Ford LIES!

[FastCote]

I own three, yes THREE electric Ford vehicles. I know, shame on ME for being a slow learner!

Yesterday on my way home, the Lightning lit up like Christmas in the Walmart parking lot and left me dead. Sat for three hours waiting for a wrecker to come load me up and take me to Ford. While waiting I tried all the usual shenanigans (power off, power on, stand on left foot, then right, etc.) and the car would not go back into drive. The whole time the dash told me death was imminent and I should come to grips with all my evil doings (it actually said "Stop Now" and other unhelpful messages)

Today, the dealership says "Started right up - looks good. Nothing else we can do here. When do you want to pick it up".

Fu$% Y%$ Ford. I can't believe for a second that there is not trouble codes somewhere they can see from the three hours of me dead at WallyMart! This is total horse shit. They simply threw up their hands and didn't even TRY to diagnose this thing.

How can I trust this, or any of my other shitty Ford electrics on a trip of any milage?!?!?

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[Tony Burgh]

When electrical gremlins crop up in any vehicle I own, I know I can no longer trust that vehicle and it’s time to get rid of it. It is a mental decision on my part. Nothing can make me trust that vehicle again. I have learned that from experience.
It seems that you have mentally reached that point of no return.
I know what I would do. You need to decide what you need to do.

 

[MountainAlive]

Yeah that’s frustrating to have zero explanation for what happened. The first thing that comes to mind is a weak 12v battery, which is surprisingly the cause of numerous EV issues.

 

[rugedraw]

Fu$% Y%$ Ford. I can't believe for a second that there is not trouble codes somewhere they can see from the three hours of me dead at WallyMart! This is total horse shit. They simply threw up their hands and didn't even TRY to diagnose this thing.

I have your VIN. These are the codes that caused the errors. They are reported as stored codes today, but for sure they are in your DTC history.

Unrelated to what happened yesterday, you have a misconfiguration in your HCM. Not sure if you made some FORScan change that is causing this, but again, this is not related to what occurred yesterday.

 

[Grumpy2]

I think you should sell, let someone else enjoy a terrific truck.

 

[MyJoule]

12V battery - Have the dealer load test it.

I replaced mine after one warning. So far so good- I ended up doing it myself with an OEM motorcraft battery from RockAuto.

 

[FastCote]

I have your VIN. These are the codes that caused the errors. They are reported as stored codes today, but for sure they are in your DTC history.

Unrelated to what happened yesterday, you have a misconfiguration in your HCM. Not sure if you made some FORScan change that is causing this, but again, this is not related to what occurred yesterday.

Thanks for looking that up!

Admitting my ignorance, what part failure would you say the codes point towards?

 

[FastCote]

12V battery - Have the dealer load test it.

I replaced mine after one warning. So far so good- I ended up doing it myself with an OEM motorcraft battery from RockAuto.

It is shocking to me that a 12V battery the size of a Coke can is the keeper of my entire Trucks health! What a horrible design.

I had LITERALLY 20 seconds notice from lights on the dash to 4 ton brick.

 

[FastCote]

Save your sanity and buy one of these Load tester

That tool will work on all your 6-12v batteries. Been using one over 40 years now. No not the same one lol.

I'll do that asap.

Is it just me or could Ford have built that in (for like ten cents) to offer a little predictive failure indication?

 

[rugedraw]

Thanks for looking that up!

Admitting my ignorance, what part failure would you say the codes point towards?

These EV specific issues are not my area of expertise, but maybe @Mike G or @Jesse-Infotainment can shed some light. I have seen issues with the heat pumps causing those errors on the EV's, but it is not easy for me to diagnose these types of things based on just codes.

 

[RLXXI]

I'll do that asap.

Is it just me or could Ford have built that in (for like ten cents) to offer a little predictive failure indication?

From my experience as a professional mechanic/tech, lead acid batteries overall are a complete crap shoot, never know how long they'll last. Every once in a blue moon you'll get one that'll be slow cranking.

Sometimes when they are on the way out they will typically exhibit all sorts of electrical gremlins.

 

[rugedraw]

These EV specific issues are not my area of expertise, but maybe @Mike G or @Jesse-Infotainment can shed some light. I have seen issues with the heat pumps causing those errors on the EV's, but it is not easy for me to diagnose these types of things based on just codes.

To add to this, this is the SSM referenced by the P0887 code:

Below are all the stored codes your truck reported today. Notice that some of the codes referenced by the SSM are in your code history. Could this just be a loose 12v battery connection? Easy enough to check.

 

[Ted23Lightning]

To add to this, this is the SSM referenced by the P0887 code:

Below are all the stored codes your truck reported today. Notice that some of the codes referenced by the SSM are in your code history. Could this just be a loose 12v battery connection? Easy enough to check.

Could be a parasitic draw on the 12V from the headlamp?

 

[rugedraw]

Could be a parasitic draw on the 12V from the headlamp?

In this case, I don't think so. He made some FORScan changes that are most likely the reason that code is there.

 

[Adventureboy]

Here is a possible scenario that I've tracked over the last couple of years with an independent 12v monitor.
A series of events can leave a healthy 12v depleted enough to light our trucks up like this. A series of short drives, door activities etc. I have found in most cases the truck tops up the 12v battery with one notable exception - if the 12v battery drops to the threshold of about 40% SOC, the truck begins charging the 12v (both on and off plug), if that charging process is interrupted by an event like a short power cycle, driveway shuffle or short drive, it can leave the 12v depleted below the 40% threshold and the charge cycle doesn't seem to start back up. The low voltage is enough to light everything up.

@Ford Motor Company - this would be a good thing to fix. Add an algorithm that keeps the DC-DC charger active after shutdown until the 12v reaches at least 80% or 100% is even better. You've done something similar with the MME.

The dealer may well be right and the truck is working as programmed. Doesn't help you when you are stranded for sure. Understanding the dynamics can help you prevent it from happening again.

My solution is this - If I know I've done a few things like short drives or driveway shuffles that can leave the 12v depleted, I will leave the truck running (shut lights off) when I go in to shop. That does 2 things - charges the 12v and keeps the cabin cozy for my return. If I take longer than planned, the truck simply shuts itself off after the shutdown timer is reached. It is a habit now after 3 years.

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