Battery light on the dash is on, truck won't start

[twodogsdennis]

Hello All,
I had the pull over and stop warning show up and once I was parked the battery light on the dash came on for my '23 Pro, but it won't restart. Exactly as shown in this thread: (15) Red battery warning light? | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community

It was hooked up to the 240 charger before unplugging and driving into town. It's been single digits and teens for several days and the truck recommended I plug in, which I haven't done before but did this time.

I tried to jump using the frunk passenger posts and the truck still wouldn't start. I pulled the 12volt battery and it reads 12.9, plus the trickle charger gives a green light and indicates the battery is good. The truck is parked in a lot about five miles from home, so I'd like to get it home and then call the dealer tomorrow which is Monday. Temps are high teens and going lower tonight but weather is improving tomorrow.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

Sponsored

 

[twodogsdennis]

Hello All,
I had the pull over and stop warning show up and once I was parked the battery light on the dash came on for my '23 Pro, but it won't restart. Exactly as shown in this thread: (15) Red battery warning light? | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community



Any suggestions?
Thanks

The ap is now telling me about a High-Voltage Battery Warning. Since the vehicle turned off when I place it in P, it looks like I have to call for another tow. I've had more tows related to my EV's in the last year than I've had in 13 years when the Dakota had issues. My AAA membership may be getting some use.

 

[Maquis]

The ap is now telling me about a High-Voltage Battery Warning. Since the vehicle turned off when I place it in P, it looks like I have to call for another tow. I've had more tows related to my EV's in the last year than I've had in 13 years when the Dakota had issues. My AAA membership is getting some use.

Are you over 60K? If not, your Ford roadside service will cover towing.

 

[twodogsdennis]

Are you over 60K? If not, your Ford roadside service will cover towing.

Mileage is just short of 17k, and I bought the extended warranty while it was on sale at the time of purchase so my hope is that Maroone Ford in Longmont CO will take care of the whole issue. They've been good to work with thus far and as many of us have experienced, it's Ford that may often be the weak link in the system. BTW, I obviously don't put a lot of mileage on my vehicles, which is evenly split town/highway.

 

[Maquis]

Mileage is just short of 17k, and I bought the extended warranty while it was on sale at the time of purchase so my hope is that Maroone Ford in Longmont CO will take care of the whole issue. They've been good to work with thus far and as many of us have experienced, it's Ford that may often be the weak link in the system. BTW, I obviously don't put a lot of mileage on my vehicles, which is evenly split town/highway.

My point being, you may want to use Ford towing vs AAA. I knew a person with a Renault that got cancelled by AAA for too many calls!

 

[twodogsdennis]

My point being, you may want to use Ford towing vs AAA. I knew a person with a Renault that got cancelled by AAA for too many calls!

Yes, thank you and I could have been more clear. AAA would have been my backup if Ford RSA had problems, and they did, but I was practicing patience, haha. After filtering through four people at Ford, and each one saying she would connect me with an actual RSA agent, I did speak to an agent who could schedule a tow. Finally, 8 hours and three tow companies saying they were 25-60 minutes away, a truck finally showed up. Once the dealership gets back to me about the problem, I'll update this post.

 

[twodogsdennis]

One day to diagnose the problem and two days for Ford to do the warranty paperwork. It was the 12v battery after all, but the dealer needed one of their $20K testers to force the battery to fail.

 

[twodogsdennis]

Well, one month and one day since the first warranty issue and the dreaded red light and warning message to pull over appeared again. This time, as I drove to a local ski area. Two calls to the over road assistance and I have a tow truck coming. Obviously the problem is not just a bad 12 volt battery since it was replaced 31 days ago. I'll update this post as information becomes available. For now, I'm just using this thread to reduce my frustration.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Well, one month and one day since the first warranty issue and the dreaded red light and warning message to pull over appeared again. This time, as I drove to a local ski area. Two calls to the over road assistance and I have a tow truck coming. Obviously the problem is not just a bad 12 volt battery since it was replaced 31 days ago. I'll update this post as information becomes available. For now, I'm just using this thread to reduce my frustration.

This is less than ideal... Message me your VIN, and I'll flag with engineering to help the dealer get this looked after as quickly as we can.

 

[twodogsdennis]

This is less than ideal... Message me your VIN, and I'll flag with engineering to help the dealer get this looked after as quickly as we can.

Brian, Thanks so much for reaching out and for letting me know that you received my direct message. Let's hope that the problem can be resolved.
d

 

[RLXXI]

Well, one month and one day since the first warranty issue and the dreaded red light and warning message to pull over appeared again. This time, as I drove to a local ski area. Two calls to the over road assistance and I have a tow truck coming. Obviously the problem is not just a bad 12 volt battery since it was replaced 31 days ago. I'll update this post as information becomes available. For now, I'm just using this thread to reduce my frustration.

Wouldn't surprise me if you got another defective 12v battery, it happens more often than you can imagine. 9 months after I bought my other truck new it died. Put another one in and it died about 18 months later, it's crazy but batteries are a crap shoot.

In my line of work I see it all the time.

 

[twodogsdennis]

Update after a week in the shop, there is still a High Voltage Battery warning so the tech isn't buying the bad 12v battery issue this time. He knows there is a drain but hasn't been able to establish exactly where and why the energy drain is at the moment.

The tech has been driving it daily in the hope of getting the truck to fail again and being able to immediately trace the issue.

The plan moving forward is to open a channel to Ford Engineering on Monday (I forget the code name).

I told them about Brian from this forum asking for and passing along the vin number to his engineering team so perhaps everyone can link up.

I'm not an engineer, either hardware or software but it wouldn't surprise me that there is a software bug somewhere that is at the root of the problem since this has probably been going on since Christmas.

failure of 25.8.5 to upload multiple times may prove to help locate the problem.

 

[twodogsdennis]

My 23 Pro has been in the shop for 12 days now after a second tow when the 12v died and truck gave me the stop now warning. The tech knows there is a 12v drain and high voltage failure, and has been trying to replicate the failure but can't yet trace where the fault originates so he's contacted the Ford technical escalation team. Meanwhile the truck is getting a daily workout, accruing a lot of miles and charging to 100%. As I said in a recent post, and while I'm not a software or hardware engineer, this could well be a software problem. Anyone remember scratching their head over an old Fortran If Then Else End error?

 

[twodogsdennis]

I promised an update:
Well, it was two days short of four weeks in the shop and my '23 Pro is back home. The tech and his partner put ~ 1,000 miles on the truck in order to find the problem and then make sure they got rid of the culprit. Chris and DJ, each drive 100 miles round trip to work and was able to trace a bad PTC high voltage heater unit when the truck died in Chris' driveway. Since Brian, from this forum, and Brett, my contact at Maroone Ford in Longmont CO, had been in contact with a Ford engineer team, the part was shipped over-night. Because the old trouble codes can't be erased, there was some digging that had to be done to make sure that it was just the PTC that was bad and that they had indeed been able to replicate the problem.

When the Ford Pass app updated for me late last fall and perhaps because I am enrolled in the Energy Rewards program, the app required that I have a departure time installed. While I'm neither a hardware or software engineer, my research now and prior experience with a piece of code suggested to me that having a departure time set even though the truck wasn't driven for several days, may have also played a hand in the PTC failure. The app has gone through at least one update in the last couple of months so that now a departure time isn't necessary. Just like the comfort controls that I've had for nearly a year, but unfortunately came after the defroster running at high speed on hot temp did crack the windshield, I wonder if Ford discovered and changed the mandatory departure? Who knows, either way I'm glad the truck is home, but I'm not taking it out of phone or Wifi range until I can trust the voltage problems have been cured.

 

[mr.Magoo]

When the Ford Pass app updated for me late last fall and perhaps because I am enrolled in the Energy Rewards program, the app required that I have a departure time installed.

While your program might have different requirements, we (Michigan DTE) have not been forced to enter a departure time, in fact I don't even control charging times through the truck at all.

Sponsored