Stopped recognizing when any charger is plugged in

[B177y]

Long time lurker, first post. I have searched the forum for similar issues without success.

TLDR: My charge port only shows white lights when any charger is plugged in after a flashing red light and "charge fault" message DCFC attempt. Can't charge at all now.

I was away from home over Thanksgiving weekend with the family to attend our kid's soccer tournament north of Seattle. We took both cars, my '23 CR1 and wife's ICE SUV, as kids had games at the same time in different places, and on Monday I was parking near SeaTac to fly to my dad's after the tournament, alone.

I used the free 5kW Clipper Creek charger at our hotel twice to top off to 90% without a hitch. Mornings and evenings were 28-32 deg F clear weather, so I used a lot of juice to heat and keep windows clear while transporting sweaty soccer kids and parents.

The hotel charger got clogged up on Saturday, so I tried to hit a BP fast charger on Sunday. It wouldn't connect, and I got the flashing red light on the charge port and a "charger fault" message in the Ford app that showed up about 10 minutes after. I unplugged and tried again, but the CR1 wouldn't connect and the charger kept saying "plug in to activate". The charge port on the CR1 only would show white lights now, no blue as is normal when plugging in. I called BP and we went through the standard troubleshooting with no change. I had time so I moved to an EA charger down the road. Same thing there, charger acted like I never plugged in and the CR1 only showed white lights. I tried another stand at that EA, and another EA location that night, then the hotel charger again, all the same. The charger port looks fine, no obvious damage, but zero recognition that anything is plugged in on the car side or charger side.

I called BEV team first thing Monday morning and went through their standard troubleshoot using the hotel charger, same result. They opened a case and pointed me to a nearby dealer. I was able to leave the car there and Uber to SeaTac. Dealer will hopefully get to it this week while I'm gone. No errors in the Ford app other than the initial charger fault message and no warnings of any kind in the car. Still drives great. Left at dealer with 45% battery. Didn't have any time or desire to try my OBD and Car Scanner due to too many things happening at once.

CR1 has 7200 miles in 3 months. I have taken a few road trips with at least a dozen DCFC and lots of home charging. DCFC on EA, BP, ChargePoint, and some others, all without any problems until this.

Anyone have similar issue? The closest I could find was a thread where a couple of people had charge ports replaced, but their issues sounded like the chargers would start a session but then stop. Mine won't even start. I might not be entering good search queries? TIA.


Edited to fix typos.

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[Garbone]

Sounds like the data path on the charge harness came unplugged (loose connector fell out) or the actual I/O on the circuit board took a dump.

Hopefully it is a quick fix and does not need a parts ordered.

Good luck.

 

[B177y]

I followed up with the service dept today. Apparently it's a "bent pin" in the charger port. I couldn't see anything when I looked, and the service writer said that the tech didn't specify which pin in the notes. I was curious if it was a DC pin or one of the top pins.

Service writer said they have to order the entire charge port. Lucky me, it's a back ordered part with no date for availability.

I was also told that this one could be warranty replaced, but that if it happens again, it may not be (thanks for the warning I guess).

I will now check all public charger connectors for anything funny looking before I attempt to connect. But I won't have to worry about that for a while since I have to wait for the part to arrive...

 

[B177y]

So, this took a crazy direction really quickly....

The BEV team agent that I am working with on this issue stated to me that previous experience with back orders that have no estimated time can be a three to six month wait. I told her that really would not work for me and at what point do we start a buyback? She agreed and we have started a buyback application with Ford.

The dealer that I purchased my CR1 from does not have a loaner program, and the shop where the CR1 is being fixed also does not have a loaner program. However, since a buyback is started, I now qualify for the $40 per day rental reimbursement, as long as it is also a Ford vehicle.

I would rather this be resolved without a buyback, but I also can't keep a 3-month-old car in the shop for 6 months, or some unknown amount of time.

I also examined the charging port of my sister's electric Volkswagen. There really seems to be no way to bend a charging port pin unless it was vandalized. The plug from the EVSE cannot be inserted without everything being completely lined up. I'm a little suspect with the bent pin diagnosis.

I guess I have to give props to Ford and the BEV team for customer service however as there really was no pushback when I brought up the buyback. The BEV team has also bent over backwards to help me out during this entire episode.

To be continued...

 

[B177y]

I started a new thread in the "Issues, Warranty, Recall..." section to elaborate on the charging port backorder and see if anyone else is stuck in waiting for this part. See here:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/charging-port-backordered-unknown-time-to-restock.32254/

 

[Mach-Lee]

TLDR: My charge port only shows white lights when any charger is plugged in after a flashing red light and "charge fault" message DCFC attempt. Can't charge at all now.

FYI sometimes once a charge fault is set, every charger tried after that fault may automatically fail until the vehicle is reset by turning off for 5+ minutes. Did you ever turn off the car for a while in between attempts? See this for reset procedure:

Try This First - Powertrain Malfunction / High-Voltage Battery Warning / Service Vehicle Soon While Charging

 

[B177y]

FYI sometimes once a charge fault is set, every charger tried after that fault may automatically fail until the vehicle is reset by turning off for 5+ minutes. Did you ever turn off the car for a while in between attempts? See this for reset procedure:

I did have long pauses between charge attempts. The longest was overnight with a morning attempt. Still no charging love ?

There was also a kid's soccer game between my DCFC attempts on Sunday. I actually looked up your thread while I was waiting at an EA charger to free up, so I tried the 5 min power off there (was actually actually closer to 15 min).

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