Lightning Errors Caused Truck to Not Start

[mitchskis]

I had a really strange error occur yesterday with my Lightning and was curious if anyone else has run into this.

Prior to leaving work yesterday, I started my truck using the FordPass app about 10-15 minutes ahead of time to pre-condition, which is what I do every day. When I got in the truck and tried to start it, a whole cluster of error messages and pings started going off and the truck would not start. "Stop safely now", "Service AdvanceTrac" & Pre-Collision Assist not available" all flashed on the screen while the truck wasn't moving. The truck would only go into accessory mode.

I turned it off and tried to start the truck again 2-3 more times with the same issue and was convinced I was going to have to call the dealership and get it towed. Fortunately, on my last attempt, the truck started, and no errors or pings.

I took a video and recorded the errors because I thought I was going to need to send it to the dealership when they tried to troubleshoot the issue. I provided some screenshots below of the errors that popped up consecutively one after another until eventually, the truck started.

Because I use PAAK exclusively, this is one of my biggest fears as an EV owner; getting stranded and not being able to do anything about it. I was fortunate in the fact that if the truck wouldn't start at least I was at work and close to home, it would have been a pain and very annoying, but ultimately manageable to get fixed and on my way since I'm close to my local dealership. But if I were traveling long distances, camping, visiting distant relatives, etc. it could've been a whole lot worse.

I know there's always a chance of running into issues, even with ICE vehicles those things can happen, but given the Lightning and EVs are somewhat new to Ford I don't think it's as straightforward how to troubleshoot yourself and the dealerships are seeing these types of issues for the first time as well which makes it difficult for them to diagnose as fast as they'd be able to an ICE vehicle. I love all the tech that these vehicles offer and are obviously a huge selling point, but I do think it can be a bit of a double edge sword when it comes to the higher probability of a small glitch related to the tech could potentially leave you stranded.

Wanted to share to see if anyone else has any idea of what happened and also to help others who might run into this issue in the future.

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[The Weatherman]

Any chance the truck was in the middle of an OTA?

If you have the keypad entry and have it programmed and have setup your start password on the Sync system, you should never be stranded by not having your FOB.

 

[mitchskis]

It wasn't. I have my OTA's scheduled to take place overnight.

 

[JL13]

Sounds like marginal voltage on the 12 volts battery.....
On my wife's Toyota Highlander hybrid when the 12 volts battery is starting to get weak all sorts of alarms start to show up on the dash like traction control issues, braking and airbag alarm issues; and when the voltage gets around 10.7 volts the entire dash lights up with all the possible alarms...

Temporary solution not to get stranded buy one of the these TYPE S Portable Jump Starter & Power Bank with Emergency Multimode Floodlight to allow a normal start of all the onboard computers and then the internal DC-DC converter for the 12 volts will take over charging the 12 volts battery ( booster pack can be then disconnected); this should allow you to drive home with no issue.
If the 12 volts battery doesn't hold the charge you will have to get a replacement for it.
Hope that this can be of some help.

 

[mitchskis]

Sounds like marginal voltage on the 12 volts battery.....
On my wife's Toyota Highlander hybrid when the 12 volts battery is starting to get weak all sorts of alarms start to show up on the dash like traction control issues, braking and airbag alarm issues; and when the voltage gets around 10.7 volts the entire dash lights up with all the possible alarms...

Temporary solution not to get stranded buy one of the these TYPE S Portable Jump Starter & Power Bank with Emergency Multimode Floodlight to allow a normal start of all the onboard computers and then the internal DC-DC converter for the 12 volts will take over charging the 12 volts battery ( booster pack can be then disconnected); this should allow you to drive home with no issue.
If the 12 volts battery doesn't hold the charge you will have to get a replacement for it.
Hope that this can be of some help.

Thanks for the heads up. Lately, I've noticed a lot of issues related to the 12v battery; especially as it relates to the OTA updates and people not being able to get them installed because of the SOC of the 12v...

 

[TaxmanHog]

It wasn't. I have my OTA's scheduled to take place overnight.

That only suppresses the heavy duty OTA's where extended down time is anticipated.

I've gotten less critical updates middle of the day most often within 10 minutes of completing a morning or mid afternoon drive. I even had one post right after finishing a DCFC session in the middle of the afternoon and that one had some weirdness going on for a couple of days, the issues went away without any special intervention, hopefully your having a similar experience and will follow with a similar outcome.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I had a 'similar' issue yesterday:

In the morning, I noticed that the FordPass app showed a message: "Extend your truck's Remote Start by 15 Minutes?" or similar message at the top of the screen, with a little 'arrow' next to it.

Hmmmm... I had NOT remote started my truck.

Hmmmm.... I thought the message would go away on it's own...strange... but, it did not. The truck was NOT on. The truck had NOT been remotely started, at least not THAT day.

I took a chance to see what would happen when I pressed the little 'arrow'... it REMOTELY STARTED the truck, right away! What????


That is very strange. While I do remote start the truck on some occassions, and maybe I had the previous day, it certainly was not recently where the app would want to give me an option to 'continue' or 'extend' the remotely started truck. Why the message showed on the app a full 18 hours from when I had last driven the truck is beyond me.

 

[Lytning]

That only suppresses the heavy duty OTA's where extended down time is anticipated.

I've gotten less critical updates middle of the day most often within 10 minutes of completing a morning or mid afternoon drive. I even had one post right after finishing a DCFC session in the middle of the afternoon and that one had some weirdness going on for a couple of days, the issues went away without any special intervention, hopefully your having a similar experience and will follow with a similar outcome.

As mentioned elsewhere I have received 3 updates while inside a Total Wine store for about 10 minutes. All were outside of specified update hours. On 2 occasions the Ford Sync Navigation system was wonky ... showing me in a different location, and the map spinning around in circles ... for several minutes while first driving after the updates.

 

[Ayrshireman]

I had a really strange error occur yesterday with my Lightning and was curious if anyone else has run into this.

Prior to leaving work yesterday, I started my truck using the FordPass app about 10-15 minutes ahead of time to pre-condition, which is what I do every day. When I got in the truck and tried to start it, a whole cluster of error messages and pings started going off and the truck would not start. "Stop safely now", "Service AdvanceTrac" & Pre-Collision Assist not available" all flashed on the screen while the truck wasn't moving. The truck would only go into accessory mode.

I turned it off and tried to start the truck again 2-3 more times with the same issue and was convinced I was going to have to call the dealership and get it towed. Fortunately, on my last attempt, the truck started, and no errors or pings.

I took a video and recorded the errors because I thought I was going to need to send it to the dealership when they tried to troubleshoot the issue. I provided some screenshots below of the errors that popped up consecutively one after another until eventually, the truck started.

Because I use PAAK exclusively, this is one of my biggest fears as an EV owner; getting stranded and not being able to do anything about it. I was fortunate in the fact that if the truck wouldn't start at least I was at work and close to home, it would have been a pain and very annoying, but ultimately manageable to get fixed and on my way since I'm close to my local dealership. But if I were traveling long distances, camping, visiting distant relatives, etc. it could've been a whole lot worse.

I know there's always a chance of running into issues, even with ICE vehicles those things can happen, but given the Lightning and EVs are somewhat new to Ford I don't think it's as straightforward how to troubleshoot yourself and the dealerships are seeing these types of issues for the first time as well which makes it difficult for them to diagnose as fast as they'd be able to an ICE vehicle. I love all the tech that these vehicles offer and are obviously a huge selling point, but I do think it can be a bit of a double edge sword when it comes to the higher probability of a small glitch related to the tech could potentially leave you stranded.

Wanted to share to see if anyone else has any idea of what happened and also to help others who might run into this issue in the future.

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My truck won’t start. I had the same multiple dash warnings and audio alerts on my truck this am. Dealer told me to try remote start on ford app. 4 times all failed. Sent video of alerts to local dealer and they have not seen this issue. Said to schedule service for next week and will have to flat bed truck to them. Weekend without my truck is unacceptable given it’s a lariat with 11k miles on it!!

 

[leebdot]

I had a similar experience, last September, same multiple dash warnings, would not drive. I turned the car off, left it for a day, next day it was fine. This was after a long road trip where the battery got down to 10% (first time ever for that). Talking to the dealer (after it started again), they indicated to make an appointment, I needed recall stuff done anyway. Then, in early November, a few weeks before my scheduled appointment, it happened again... and the car has been dead to this day. At least I was lucky enough to have it fail at home. I had it towed to the dealer (I had to help arrange the tow, as Ford Roadside was unable to find a towing service for me until I made some calls for them), it has been at the dealer since, and they cannot even connect to the PCM to clear the codes (they said it threw 140 codes). They are waiting to hear from Ford how to proceed. 25 days without a truck, no diagnosis yet, no loaners available, no help on rental cars. I love the truck when it runs, but this is so far the worst vehicle experience I've had in 45 years.

 

[TaxmanHog]

They are waiting to hear from Ford how to proceed. 25 days without a truck, no diagnosis yet, no loaners available, no help on rental cars. I love the truck when it runs, but this is so far the worst vehicle experience I've had in 45 years.

@Ford Motor Company , Lee could use some assistance !

 

[eRock77]

Odd that with 98kWh sitting at 400V within two feet of that low voltage battery somehow we can't manage to come up with a couple of amps at 12 measly volts. Seriously, is it so difficult to have some kind of a step down transformer?

 

[Vitornis]

DId you ever figure out problem? I've just had a similar problem. Can't get my truck to start.

 

[leebdot]

Turned out to be rodent damage for mine. A few wires were chewed through. Took the dealer 3 months to figure it out, the fix was a few hours, no parts. Hope you have a better experience than I did with your dealer! Truck works fine now, fortunately, so I'm enjoying it again. I do wish that a vehicle that is destined to spend a lot of time outside was designed to be more outside-proof.

 

[Vitornis]

DId you ever figure out problem? I've just had a similar problem. Can't get my truck to start.

Well I hooked up my battery charger to the truck and everything came on like it should. SO it definitely a problem with the 12v battery.

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