a gr8 offering just this basic bump needs to be fixed. We will see where it goes. 4.5 months to change the sobdmc so I could have a functioning charging schedule. I hear you it is going to take a bit to trust it again. I will leave it sit next winter also I hope to test it is fixed.

All of my dead LVB issues were all while it was parked for a few hours at work. And even after them updating and unplugging things and plugging them back in and combing through each module until they all passed still didn't fix my problem. So this is the solution that Ford recommended. I wish they were fixing it faster so I could let everyone know if this does indeed fix my problems permanently or not.

 

[Shayne]

All of my dead LVB issues were all while it was parked for a few hours at work. And even after them updating and unplugging things and plugging them back in and combing through each module until they all passed still didn't fix my problem. So this is the solution that Ford recommended. I wish they were fixing it faster so I could let everyone know if this does indeed fix my problems permanently or not.

4 hours after the event I think I caught it. 7 hours latter I did not so thinking it takes a few hours here but just a guess?

Junction box sounds like plug in solid connections not contacts. Mine worked all summer and appears directly related to temperature. Maybe a problem all the time and just increased due to the cold? The system has a real hard time charging when it gets colder from what I have seen.

We will both know more when it is over and thinking both will survive. Would not like it dying when driving and thinking we both have that going for us . Helping with the new data base problem = fix. Mine needs a new trickle charger when parked plugged into an EVSE and cold. Thinking it can be fixed and I won't need to plug in 240V and 120V when parked? I should ask if two wires is approved just to know. A charger/maintainer could be a "temp" fix? Cold happens and extremes are possible.

 

[mkhuffman]

4 hours after the event I think I caught it. 7 hours latter I did not so thinking it takes a few hours here but just a guess?

I have noticed that the LVB seems to only be charged when the car is on, or when it is charging. While it seems ridiculous, you could turn your car on periodically to keep the LVB charged. Actually, it is very ridiculous, but it might help.

Remote start your car, let it run for the planned 15 minutes. Do that at least once a day. @Astraea, you could try remote starting your car once per hour and letting it run for 15 minutes every hour. Maybe that will be enough to keep your car from getting stuck while you wait for the permanent repair from Ford.

In my experience temperature related battery failures are usually due to a bad battery. It may be time just to get a new battery.

 

[generaltso]

I have noticed that the LVB seems to only be charged when the car is on, or when it is charging.

If everything is working properly, the LVB will also be charged as needed while the car is parked and off plug. Something with @Shayne and @Astraea ’s cars is not working properly.

 

[mkhuffman]

If everything is working properly, the LVB will also be charged as needed while the car is parked and off plug. Something with @Shayne and @Astraea ’s cars is not working properly.

Agreed. But it only maintains it when off and not charging when the SOC gets pretty low, as you know and as has been reported in other threads (I have seen in the 60% range in my car after it has been sitting for a while). But when the car is on or charging, the LVB SOC goes back up to 90% or higher. Since they have a problem with the battery dying, remote starting could prevent that.

 

[Astraea]

Agreed. But it only maintains it when off and not charging when the SOC gets pretty low, as you know and as has been reported in other threads (I have seen in the 60% range in my car after it has been sitting for a while). But when the car is on or charging, the LVB SOC goes back up to 90% or higher. Since they have a problem with the battery dying, remote starting could prevent that.

It's funny you guys mention remote starting, because each time the LVB was dead, I attempted to remote start to warm up the car first before going out and seeing that it was dead. I dont know if the remote starting played into the LVB dying or draining, but I'm definitely gun shy about that now. ?

Edit: Also, can't you only remote start twice before having to manual start the car and drive it?

 

[YFD_233]

Man. Reading this thread had my head spinning. Volt meters, BMS, SOC, LVB ,graphs, dead batteries, error codes, cars not starting, holding charges, jumping, trickling, towing to dealerships. I have to tell you I’m second guessing my order even though it won’t be here for several months. I’m thinking maybe it’s not worth it. One thing I cannot have is problems like this. I need reliability as my job demands. I know vehicles can have issues but I just might have to stick to my ICE. Can anyone talk me off the ledge? I really wanted this.

 

[mkhuffman]

Man. Reading this thread had my head spinning. Volt meters, BMS, SOC, LVB ,graphs, dead batteries, error codes, cars not starting, holding charges, jumping, trickling, towing to dealerships. I have to tell you I’m second guessing my order even though it won’t be here for several months. I’m thinking maybe it’s not worth it. One thing I cannot have is problems like this. I need reliability as my job demands. I know vehicles can have issues but I just might have to stick to my ICE. Can anyone talk me off the ledge? I really wanted this.

Go to any car forum, Lexus, Mercedes, etc. and you will find people reporting problems. A forum is going to be heavily weighted with people reporting problems, because that is where we go when we have issues and we need advice. So my first suggestion is to take what you read here with a grain of salt, and realize most cars are not experiencing these issues. For example, I have had my MME since November and have had zero issues. It is 100% reliable.

My second suggestion is to be aware that any manufactured product gets better over time. The first ones produced do not include all the improvements that companies make when they find issues during and after production. This is just life, and all products are like this, cars included.

So if you buy a first model year car, you are likely to have issues you won't have if you wait. That is one reason I waited and didn't order my MME immediately. I wanted as many improvements as possible included, but I also didn't want to wait too long. But as I just said, my car has had zero reliability issues.

Now there are various common problems with Ford's software. Some of these problems I would not even know about except I read about them on this forum. That is good, because now I know what to expect. But of course not many people need to post about what works, because, well it works.

The software issues are well documented in this forum so I won't repeat them but none of them have changed how much I love my car. It is without a doubt the best car I have even owned, and I have owned a lot of cars.

 

[mkhuffman]

Edit: Also, can't you only remote start twice before having to manual start the car and drive it?

I think you can remote start three times, but I have not tested that to confirm.

My suggestion was to remote start every hour, instead of at the end of your day and just before leaving. I guess you cannot do that over the course of an 8 hour day, but maybe you can remote start it a couple times in the morning, run out to the car and start it at lunch time, and then repeat the process in the afternoon.

Anyway, this should not be necessary at all. It is obvious you have a problem that needs to be fixed. I hope their solution is the right one. Let us know how it goes because others might have the same defect.

 

[louibluey]

I think you can remote start three times, but I have not tested that to confirm.

My suggestion was to remote start every hour, instead of at the end of your day and just before leaving. I guess you cannot do that over the course of an 8 hour day, but maybe you can remote start it a couple times in the morning, run out to the car and start it at lunch time, and then repeat the process in the afternoon.

Anyway, this should not be necessary at all. It is obvious you have a problem that needs to be fixed. I hope their solution is the right one. Let us know how it goes because others might have the same defect.

When a broken/defective MME will not charge the LVB (even if it is only in the bitter cold), the problem is that ironically, the remote start approach can make matters worse. (two max between "drive" events, I use it a lot.)

For example, @Astraea reported that tough day at work, where she went out and started MME twice, so it would be ready when needed, but later it was dead anyway. I think what happened there is because her MME was broken, there was some usable LVB charge from the earlier drive. But, after that, and this is really sadly ironic, I think the later two starts, rather than helping, just used up what soc was there. I think I misunderstood this one: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/mach-e-dead-again.12086/page-7#post-331093

Also, a properly working MME will charge the LVB (if the HVB is not below some number, I think 15%, not sure) when LVB soc falls below 40%, I have been seeing 34/35% not on, not plugged in. As the general noted, some of these conditions are really confusing to sort out, because at least two the MME we are following closely are just broken, even though they are still driveable.

 

[SnBGC]

The Ford Focus BEV also had LV battery problem. It didn't like my wife's short commute of just 4 miles a day. It was a common topic on the Focus forum. You would think Ford would have figured it out. At least on the Focus the 12 volt battery was easy to get to. Not adding easy charge access to the battery was a mistake on the Mach E design

We have had 3 of those BEV Focus models in our family and they did very well, no LVB issues other than needing to be replaced after 4 years or so. Which is about twice as long as batteries usually last out here in ICE vehicles.

We used those cars quite a bit though. 15k-24k miles per year on average. So that probably helped.
On those cars, if it was remote started while on plug and then unplug before driving, it would always give a 12v fault message. It would go away on the next key cycle.

 

[YFD_233]

Go to any car forum, Lexus, Mercedes, etc. and you will find people reporting problems. A forum is going to be heavily weighted with people reporting problems, because that is where we go when we have issues and we need advice. So my first suggestion is to take what you read here with a grain of salt, and realize most cars are not experiencing these issues. For example, I have had my MME since November and have had zero issues. It is 100% reliable.

My second suggestion is to be aware that any manufactured product gets better over time. The first ones produced do not include all the improvements that companies make when they find issues during and after production. This is just life, and all products are like this, cars included.

So if you buy a first model year car, you are likely to have issues you won't have if you wait. That is one reason I waited and didn't order my MME immediately. I wanted as many improvements as possible included, but I also didn't want to wait too long. But as I just said, my car has had zero reliability issues.

Now there are various common problems with Ford's software. Some of these problems I would not even know about except I read about them on this forum. That is good, because now I know what to expect. But of course not many people need to post about what works, because, well it works.

The software issues are well documented in this forum so I won't repeat them but none of them have changed how much I love my car. It is without a doubt the best car I have even owned, and I have owned a lot of cars.

i understand totally. I’ve purchased many first year cars but I’ve been lucky. I’m just thinking this battery stuff is much more prone to have problems. And worse the techs are learning now which makes it worse.

 

[Astraea]

We have had 3 of those BEV Focus models in our family and they did very well, no LVB issues other than needing to be replaced after 4 years or so. Which is about twice as long as batteries usually last out here in ICE vehicles.

We used those cars quite a bit though. 15k-24k miles per year on average. So that probably helped.
On those cars, if it was remote started while on plug and then unplug before driving, it would always give a 12v fault message. It would go away on the next key cycle.

It definitely is that my poor car is broken as @louibluey said. as I have driven nearly 15k miles since getting it in May and my drive to work and back is about 40 miles round trip. It's been driven nearly everyday and every trip is at least 4 or 5 miles. With an added nearly 700mile round trip at one point. What can I say, I love this car! ? But back to the matter at hand, the day that I kept going out every hour to start it, did in fact work. I sat out in it and let it run for a few minutes before going back into work. All the other times I simply tried to remote start it because it was so damn cold and went out to a cold, dead, sad, car. I did have a near dead battery the other morning as well, this was before I got the call about the HV junction box. The car sat without moving or remote starting at any point in starting temps, when i got to work, around 20F then was around -5F when I went out to it about 12 and half hours later. When I went to start it (at nearly 4am btw) at first it made some rapid clicking sounds, almost sounded like an ICE with a dead battery, then finally 'turned over' and away I went. I didn't attempt to remote start it before leaving work because I had just gotten the car back the night before and wasn't ready to risk it yet. ?

 

[mkhuffman]

It definitely is that my poor car is broken as @louibluey said. as I have driven nearly 15k miles since getting it in May and my drive to work and back is about 40 miles round trip. It's been driven nearly everyday and every trip is at least 4 or 5 miles. With an added nearly 700mile round trip at one point. What can I say, I love this car! ? But back to the matter at hand, the day that I kept going out every hour to start it, did in fact work. I sat out in it and let it run for a few minutes before going back into work. All the other times I simply tried to remote start it because it was so damn cold and went out to a cold, dead, sad, car. I did have a near dead battery the other morning as well, this was before I got the call about the HV junction box. The car sat without moving or remote starting at any point in starting temps, when i got to work, around 20F then was around -5F when I went out to it about 12 and half hours later. When I went to start it (at nearly 4am btw) at first it made some rapid clicking sounds, almost sounded like an ICE with a dead battery, then finally 'turned over' and away I went. I didn't attempt to remote start it before leaving work because I had just gotten the car back the night before and wasn't ready to risk it yet. ?

You have done everything reasonable to keep your car running. I really hope you get it fixed soon.

Sponsored