Powertrain Malfunction/ Reduced Power

[Joneii]

Glad to hear that it is covered by the original warranty. SAD to think that 2nd module failure happened at 82k miles ....

Maybe keeping ours "forever" isn't such a great idea ...

I have convinced myself that these were manufacturing QC issues that would (should) show up well before the 8 years and/or the 100k limits.

Our intention was to keep ours as long as possible (for context, I have a 16 year old VW with 236,000 miles that is still part of our fleet). But we are thinking through our options now. My EV tech said that if it were his truck he would trade it in on one that has less miles if I really liked the Lightning. I do really like the Lightning. His logic is to keep Ford paying for the expensive battery repairs by staying inside the 100k mile warranty. My problem is that I will drive that in 4 years, and I can’t afford to drop 30-40k every 4 years. That is like paying for a new module every year—I hope my luck isn’t that bad. I’d ideally keep this truck at least 10 years and 15 would be better, but 2 module failures in 3 years doesn’t make that look likely. I think we are going to press forward and hope we don’t see another battery issue. The next battery issue will be the last for this truck and us. As a new adopter we understood these kind of growing pains were possible. In contrast our 3 yr old Tesla Model Y has 70,000 miles and has had no issues of any kind. Now it isn’t towing and Tesla has been doing the battery thing longer than Ford, so I’m not surprised by that. Hopefully Ford will get it right as they move forward.

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[Rice_classic]

The battery module failing at 82k bothers me. Much more so than the issue arising for folks at <10k miles. I will have to plan on selling it or trading it in prior to the warranty expiring.

 

[Deleted member 4362]

Last week I got the powertrain malfunction for my truck. I figure it is the gear shift module because it has made a clicking sound a few times after I have parked the truck and shut it off. They only way to get the clicking to stop has been to turn the truck back on and cycle from park to drive back to park and shut it off. The day I got the malfunction when I got home I had to cycle it three times before it shut off. Just took the truck into the dealership and told them I suspected the gear shift module from what I have seen on here and because I did not have reduced power or reduced charging. And I figured while it was in there I would have the CSP for the front parking sensors down too. Well, somehow the CSP has disappeared from my truck and the dealership says there is nothing they can do. And none of the service advisors had any idea what a CSP was, so trying to explain that to them was a nightmare! But to top it all off, they just ordered the gear shift module, and gave me my truck back. I am fairly certain they did not pull any codes or even look at the truck because the service receipt I got just says "customer states gear shift module showing signs of failure" and the for tech notes it just says, "part on backorder". So no idea what the malfunction could be. And when I picked it back up, of course the warning and wrench are gone now. I gotta find a new dealership, because this is also the same dealership that did not rotate the tires on my 2022 Mach 1, because they said it has different size tires (staggered set) and that they can't rotate them. I told them to rotate them side to side and the advisor argued with me that they were directional tires, which they aren't, they are the stock tires from Ford. And they had the mustang for over 5 hours to do an oil change and tire rotation, because the never called me when it was done. These are my last fords.

 

[Jakester]

How many miles because mine has 37000 and the gearshift is not covered under the powertrain warranty and they want to charge me 1200.00 for replacement shouldnt there be a recall ive heard of alot of issues with the gearshift locking mine has done it sevreral times and you have to disconnect the battery and pray it unlocks

 

[USA EV]

How many miles because mine has 37000 and the gearshift is not covered under the powertrain warranty and they want to charge me 1200.00 for replacement shouldnt there be a recall ive heard of alot of issues with the gearshift locking mine has done it sevreral times and you have to disconnect the battery and pray it unlocks

So many people are switching out their shifters for rotary knobs that I imagine you'll have no trouble finding one second hand. They seem pretty easy to switch out too. There are videos on YouTube.

 

[Bandit1982]

I also received the dreaded error message yesterday, and from what I have seen, there have been other owners with the same issue. I have 3,048 miles on my Lariat extended range.

Had the same issue on 9/5/25. Was able to drive it to the dealer. They said it needed a software update. I would not know one way or the other if it did or didn't. They updated it. Take them for their word. Of course, I had read this forum with the issue Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced acceleration. After the update the truck has been charging funny the first two charges and the miles charged number is reducing everytime I charge. Truck set to charge to 90%. First time after it charged was to 328 mi. then in order of charging, 294, 279 which is where it usually charged to at 90%, then 276, 271, 265, 260, 256, 248. Truck scheduled for Thursday 9/25/25. Crossing fingers.

 

[fozzylightning]

Dealer got with me today, said it was a 4 hour diagnostic test with the main Ford people (assuming their EV tech isn't great at my dealer) said battery cell number 4 is bad, ordering a replacement, no timetable on return.

 

[GDN]

Dealer got with me today, said it was a 4 hour diagnostic test with the main Ford people (assuming their EV tech isn't great at my dealer) said battery cell number 4 is bad, ordering a replacement, no timetable on return.

4 hours for diagnostics. Hmmmm. Have they ever used FDRS before?

 

[topher10]

Thought I would post my report. ’24 Flash (Dec purchase), about 7,000 miles.

I just got the truck back from the dealer after having the recall done. Thankfully, no issue there, just replaced and re-torqued the bolts.

Running errands the day after, and the yellow wrench randomly appears, with “Service Vehicle Soon” warning anytime I start truck or open the door. It was 90+ degrees, and the truck's temperature gauge read 100 degrees outdoors. No change in driving dynamics, but I haven’t tried to charge it. FordPass reports a Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power warning, similar to others who have posted here.

One thing is that when I turn off the truck, I hear clicking/ticking sounds coming from the shifter mechanism. I therefore think its very likely the shifter, but would appreciate any way to confirm. I have a cheap OBD2 scanner, but it doesn’t pull any codes. Unsure if I should drive it.

 

[Bandit1982]

Quick follow up

Had the same issue on 9/5/25. Was able to drive it to the dealer. They said it needed a software update. I would not know one way or the other if it did or didn't. They updated it. Take them for their word. Of course, I had read this forum with the issue Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced acceleration. After the update the truck has been charging funny the first two charges and the miles charged number is reducing everytime I charge. Truck set to charge to 90%. First time after it charged was to 328 mi. then in order of charging, 294, 279 which is where it usually charged to at 90%, then 276, 271, 265, 260, 256, 248. Truck scheduled for Thursday 9/25/25. Crossing fingers.

On 9/26/25 Ford dealer talked to engineer or technology at ford. All batteries at 90 something percent but one. Its 60 some percent. Told my wife waiting on part from Detriot. She said they said one of Battery modules. We see.

 

[Grumpy2]

She said they said one of Battery modules.

Please keep us posted. What year is your lightning?

 

[Bandit1982]

Please keep us posted. What year is your lightning?

2023 Lariat extended range. Around 23000 miles.

 

[fozzylightning]

Dealer got with me today, said it was a 4 hour diagnostic test with the main Ford people (assuming their EV tech isn't great at my dealer) said battery cell number 4 is bad, ordering a replacement, no timetable on return.

Noticed my truck had been driven yesterday (8ish miles via FordApp).
Just called, was told that the work has been completed, they are charging it up, I should get a call back in a few hours to pick it up.

Timeline:

Truck bought Aug 26
Truck becomes brick Sep 6
Truck towed to dealer Sep 8
Truck fixed and back Oct 1 (pending)

Days with truck working like truck: 13
Days truck is paperweight: 2
Days at dealer: 23

34% actual drivable ownership time with truck...not bad.

 

[pmac1010]

I got the Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power message while on a road trip. I didn't notice it until the truck wouldn't charge faster than 20kw on 3 different chargers (2 Tesla and 1 SAE). I had to rent a vehicle and leave the truck behind. Fortunately I was only 100 miles away from home so was able to get back and drop the truck at a dealership in Atlanta. Unfortunately, they've had the truck over a week and are still dealing with "parts issues". The SA mentioned they have to order an array, which I assume is a battery module, even though she said they were replacing the entire battery. I'm not too confident that she knows. Just over 37,000 miles and this is the first problem I've had. The truck is awesome (except for now).

 

[vvgogh]

I had to rent a vehicle and leave the truck behind.

Bring a ODB reader and clear the error. You can then DC charge normally below 80% and AC below 90%. Above this, charging may slow more than usual as the truck protects itself against overcharging the out of family errant voltage cell. If you don’t have an ODB reader, stop by an auto parts store and they’ll let you borrow one in the parking lot for free.

The cleared error will return in a few days, depending on temperature, pushing the cell out of voltage for enough time. So, get it addressed when convenient. (The dash message says service vehicle “soon”)

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