Charging Issues During/After Fast Charge Visits? * 2026 UPDATE*

[EarthLinds]

*July 2026 Update!*

After three more trips to the dealership, three very vague repairs (said they were replacing a battery pack but service paperwork said they only replaced some kind of controller that cost a couple hundred bucks... real weird), and two full on strandings, I dropped my truck off at the dealership and told them they have one more chance to fix it or we're doing something else. The truck had 21,000 miles on it by this point and this was the SEVENTH time it had been in. We had also bought and installed brand new home chargers just in case. They ended up replacing the charging actuator. And GUESS WHAT?

It seems to have worked! I have had this truck 2 years and this is the first time it is actually charging correctly. I'm knocking on wood because I'm only halfway through my trip, but I made it all the way to Colorado Springs from San Antonio and it charged flawlessly at every stop, minus a temperature related charging issue, but I blame Plainview,TX sun and heat on that one. I put a foam camping pad over it to shield the sun and it worked fine after that.

I admit that I was probably too nice to the dealership so some of this is my fault. I'm not super familiar with the workings of an EV and trusted them probably too much. When I finally got fed up and walked in, put my keys on the counter and said "Fix it this week or we will be having a different conversation", magically it got fixed. So weird...

Anyway! Now that she's charging correctly, she is AMAZING. Thanks to everyone who offered advice and suggestions!

--------------------

Sorry for the wall of text, but wanted to provide as much info as I can so hopefully someone can help! I am having some really unfortunate charging issues with my 2024 Lightning (8k miles) and am hoping for guidance.

For the first few months I owned it, it worked great around town and on my home chargers. My first road trip, I hit the first charger and it flashed the red ring and refused to charge. Thankfully, I stopped early because I wanted to test out the charging. Cancelled the trip, took the truck home, and it red ringed every single time after. Took it to the dealer and they installed an update. Which allowed me to charge at home well enough. Took it to a Buccee's supercharger and... red ring plus no charge. So I took it back, and they replaced the port. Charged at home perfectly. I tested it at a supercharger and it worked great. Returned home, and it would turn red so I'd have to press the unlock button each time. But I figured, whatever; it's charging at the superchargers and eventually chargers at home, so no biggie. I took it to a level 3 charger after getting about 4 hours from home, and it threw a fault "Service truck soon" error. Even after the error stopped flashing, it refused to charge. I had to rent a hotel to let it charge on a local Ford dealer's slow charger all day and overnight to get enough juice to make it back home. So I took it back to service and they installed an update. It worked great at home for the last week. Today, I stopped at Buccee's to test it before I have to drive to Colorado in a couple of weeks, and it worked great. Success! Brought it home... red ring and now I have to press the unlock button again to initiate charging every. Single. Time.

I am iniatiating and stopping charging either through the app or the truck screen and ensuring the charging station I am using is compatible. This is also not my first EV, so I'm not new to all this. I have both the Ford adapter and the A2Z adapter; it doesn't matter which we use. My husband has the same year, make and model (just a different color) and has no issues, so we know it's not our chargers at home, and I watched another lightning pull into the exact stall I pulled out of at Buccee's and charge perfectly fine, so it's not that charger either. It is 100% my truck, but the service center can't seem to pinpoint the issue.

I am so frustrated. Tomorrow will be the fourth time it's been in for this, and I am 3 for 3 in cancelled trips. Do any of you have experience with this and can give me some suggestions so I can point the service center in the right direction when I take it any? I love this truck (it's my first truck AND my first Ford!), but not being able to charge correctly at level 3 chargers - or being able to charge once and then getting repeated fault errors - is insane.

Thankful for any suggestions you all may have! ^_^

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[Heliian]

The should be able to see any stored codes and go from there.

The unlocking thing is weird.

 

[hturnerfamily]

since your garage has another 'exact' same model, and has success, as expected, YOUR truck then sounds like it has an issue with the port - the charge port 'connection' to the converter(AC charging) or to the battery(DC Fast charging)...

there is a connection confirmation that occurs whenever you plug in a J1772 or CCS or NACS Adapter to the vehicle, otherwise a 'red ring' appears: an alert that means "you may not charge since something is not correct" ...

as with many electrical and electronic connections, you may find success one time, and not another, or success with J1772, and not with CCS, etc. A loose connection seems likely.

The Charge Port and/or it's electrical CONNECTIONS seem to be the issue.

 

[Adventureboy]

The unlock button is intended to STOP charging and release the CCS lock so you can safely remove the charge cable. If your truck STARTS charging AFTER you press this button, this is an important piece of information for the dealer as it is certainly not working as intended.

The charge port CCS lock should engage when you plug in the CCS cable. You will hear the little lock motor engage the lock - you should not be able to pull the CCS cable out at that point. You should also hear the lock motor disengage the lock when you press the unlock button. Only then should you be able to remove the CCS cable.

 

[jimfigler]

The unlock button is intended to STOP charging and release the CCS lock so you can safely remove the charge cable. If your truck STARTS charging AFTER you press this button, this is an important piece of information for the dealer as it is certainly not working as intended.

The charge port CCS lock should engage when you plug in the CCS cable. You will hear the little lock motor engage the lock - you should not be able to pull the CCS cable out at that point. You should also hear the lock motor disengage the lock when you press the unlock button. Only then should you be able to remove the CCS cable.

off topic but If you stop the charge either via the app like on Tesla or the charger screen like on EA is it still necessary to press the release button? I have always just stopped the charge like I mentioned and then removed the cable and never hit that center button.

 

[Adventureboy]

off topic but If you stop the charge either via the app like on Tesla or the charger screen like on EA is it still necessary to press the release button? I have always just stopped the charge like I mentioned and then removed the cable and never hit that center button.

Stopping the DCFC charging session should always release the lock pin, regardless of how you terminate the charging session. The app, button on the truck or button on the charger will all terminate the charge session and release the lock pin on a properly working system.

The opposite is true. The DCFC Charge session will not start if the lock pin is not engaged. If the lock doesn't operate properly (pressure on the cable, damaged lock pin or damaged charge gun) the truck will give you the red ring.

 

[EarthLinds]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I super appreciate it.

I took her in this morning and they decided it may be something wrong with the Ford branded adapter. While both trucks use the same adapters, mine may just be more sensitive to whatever is going on with that particular adapter. They think it messed something up which caused issues charging regardless of what adapter I was using. They reset all the error codes and sent me home with a new Ford brand adapter. I was able to charge on 2 different superchargers and at home just fine so far! Fingers crossed for my Colorado trip in a couple weeks ?

 

[Adventureboy]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I super appreciate it.

I took her in this morning and they decided it may be something wrong with the Ford branded adapter. While both trucks use the same adapters, mine may just be more sensitive to whatever is going on with that particular adapter. They think it messed something up which caused issues charging regardless of what adapter I was using. They reset all the error codes and sent me home with a new Ford brand adapter. I was able to charge on 2 different superchargers and at home just fine so far! Fingers crossed for my Colorado trip in a couple weeks ?

Hope it works well for you. Curious, was the defective adapter the short stubby Tesla-manufactured unit or the longer Lectron-manufactured unit?

 

[jjupi91897]

Sorry for the wall of text, but wanted to provide as much info as I can so hopefully someone can help! I am having some really unfortunate charging issues with my 2024 Lightning (8k miles) and am hoping for guidance.

For the first few months I owned it, it worked great around town and on my home chargers. My first road trip, I hit the first charger and it flashed the red ring and refused to charge. Thankfully, I stopped early because I wanted to test out the charging. Cancelled the trip, took the truck home, and it red ringed every single time after. Took it to the dealer and they installed an update. Which allowed me to charge at home well enough. Took it to a Buccee's supercharger and... red ring plus no charge. So I took it back, and they replaced the port. Charged at home perfectly. I tested it at a supercharger and it worked great. Returned home, and it would turn red so I'd have to press the unlock button each time. But I figured, whatever; it's charging at the superchargers and eventually chargers at home, so no biggie. I took it to a level 3 charger after getting about 4 hours from home, and it threw a fault "Service truck soon" error. Even after the error stopped flashing, it refused to charge. I had to rent a hotel to let it charge on a local Ford dealer's slow charger all day and overnight to get enough juice to make it back home. So I took it back to service and they installed an update. It worked great at home for the last week. Today, I stopped at Buccee's to test it before I have to drive to Colorado in a couple of weeks, and it worked great. Success! Brought it home... red ring and now I have to press the unlock button again to initiate charging every. Single. Time.

I am iniatiating and stopping charging either through the app or the truck screen and ensuring the charging station I am using is compatible. This is also not my first EV, so I'm not new to all this. I have both the Ford adapter and the A2Z adapter; it doesn't matter which we use. My husband has the same year, make and model (just a different color) and has no issues, so we know it's not our chargers at home, and I watched another lightning pull into the exact stall I pulled out of at Buccee's and charge perfectly fine, so it's not that charger either. It is 100% my truck, but the service center can't seem to pinpoint the issue.

I am so frustrated. Tomorrow will be the fourth time it's been in for this, and I am 3 for 3 in cancelled trips. Do any of you have experience with this and can give me some suggestions so I can point the service center in the right direction when I take it any? I love this truck (it's my first truck AND my first Ford!), but not being able to charge correctly at level 3 chargers - or being able to charge once and then getting repeated fault errors - is insane.

Thankful for any suggestions you all may have! ^_^

You may want to try taking it to a different dealership. All dealerships are not equally qualified.

 

[EarthLinds]

Hope it works well for you. Curious, was the defective adapter the short stubby Tesla-manufactured unit or the longer Lectron-manufactured unit?

It was the Lectron one.

 

[Randy F]

I am in the middle of a trip and have had issues with the DC charge port lock. Thought I might have to cancel the trip but have successfully been able to use the manual reset process in the owner's manual which then allows me to use the charger which caused the fault. Nothing seems consistent whether it's the type of charging station or the sequence of events. Sometimes it charges fine and sometimes it causes a fault but if a fault is caused, every time I'm able to do the reset process and then successfully charge afterwards. This is regardless of the charger type. Hopefully this helps somebody else out of a jam. Here is the picture of the part of the manual explaining the reset process.

 

[K6CCC]

One of the things I will mention here when using a NACS > CCS-1 adapter. Some people have reported that they must connect the adapter to the NACS cable and then plug it into the truck and some report exactly the opposite. From my own experience with my A2Z adapter, the first time I used it, I plugged the adapter onto the cable and then connected to the truck and got the red ring failure. Unplugged everything and tried again, but this time I plugged the adapter into the truck and then plugged the NACS cable into the adapter. Worked perfectly. Ever since I have always plugged my adapter into the truck and then plugged the NACS cable into the adapter. Not a large same size as I have used Tesla SuperChargers a total of 14 times, but that's what worked for me.

 

[EarthLinds]

After another trip, it failed to charge again. We replaced both our home chargers thinking it was because they were older. It worked fine for a bit and then threw a fault. I took it BACK to dealership, and they ran diagnostics and decided it was the charging module. They replaced it. It seemed to work okay. Took it to Houston and it charged fine the whole way, and then on the way home it threw a fault and wouldn't charge without a LOT of difficulty.

Not sure why it's so finicky. It's kind of frustrating. My husband's truck works flawlessly and mine is a pile of frustration. I'll try the other suggestions offered here.

 

[Adventureboy]

This is frustrating for you. They have replaced the port, and the problem persists on both DCFC and L2 charging at home?
If so, it sounds like a communications issue. I had similar problems about a year into my ownership, but only with L2 charging. They replaced the charge port first, then ended up replacing the onboard charger. It would work sometimes, and when it didn't work after a few tries, I would have to do a 12V reset to get it to work again ( I wish I'd read the manual and knew about @Randy F reset process). It got progressively worse until it wouldn't charge anymore on L2. I had to wait for a few weeks for the parts to arrive and was able to DCFC during that time. They replaced the on-board charger, and it has been working perfectly ever since.

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