"Starting Charger" looping start-stop charging issue

[luckie]

I have an ongoing issue with my 2025 MME. I can tell it is happening when Ford Pass displays "Starting Charger" and just keeps displaying that. The car goes into a loop of trying to start charging and then immediately stops, repeat, repeat repeat...

First experienced in August, still pops up regularly. It seems to be a software glitch. Every week or so, at home, plugged in, instead of initiating charging at my preferred charging time period 11pm-11am, the car gets into a loop where it tries to begin charging and then immediately stops, waits 30 seconds and then again tries to begin charging but immediately stops. This just keeps happening throughout the night until the 12V battery is drained enough to cause the big high voltage battery to be used to charge the 12V back up to a reasonable level, etc, and loop continues on, and on.

I first noticed it in August a few weeks after bought the vehicle, after a night I thought it was charging, the next morning I had the alerts on Ford Pass about low 12V issue ("Electrical System Drained Service Required") and I went out to observe the ongoing back-and-forth looping, "click" - "clack," lights & sound, repeating, as my charger tries to start and then stops, and the synchronized blue ring of lights beside the charge port starting and stopping, again and again. I unplugged and found the car could charge elsewhere and was fine if the preferred charging times were erased. Thus decided it was a software glitch.

Sometimes its fine for a week or two, and one day this might start immediately when I plug in at 6pm after getting home from work. Other times it does not start when I plug in, it is fine until 11pm when the preferred charging time starts, and then it starts looping.

If I get in the car and on the SYNC screen, I remove any "preferred charging times" at my home charging location (or go charge at a new location without preferred charging times) then it works normally. If I then add back the preferred charging times, they actually work fine for a few days or a week until this happens once again.

Ideas/suggestions are welcome, please. Thanks in advance.

Doug

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[E90alex]

What charger are you using?

 

[luckie]

What charger are you using?

Clipper Creek Charging Station / LCS-25, Level 2, hardwired, 20 amp, 4.8kW

 

[psancla]

I have an ongoing issue with my 2025 MME. I can tell it is happening when Ford Pass displays "Starting Charger" and just keeps displaying that. The car goes into a loop of trying to start charging and then immediately stops, repeat, repeat repeat...

First experienced in August, still pops up regularly. It seems to be a software glitch. Every week or so, at home, plugged in, instead of initiating charging at my preferred charging time period 11pm-11am, the car gets into a loop where it tries to begin charging and then immediately stops, waits 30 seconds and then again tries to begin charging but immediately stops. This just keeps happening throughout the night until the 12V battery is drained enough to cause the big high voltage battery to be used to charge the 12V back up to a reasonable level, etc, and loop continues on, and on.

I first noticed it in August a few weeks after bought the vehicle, after a night I thought it was charging, the next morning I had the alerts on Ford Pass about low 12V issue ("Electrical System Drained Service Required") and I went out to observe the ongoing back-and-forth looping, "click" - "clack," lights & sound, repeating, as my charger tries to start and then stops, and the synchronized blue ring of lights beside the charge port starting and stopping, again and again. I unplugged and found the car could charge elsewhere and was fine if the preferred charging times were erased. Thus decided it was a software glitch.

Sometimes its fine for a week or two, and one day this might start immediately when I plug in at 6pm after getting home from work. Other times it does not start when I plug in, it is fine until 11pm when the preferred charging time starts, and then it starts looping.

If I get in the car and on the SYNC screen, I remove any "preferred charging times" at my home charging location (or go charge at a new location without preferred charging times) then it works normally. If I then add back the preferred charging times, they actually work fine for a few days or a week until this happens once again.

Ideas/suggestions are welcome, please. Thanks in advance.

Doug

I have the same issue with my 2023 MACH E RWD Extended range battery. The issue has been ongoing since the middle of May this year when it first appeared and I have gone through the same routine as you i.e. deleting and resetting preferred charging times , the car then charges ok and then goes back into the loop process you described. My car has been with the dealer in Galway in May and July for investigation but they could not find any cause. The issue is currently ongoing, latest occurence last night, and is going back into the dealer for further evaluation in November, earliest possible date available, for another review to try and find the cause.

It is extremely frustrating as any long journey has to be carefully planned to try and get the battery up to at least 85% and that typically means several days of charging in advance trying to use the preferred times, when electricty rates are cheaper, or using a more expensive fast charger rather than my home Zappi charger. It is really annoying as the car is otherwise great to drive and I hope the next trip to the dealer will solve the issue. I have a second EV which uses the same Zappi charger with identical preferred charge times and that has been perfect for 4 years as were the first two years of my MACH E. Hoping someone from Ford reads these posts and can offer some help or insight into what is going on with the MACH E preferred charging time process.

Phil

 

[luckie]

I have the same issue with my 2023 MACH E RWD Extended range battery. The issue has been ongoing since the middle of May this year when it first appeared and I have gone through the same routine as you i.e. deleting and resetting preferred charging times , the car then charges ok and then goes back into the loop process you described. My car has been with the dealer in Galway in May and July for investigation but they could not find any cause. The issue is currently ongoing, latest occurence last night, and is going back into the dealer for further evaluation in November, earliest possible date available, for another review to try and find the cause.

It is extremely frustrating as any long journey has to be carefully planned to try and get the battery up to at least 85% and that typically means several days of charging in advance trying to use the preferred times, when electricty rates are cheaper, or using a more expensive fast charger rather than my home Zappi charger. It is really annoying as the car is otherwise great to drive and I hope the next trip to the dealer will solve the issue. I have a second EV which uses the same Zappi charger with identical preferred charge times and that has been perfect for 4 years as were the first two years of my MACH E. Hoping someone from Ford reads these posts and can offer some help or insight into what is going on with the MACH E preferred charging time process.

Phil

thanks for replying, it is nice to know I am not alone, but sad you have had to deal with this too. I will let you know if I find a fix. I predict the problem might need to become worse and dependable (always misbehaving) to increase the chance a mechanic can diagnose the issue and fix it. Intermittent problems are difficult to correct perhaps particularly if they are software. I suppose I could just manually plug in at 11pm each evening when I want to charge to get lower electricity rates.

 

[luckie]

I have the same issue with my 2023 MACH E RWD Extended range battery. The issue has been ongoing since the middle of May this year when it first appeared and I have gone through the same routine as you i.e. deleting and resetting preferred charging times , the car then charges ok and then goes back into the loop process you described. My car has been with the dealer in Galway in May and July for investigation but they could not find any cause. The issue is currently ongoing, latest occurence last night, and is going back into the dealer for further evaluation in November, earliest possible date available, for another review to try and find the cause.

It is extremely frustrating as any long journey has to be carefully planned to try and get the battery up to at least 85% and that typically means several days of charging in advance trying to use the preferred times, when electricty rates are cheaper, or using a more expensive fast charger rather than my home Zappi charger. It is really annoying as the car is otherwise great to drive and I hope the next trip to the dealer will solve the issue. I have a second EV which uses the same Zappi charger with identical preferred charge times and that has been perfect for 4 years as were the first two years of my MACH E. Hoping someone from Ford reads these posts and can offer some help or insight into what is going on with the MACH E preferred charging time process.

Phil

Hey Phil,

So I tried two experiments (work-arounds) to trick the software to work or to at least be predictable.
1. One was related to US models staying ON 12 minutes after you turn off the vehicle, so is does not apply to you. And did not work.

2. The other was if the problem occurs immediately when I plug in (which just happened) can I immediately get in the car and remove settings for preferred charging hours, save it, turn off car for a few minutes and then turn the car back ON and add them back. That seemed to work.

I'll report back if things go well this evening when it tries to start charging at 11pm.

Doug

 

[psancla]

Hey Phil,

So I tried two experiments (work-arounds) to trick the software to work or to at least be predictable.
1. One was related to US models staying ON 12 minutes after you turn off the vehicle, so is does not apply to you. And did not work.

2. The other was if the problem occurs immediately when I plug in (which just happened) can I immediately get in the car and remove settings for preferred charging hours, save it, turn off car for a few minutes and then turn the car back ON and add them back. That seemed to work.

I'll report back if things go well this evening when it tries to start charging at 11pm.

Doug

Hi Doug, I did something similar last week. I deleted the preferred charging times and tried charging overnight to 85% and for the second time since mid May the car charged on one session to 85%. I have now set two new preferred charging times and I will charge the car again tomorrow to see what happens. The car will be checked by the local Ford dealer on the 11th November when it will also get the door lock/unlock recall problem fixed as well. An otherwise great car is really unreliable with this charging problem and hopefully it will soon be sorted.

I will keep you posted on my next attempt to use the preferred charging times.

Phil

 

[psancla]

Hi Doug, I did something similar last week. I deleted the preferred charging times and tried charging overnight to 85% and for the second time since mid May the car charged on one session to 85%. I have now set two new preferred charging times and I will charge the car again tomorrow to see what happens. The car will be checked by the local Ford dealer on the 11th November when it will also get the door lock/unlock recall problem fixed as well. An otherwise great car is really unreliable with this charging problem and hopefully it will soon be sorted.

I will keep you posted on my next attempt to use the preferred charging times.

Phil

Hi Doug,
so I reset the preferred charge times to charge between 1am and 8am, the lowest electricity price period. Tried to Charge the car on Thursday evening plugging in at 11.30pm and charging from 36% SOC to target charge of 85% The car immediately started to charge disregarding the preferred start time so I left it to charge overnight. Checked the car at 6am Friday morning to discover the car had stopped charging at 11.40pm the previous evening and then restarted at 1am and stopped at 5.30am when it had reached 73% charge. I manually restarted the charge process at 6.05am and left the car to charge to 85%. It stopped again at 7am having reached 77%. I have no idea what is going on with the car and will try one more time without preferred charge times before it goes to the dealer for repair on the 11th November.

My other EV charges perfectly on the same preferred charge times and the frustration with the Mustang is that it worked perfectly since new until the middle of May this year and since then has become completely unreliable and useless for anything other than short daily journeys as I have no idea how long it might take to recharge the battery. I hope Ford can fix this.

Phil

 

[luckie]

Hi Doug,
so I reset the preferred charge times to charge between 1am and 8am, the lowest electricity price period. Tried to Charge the car on Thursday evening plugging in at 11.30pm and charging from 36% SOC to target charge of 85% The car immediately started to charge disregarding the preferred start time so I left it to charge overnight. Checked the car at 6am Friday morning to discover the car had stopped charging at 11.40pm the previous evening and then restarted at 1am and stopped at 5.30am when it had reached 73% charge. I manually restarted the charge process at 6.05am and left the car to charge to 85%. It stopped again at 7am having reached 77%. I have no idea what is going on with the car and will try one more time without preferred charge times before it goes to the dealer for repair on the 11th November.

My other EV charges perfectly on the same preferred charge times and the frustration with the Mustang is that it worked perfectly since new until the middle of May this year and since then has become completely unreliable and useless for anything other than short daily journeys as I have no idea how long it might take to recharge the battery. I hope Ford can fix this.

Phil

Hi Phil,

Wow, that is incredibly odd behavior. That must be so frustrating. Sorry to hear about that.

Hmmmmm.... When you drive your car to a nearby slow (level 2) public charger and plug it in, has it ever behaved just as oddly there, too? And does it behave normally at level 3 chargers [since that skips using the built-in onboard charger and gear related to it]?

What has the service center previously tried in their attempts to fix it? I'm hoping they replaced some things? Or have they never been able to replicate the problem in their hands and find anything wrong?

 

[luckie]

Hey Phil

Regarding your months of charging failures (since May 2025), which your dealership cannot diagnose or fix, did your experience get worse over time? Did it start just failing in one specific way and then get more problematic over time?

@Ford Motor Company @Ford Team [hope Ford can read this and help us]

Doug

FYI: Here's my latest. This is now the 6th time I've experienced this charging failure loop behavior (August 23, 24, Sept 29, Oct 12, 27, and Nov 1)

Well, for the first time my Mach-E did not exhibit the behavior until 25 minutes *after* charging started fine. Thus this is the first time I experienced it stopping charging prematurely like you have experienced.

The "click & clack" sounds/symptoms did not happen in the two ways I observed before (right at plug-in moment, and right when preferred charging starts on time) so I thought all was going to be fine tonight. But looked at Ford Pass app at 11:25pm and it changed from displaying "Charging until 2:38am" to the dreaded "Starting Charger". Went out to the car and observed that charging had stopped, car was quiet, the ring of lights were just dark, off, and nothing was happening.

I waited maybe just a minute or two to observe it and did not see it try to start charging again and fail, ie. lights and sounds of "click & clack" behavior but wanted to get it working and go to bed so was not super patient to just watch it. Got in car, turned ON, deleted preferred charge times, turned OFF and plugged in the charger EVSE and it started charging fine. Did fine rest of night, charged to 80% limit and stopped.

So, now I have experienced three *behaviors* or types of charging failure events, like you have:
1. plug-in car and immediately observe it looping and repeatedly trying but failing to initiate a charge (even though the preferred time is set to start charging hours later)
2. plug-in car, and it's fine until the car attempts to initiate charging at the start of the preferred time window and begins looping and repeatedly trying and failing to initiate a charge.
3. plug-in car and all is well until after it begins charging at the appropriate time set in preferred charging times, but then after some short time charging at night, it just stops and fails then.

And the looping behavior can last for hours and lead to an "Electrical System Drain..." alert due to impact on 12V battery.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Flagging this with our team across the pond, and seeing what we can do to help. More to come!

 

[luckie]

Flagging this with our team across the pond, and seeing what we can do to help. More to come!

thanks Brian. Phil and I are both experiencing a similar problem. Any guidance you and others can provide regarding who to talk to etc, would be most appreciated.

Doug

 

[psancla]

Flagging this with our team across the pond, and seeing what we can do to help. More to come!

thanks Brian, lets see how my local dealer gets on next week.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

thanks Brian, lets see how my local dealer gets on next week.

Hit me up if you get stuck!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

thanks Brian. Phil and I are both experiencing a similar problem. Any guidance you and others can provide regarding who to talk to etc, would be most appreciated.

Doug

Doug, what charger do you have? It could be this: https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ford-really-needs-to-get-it-together.49718/#post-1020801

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