Ongoing Never Ending DEAD BATTERY / DRAINED issue FORD CAN'T or WON'T FIX!!!!

[Mark1]

Do you think Ford will ever fix the problem of the 12v battery draw until dead while sitting. There are multiple SSM's and now a Recall, reference number 24S24. this only covers 22 and 23 Mavericks and also Broncos. What about 24 and up to Feb 25 mavericks! The big blue oval keeps promising a fix while many buyers like myself deal with a never ending drain and battery replacements until you have to replace your own when your warranty ends. Or leave it to member Forums to squabble over their ideas of a fix and or oh well it's ok, I'll be it's personal charger and maintainer.

Now they have a new problem with a Recall of 850,000 vehicles with fuel pump problems. Of course they don't have an answer to that problem either! LMAO! So maybe all these other recalls are delaying them fixing the little battery problem. 11 total back up camera recalls. More recalls in this first half of 2025, than any other auto maker has ever had in a year. Profit before Quality and research. High prices with Zero return. Tariffs hell they need to be fined. How can the Ford devotes keep making excuses and saying everyone has recalls. Sure they do but this is ridiculous. At some point this hopefully will affect sales. Its the only way they will wake up. Stop selling automobiles and go into another business like making Band-Aids or duct tape.

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[HeyBales]

I've not seen excessive battery drain while sitting.

While my scan reading shows it about half the time over the expected 50 mA, the other half of the time it's abouts 30 mA or below.
And while that reading during sleep could take upwards of 75 min for everything to finally sleep, I've had many 15-20 min short stops where it did get into sleep mode in that short time span.

What I have seen though is a system even with it's own readings, will not increase the charging amps for any decent amount of time.
In this picture:
System knew the 11.7 V resting after all night.
System knew the 48% SOC was 46% before startup.
System knew it has logged only 30 Ah's of charging, while there's been 32 Ah's of discharging, since I did a BS reset 261 days ago (wish I hadn't, it only reset stored figures)
And yet the system in a 15 min drive is ending with a charging rate of only 1 A.
That would be fine for a float charge - if it was anywhere near a float level of Volts.
I think this is more along the lines of what most are seeing if they are having an issue.
Some extremes have no issue with OEM battery 3 yrs later still, some have parasitic draw kill it within days (did SSM really fix all those).

That early SSM for EB's and AS/S that eventually ended in problem battery run made in China, shows their BMS system wasn't doing a good job of catching it.
Perhaps that's why all the poor figures on battery stats they do have, causes no extra charging to be done - they aren't actually using them!

 

[heady]

You can equalize your AGM battery, as recommended by some AGM manufacturers, but the rate that current can be accepted into the battery at the absorption voltage of ~14.4V is really set by the condition of the battery, more so than the DC-DC converter. In order to push more current, it has to go higher on voltage, and they seem to program it not to in most cases. Going higher than absorption up to equalize voltages should be undertaken infrequently on most batteries, as it's also rough on them too and more heat is generated, but sometimes it's the only way to bust up tough sulfation that's building up from being undercharged and overdischarged over time. The more the battery condition degrades, the less current it will accept at the same state of charge and charge voltage, until you (well Ford) eventually kill it through the abuse.

To equalize, you need a charger that supports it - at equalization voltages if you aren't using a current limiting charger you can push the battery into thermal runaway, and then, kablooey.

 

[Waterick]

I'm beginning to think that this BMS problem, that is wider than just Ford's (so I hear) may end up being solved by the aftermarket. It may come at the expense of a slight increase in fuel expense on top of its cost. I imagine most people would welcome it, however. I don't see the OEMs correcting it unless it's cheaper than the CAFE penalties they're saving and the batteries they're replacing under warranty. Just my thoughts.....

 

[inline_five]

A lot of newer cars are having this same issue. Toyota, Kia, etc. Due to various issues. On ours, I think it's a lack of charging that Ford has instituted to increase MPGs. Some may have bad AT&T reception, which also may cause the modem to use higher power as it searches, and drain the 12v faster.

There are really only two long term solutions for most:

1. Charge/maintain overnight the 12v via a battery tender every weekend or so.
2. Add a 12v 20-30w solar battery tender somewhere on the vehicle to charge the battery while the vehicle sits outside. I've used this successfully with my airport car for decades, along with cheap Wal-Mart lead acid batteries.
3. If you live in an area of bad AT&T coverage, you can pull the fuse for the modem. For those with good coverage, this will have little to no effect on battery life.

Getting an AGM battery won't help long term, it will just prolong time you have a useful battery because the lack of charging will still effect it.

I notice if I drive for extended periods my 12v battery is perfectly maintained, but if I do a lot of shorter sub 20-30 min drives it will slowly lose full charge state.

 

[Mark1]

My last battery replaced by Ford is a flooded 470 CCA instead of the original 390. It seems to be holding up better. No shut downs of any kind or sleep mode yet. So far it's outlasted the other original and replacement that failed in about 6 months. Still carry a jump pack. With a dead 12v truck won't start.

 

[colinl]

On ours, I think it's a lack of charging that Ford has instituted to increase MPGs.

100% agreed. this is a pursuit of mpg much more so than a pursuit of battery life. ALL modern Fords do this, not just the hybrids. but the hybrids are the worst because of how this preference for mpg affects a 12V battery that is very obviously undercharged.

if the 12V is low it has to run the ICE to indirectly charge the 12V, unless you're just going downhill keeping the HV charged for free. running the ICE more costs mpg and I am super confident that people would bitch about it... because I've seen far too many hybrid short-trip pics either exhalting 50+ mpg or whining about <30 MPG.

anyway, the solution is obvious. Ford's BMS sucks in general, but especially on the Maverick hybrid. run the damn engine more and maintain a higher state of charge. deep sleep would not go away but it would be dramatically reduced.

 

[Mark1]

Raising the charge rate slightly may help. They need to make an effort and try something. We used to have a saying to give apprentices a bad time and get a laugh. It was, "Don't just stand there. Do something, even if it's wrong!!

With all of Ford's quality issues the last couple of years, it's time to do something! Anything. What about free life time batteries.

 

[heady]

In this application, the problem would be solved by using a lithium chemistry instead of a lead chemistry battery, especially in the case of the hybrid where high starter current is never experienced. Lithium or even most other chemistries like nickel metal hydride are far better at sitting around at low states of charge being slowly discharged by idle drain current, and sitting around at partial charge is actually preferable for calendar life for those types of batteries.. Lead is used because it is mass produced and cheap, but it is simply a bad choice for this use case.

 

[Builder]

100% agreed. this is a pursuit of mpg much more so than a pursuit of battery life. ALL modern Fords do this, not just the hybrids. but the hybrids are the worst because of how this preference for mpg affects a 12V battery that is very obviously undercharged.

if the 12V is low it has to run the ICE to indirectly charge the 12V, unless you're just going downhill keeping the HV charged for free. running the ICE more costs mpg and I am super confident that people would bitch about it... because I've seen far too many hybrid short-trip pics either exhalting 50+ mpg or whining about <30 MPG.

anyway, the solution is obvious. Ford's BMS sucks in general, but especially on the Maverick hybrid. run the damn engine more and maintain a higher state of charge. deep sleep would not go away but it would be dramatically reduced.

If you have access to the charging amp PID for the 12v battery, you’ll see the poor charging rate for the battery as you drive. It quickly falls of to 0-2 amps once you get to 60+ SOC. I’ve never been able to get the SOC beyond 74% by driving and even then it took a 4+ hour drive to get it to that point. I installed an AGM. The charging algorithm sucks!!!

 

[HeyBales]

If you have access to the charging amp PID for the 12v battery, you’ll see the poor charging rate for the battery as you drive. It quickly falls of to 0-2 amps once you get to 60+ SOC. I’ve never been able to get the SOC beyond 74% by driving and even then it took a 4+ hour drive to get it to that point. I installed an AGM. The charging algorithm sucks!!!

WHAT!!!
How are you getting that high of SOC%?

Is that on the AGM battery, or prior FLA?
I guess mine is about to die, system not willing to go above 50% by much now, hence the drop to 0-2 A within short time of driving.
Wondering if resistance is part of battery sensor measurement and it knows it's getting worse. Or perhaps just the plain high temps currently.

 

[boxster03]

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - its a Mav - -mexico cartel payback

 

[Builder]

WHAT!!!
How are you getting that high of SOC%?

Is that on the AGM battery, or prior FLA?
I guess mine is about to die, system not willing to go above 50% by much now, hence the drop to 0-2 A within short time of driving.
Wondering if resistance is part of battery sensor measurement and it knows it's getting worse. Or perhaps just the plain high temps currently.

I’ve gotten that SOC on the Delco AGM. It’s very difficult to get to 70% and I can only get there during the summer. Colder weather is completely different. I’ve been as low as 35% in the winter. Never a starting issue but I obviously lose dome lights.

 

[maggie06]

Do you think Ford will ever fix the problem of the 12v battery draw until dead while sitting. There are multiple SSM's and now a Recall, reference number 24S24. this only covers 22 and 23 Mavericks and also Broncos. What about 24 and up to Feb 25 mavericks! The big blue oval keeps promising a fix while many buyers like myself deal with a never ending drain and battery replacements until you have to replace your own when your warranty ends. Or leave it to member Forums to squabble over their ideas of a fix and or oh well it's ok, I'll be it's personal charger and maintainer.

Now they have a new problem with a Recall of 850,000 vehicles with fuel pump problems. Of course they don't have an answer to that problem either! LMAO! So maybe all these other recalls are delaying them fixing the little battery problem. 11 total back up camera recalls. More recalls in this first half of 2025, than any other auto maker has ever had in a year. Profit before Quality and research. High prices with Zero return. Tariffs hell they need to be fined. How can the Ford devotes keep making excuses and saying everyone has recalls. Sure they do but this is ridiculous. At some point this hopefully will affect sales. Its the only way they will wake up. Stop selling automobiles and go into another business like making Band-Aids or duct tape.

It won't stick

 

[inline_five]

What if you plugged in a battery charger and wired it direct to the battery lol. Just added it to the center console plug and ran the wires into the 12v compartment.

Use Forscan to shut off the plugs right after power down instead of keeping them alive for 5-10 minutes after shutdown.

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