Zero Warning... the recall software update did not work! SECOND HVBJB FAILURE. Stop Safely Now my sequel.

[Electric Goat]

I went to help revive the Electric Goat today, but as you can see I wasn't successful. ? She had a persistent P0563 code in the BECM that kept coming back, so unfortunately that means it's new HVBJB time.

When I arrived the 12V battery was down to 11.6V, so I put my dual PL2320s on it and got system voltage back up to 13.5V. Scanned for codes and determined the P0563 code (System Voltage High) in the BECM was the cause of the SSN, which likely means the positive contactor is stuck. I tried resetting the codes and modules multiple times, following the steps in the service manual, opening the BECM service disconnect under the hood, and even banging on the front of the battery pack with a rubber mallet in a last-ditch effort to unstick a contactor. But she wouldn't budge. This P0563 code is mentioned in TSB 22-2178, which specifies HVBJB replacement.

I can confirm the dealer installed the recall software a couple weeks ago, and he said he never saw a SVS before the SSN popped up while L1 charging last night. So this is a confirmed case of a HVBJB failing without prior warning on post-recall software. Sounds like the contactor overheated with just a short pass and must have melted or welded itself closed after the drive. He is on the second HVBJB, this one failed with only about 4500 miles since the last replacement.

The garage did have very low clearance with only a 6' opening and was parked nose-in, but fortunately we were able to get it into emergency tow mode and pushed it into the alleyway so the tow truck could pick it up. I'm surprised they sent a dolly truck instead of a flatbed, but the tow truck driver loved the looks of the Mach-E and carefully got the front on the wheel lift despite the low clearance. He said his new flatbed was still in the process of getting licensed and approved. Having the high-current battery chargers to keep the battery topped up really helped out. I brought jumper cables and an extra Mach-E battery just in case the chargers weren't enough, but they did fine. It make it to the dealer safely.

I feel bad him, this is the second time he's been stranded, he has a newborn, and the Mach-E was their only vehicle at the moment. Hopefully Ford gets him rolling again ASAP.

@Mach-Lee Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all of your help today. You ARE a rock star. I'm thankful that you're in Minnesota / Wisconsin area and were happy to help a fellow MME owner out.

While no one wants their HVBJB to fail, I'm happy that it failed at home and in my own garage instead of somewhere unsafe.

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[RSH]

I went to help revive the Electric Goat today, but as you can see I wasn't successful. ? She had a persistent P0563 code in the BECM that kept coming back, so unfortunately that means it's new HVBJB time.

Very cool for you to do that.

 

[scoopman]

I went to help revive the Electric Goat today, but as you can see I wasn't successful. ? She had a persistent P0563 code in the BECM that kept coming back, so unfortunately that means it's new HVBJB time.

When I arrived the 12V battery was down to 11.6V, so I put my dual PL2320s on it and got system voltage back up to 13.5V. Scanned for codes and determined the P0563 code (System Voltage High) in the BECM was the cause of the SSN, which likely means the positive contactor is stuck. I tried resetting the codes and modules multiple times, following the steps in the service manual, opening the BECM service disconnect under the hood, and even banging on the front of the battery pack with a rubber mallet in a last-ditch effort to unstick a contactor. But she wouldn't budge. This P0563 code is mentioned in TSB 22-2178, which specifies HVBJB replacement.

I can confirm the dealer installed the recall software a couple weeks ago, and he said he never saw a SVS before the SSN popped up while L1 charging last night. So this is a confirmed case of a HVBJB failing without prior warning on post-recall software. Sounds like the contactor overheated with just a short pass and must have melted or welded itself closed after the drive. He is on the second HVBJB, this one failed with only about 4500 miles since the last replacement.

The garage did have very low clearance with only a 6' opening and was parked nose-in, but fortunately we were able to get it into emergency tow mode and pushed it into the alleyway so the tow truck could pick it up. I'm surprised they sent a dolly truck instead of a flatbed, but the tow truck driver loved the looks of the Mach-E and carefully got the front on the wheel lift despite the low clearance. He said his new flatbed was still in the process of getting licensed and approved. Having the high-current battery chargers to keep the battery topped up really helped out. I brought jumper cables and an extra Mach-E battery just in case the chargers weren't enough, but they did fine. It make it to the dealer safely.

I feel bad him, this is the second time he's been stranded, he has a newborn, and the Mach-E was their only vehicle at the moment. Hopefully Ford gets him rolling again ASAP.

Now THAT is Mach-E Forum customer support at it's finest!

@Electric Goat I hope you've called the Ford CS number and opened a case -- they are 24/7 I believe so you can do this before the dealer looks at it hopefully on Monday. You gotta look at the positive side here -- it's good this failed in your garage, and not in some way that would strand you when you were driving with your family. And also that @Mach-Lee brought out a battery maintainer, extra Mach-E battery, and a mallet (?) and you guys got it out of the garage safely....

 

[scoopman]

If this is EXACTLY how MME ownership should go, I won’t own it much longer.

y'know this was, as Jim Farley explained, all to make things more "convenient" for owners, such as the poor guy with a newborn who got conveniently stranded twice.

 

[BigMach-E]

Dang, sorry to hear this @Electric Goat. This can't keep happening. Although there has been some debate about when the new beefier HVJBC has been available, I am really concerned that might not even be the fix. Only time will tell I guess. The part should get sent on Monday, as far as I'm concerned. How long was your car in the shop the first time?

 

[Electric Goat]

This^^

Some people think the failure rate was close to 1 in 1000. Which would make the repeat rate 1 in a million.

Clearly it’s not. With multiple failures in the same vehicle……….something else is going on.

Which means they have NOT found the cause nor the solution yet.

It can’t just be a bad HVJB, something else is causing them to fail.

And I also don’t believe Ford’s stance of “blame the driver” for DC charging and flooring the car.

THIS!

You hit the nail right on the head. Based on what I've seen so far, my hunch is that every single early 2021 and early build 2022's will have their original HVBJB fail.

 

[Electric Goat]

Now THAT is Mach-E Forum customer support at it's finest!

@Electric Goat I hope you've called the Ford CS number and opened a case -- they are 24/7 I believe so you can do this before the dealer looks at it hopefully on Monday. You gotta look at the positive side here -- it's good this failed in your garage, and not in some way that would strand you when you were driving with your family. And also that @Mach-Lee brought out a battery maintainer, extra Mach-E battery, and a mallet (?) and you guys got it out of the garage safely....

Yes, absolutely. Sure is!

Thanks to this forum, Fords social media team was quick to message me and get the case process started.

There's only two things that could have made this HVBJB failure more convenient.

1. If the software recall had actually worked then I could have driven to the car to the dealership myself in 30 minutes.
2. If the car had failed in-front of the my house instead of my tricky alleyway garage.

Also, yes. Mach-Lee was impressively prepared. The mallet was part of an experiment to see if the contactor could be jostled loose by moderately tapping on the underside of the vehicle where the contactor sits. It didn't work but it was a great thought and had a good laugh about trying it out. ?

y'know this was, as Jim Farley explained, all to make things more "convenient" for owners, such as the poor guy with a newborn who got conveniently stranded twice.

? + ?

 

[Electric Goat]

Dang, sorry to hear this @Electric Goat. This can't keep happening. Although there has been some debate about when the new beefier HVJBC has been available, I am really concerned that might not even be the fix. Only time will tell I guess. The part should get sent on Monday, as far as I'm concerned. How long was your car in the shop the first time?

I'm hoping that this is all resolved much quicker this time. It took the dealer that I purchased from 6 weeks to get my car back to me and 90% of that was due to a bad dealership experience. I wanted two weeks just for someone to plug in their computer and pull codes. My service advisor would just constantly lie to me. I ended up opening up a case with Ford and they sent someone from corporate to the dealership to deal with the situation and to advise on the repair. I won't be going back there ever again.

 

[Regulus7]

@Electric Goat just wondering had you done any DCFC prior to the failure? Also just speculating here, but what is everyone charging their GTs at home on L2 ? Could ratcheting downbeat to 32A versus 40A or 48A help to delay the eventual HVBJB failure?

 

[Electric Goat]

Isn’t it odd to get this failure with no warning whatsoever following the new software update ? I am almost always parking front facing as I am worried about this happening although my car is new and just 2k miles. I did a few too many WOT last few days and drag races a Macan on the hiway at 100mph for 10-15 mins on Friday early morning. Uh oh!!

Both of my failures happened right in the 4,000 to 5,000 mile range.

So, if you have an early design HVBJB and a GT and GTPE then be prepared for it to fail.

These really should be proactively replaced. The software doesn't always work (my case). Being left stranded somewhere is extremely unsafe.

 

[Electric Goat]

@Electric Goat just wondering had you done any DCFC prior to the failure? Also just speculating here, but what is everyone charging their GTs at home on L2 ? Could ratcheting downbeat to 32A versus 40A or 48A help to delay the eventual HVBJB failure?

• Before my first failure I had DC Fast charged at least two dozen times at EA 150kw+ stations during a multi-state road trip.
• Last week I took a 400 mile road trip with my newborn and I fast charged only three times on the slow 50kw stations.

I just got a L2 50A line installed in my detached garage but the utility company still needs to come by and hook it up to the grid so I've only been using L1 for my daily needs. I've been using the Ford mobile charger exclusively at home.

 

[BigMach-E]

I'm hoping that this is all resolved much quicker this time. It took the dealer that I purchased from 6 weeks to get my car back to me and 90% of that was due to a bad dealership experience. I wanted two weeks just for someone to plug in their computer and pull codes. My service advisor would just constantly lie to me. I ended up opening up a case with Ford and they sent someone from corporate to the dealership to deal with the situation and to advise on the repair. I won't be going back there ever again.

Man, I had close to a month. But a lot of that had to do with the part being backordered. I made a case with Ford Corporate almost immediately when my HVJB failed. Marin County Ford was amazing, after the first day or so of struggling with them. It was also in February, but I think I have the B variant of the HVJB installed (they sent me the COPIS shipping manifest to "prove" it.). I have logged over 9k miles since that time. No problems.

All this to say, I believe that when you have the new HVJB installed you shouldn't have this happen again. I would also be insistant that the wiring harness gets replaced though. Hold the faith that Ford will get it right this time.

 

[scoopman]

I'm hoping that this is all resolved much quicker this time. It took the dealer that I purchased from 6 weeks to get my car back to me and 90% of that was due to a bad dealership experience. I wanted two weeks just for someone to plug in their computer and pull codes. My service advisor would just constantly lie to me. I ended up opening up a case with Ford and they sent someone from corporate to the dealership to deal with the situation and to advise on the repair. I won't be going back there ever again.

Nothing is guaranteed in life, but we can probably say that the extra beefy boxes are indeed much beefier. I've only heard of one failure of the new design and it was literally basically driving home from the dealer after purchase.

Do not know what they changed, and we all only have several months of experience with the new design, but you would think we would start to see some failures if the new box wasn't improved enough to solve the immediate problem.

 

[Electric Goat]

Nothing is guaranteed in life, but we can probably say that the extra beefy boxes are indeed much beefier. I've only heard of one failure of the new design and it was literally basically driving home from the dealer after purchase.

Do not know what they changed, and we all only have several months of experience with the new design, but you would think we would start to see some failures if the new box wasn't improved enough to solve the immediate problem.

Well I hope that many other GT & GTPE owners are already stress testing it!

 

[HuntingPudel]

Nothing is guaranteed in life, but we can probably say that the extra beefy boxes are indeed much beefier. I've only heard of one failure of the new design and it was literally basically driving home from the dealer after purchase.

Do not know what they changed, and we all only have several months of experience with the new design, but you would think we would start to see some failures if the new box wasn't improved enough to solve the immediate problem.

Need someone to hit the Grapevine with Blippi on the sound system for the real test. ??

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