Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power

[climateguy]

My 2024 Flash seemed to be operating normally when I saw a service vehicle soon notice appear on the dash. "Soon" to me meant I could keep driving so I did. I never use the full power of the truck so I did not notice any reduction of power. When I got home the app showed a "Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power" notice. When I plugged the truck into my charger, the circle of lights around the charging port showed red.

I called the nearest dealer. They have one tech able to work on BEVs. I was offered an appointment two weeks away. If I brought the truck in and left it there, the dealer said, if the tech had a few spare minutes he could maybe diagnose it before the two weeks were up.

When I brought the truck in and talked things over with the service manager, he seemed convinced this malfunction meant a high voltage battery failure - a module or the battery. He said he had replaced entire high voltage batteries or modules on more than 30 Lightnings. He warned, if the malfunction was the battery, that the 2 week delay before diagnosis was just the start - there would be a process of getting Ford's approval to replace, then wait for the parts, etc., etc.

This dealership is located is a fairly remote area of Washington state, in a city of 20,000 residents. It serves an area of about 110,000. The nearest dealer other than this one is 70 miles away. This service manager claimed Lightnings are not worth owning because too many of the high voltage batteries fail.

I wasn't aware that the high voltage batteries in LIghtnings were particularly susceptible to failure. Are they?

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[TaxmanHog]

I wasn't aware that the high voltage batteries in LIghtnings were particularly susceptible to failure. Are they?

My 2022 has worked perfectly with zero failures, but then we have this thread:

Powertrain Malfunction/ Reduced Power

 

[Everett]

My 2024 Flash seemed to be operating normally when I saw a service vehicle soon notice appear on the dash. "Soon" to me meant I could keep driving so I did. I never use the full power of the truck so I did not notice any reduction of power. When I got home the app showed a "Powertrain Malfunction / Reduced Power" notice. When I plugged the truck into my charger, the circle of lights around the charging port showed red.

I called the nearest dealer. They have one tech able to work on BEVs. I was offered an appointment two weeks away. If I brought the truck in and left it there, the dealer said, if the tech had a few spare minutes he could maybe diagnose it before the two weeks were up.

When I brought the truck in and talked things over with the service manager, he seemed convinced this malfunction meant a high voltage battery failure - a module or the battery. He said he had replaced entire high voltage batteries or modules on more than 30 Lightnings. He warned, if the malfunction was the battery, that the 2 week delay before diagnosis was just the start - there would be a process of getting Ford's approval to replace, then wait for the parts, etc., etc.

This dealership is located is a fairly remote area of Washington state, in a city of 20,000 residents. It serves an area of about 110,000. The nearest dealer other than this one is 70 miles away. This service manager claimed Lightnings are not worth owning because too many of the high voltage batteries fail.

I wasn't aware that the high voltage batteries in LIghtnings were particularly susceptible to failure. Are they?

Nearly exactly what happened to my 24 Flash with 4k miles two weeks ago. It is sitting at the dealer waiting for parts . SOBD module failure. !2 volt battery failure. Now HVB module failure. No time frame on repair.
These trucks are time bombs. totally unreliable and at this point a useless
engineering dumpster fire. The dealers don't want anything to do with them, the trade in value has tanked and gas will soon be over $5.

 

[The Weatherman]

Sounds like this dealer is one that doesn’t want EVs out there. They offer virtually no service revenue.

Some have had battery issues but far more have not.

Search the web for the rate of engine failures that GM, RAM and Ford are having.

I’ll take my chances with my 2022 Lightning.

 

[Grumpy2]

This dealership is located is a fairly remote area of Washington state,

I sent you a personal message.

 

[jamelski]

Stuff breaks but the % in not high. It will be fixed. Sucks to have to wait

 

[Heliian]

Call the dealer 70iles away and ask them to pull the codes. Maybe they know what they're doing. Your current dealer does not.

 

[climateguy]

Call the dealer 70iles away and ask them to pull the codes. Maybe they know what they're doing. Your current dealer does not.

Are you saying a remote dealer can communicate with my truck that is sitting on another dealer's lot?

 

[kstype]

I own a 2023 Lariat ER made in December of 2022 and it almost has 86,000 miles on it and I have had zero issues with it. The only issues I had related to powertrain were after early OTAs were applied but none since then, it’s been fantastic.

I did just replace the original 12v battery proactively just so it did not fail on me suddenly but other than that, and the standard 10,000 mile services, a set of tires and two alignments (and the couple recalls on light at and the dash mat) I have really had no issues.

 

[Maquis]

Are you saying a remote dealer can communicate with my truck that is sitting on another dealer's lot?

Yes. There are a couple guys on this forum who can do it, too. Maybe one of them will chime in. The service advisor should have done that before or at the time you dropped it off.

 

[bmwhitetx]

Taxman pointed you to the main relevant thread but if you scroll down on this page you will see a section “Similar Threads”. There you’ll see even more threads with the same title as yours.

You say you don’t notice a power reduction. But your power gauge may still show one. Typical reduction is 40% or 57%. Notice the dash line leading to 57 here.

But many others with this issue do still show 100% power.

 

[Wendy]

Must be the mix of Canadian air and US air causing problems there. Is the one 70 miles away Bickford in Snohomish? They are the best, they have done me right (although I have not had any battery problems) and seem to have a good BEV staff.

 

[Grumpy2]

I note they have Lightnings for sale, looks like a better bet if you have charge enough to get there.

 

[climateguy]

Must be the mix of Canadian air and US air causing problems there. Is the one 70 miles away Bickford in Snohomish? They are the best, they have done me right (although I have not had any battery problems) and seem to have a good BEV staff.

I've moved to Sequim. Other dealers fairly nearby are in Port Orchard, and Bremerton.

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