Newest Ford special service message on Hybrid 12v Volt Battery Drain Problem

[Packer Bill]

If the Mavs were designed with AGMs in mind, it makes sense then that they would’ve installed an AGM so I don’t buy that statement.

I know that the ECO Mavs MY22 were suppose to have the AGM battery but installed an EFB instead due to a part shortage. Most of MY23 and MY24 due come with an AGM battery (I have read that some of these batteries are defective and the owners are buying other brands like Die-Hard and Interstate). Unfortunately, Ford does not make an AGM battery for the Mav yet...shame on them. Some Mav hybrid owners are buying AGM batteries from other manufacturers.

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[melnycm]

I have a '24 Lariat hybrid since Nov '23. Only 3100 miles. Keep my Fobs in Faraday pouches, all connectivity off, and fuse 11 pulled. Never set up Ford Pass. So far courtesy lights always come on and no problems that I'm aware of. Just waitin' for the day!

Yes, I’ve had no problems after pulling the dreaded fuse 11. Ford has agreed to upgrade my battery anyway to the 470CCA one too so I’m happy.

 

[HoustonAreaHybrid]

Hey All,

Was hoping I wouldn't run into this problem, but here I am with 2,400 miles and a dead battery. Got home from the grocery store a couple nights ago and the radio would not shut off no matter what I did. Carried the groceries in, locked and unlocked the doors, started and shut off the truck again. Still wouldn't shut off. Finally reset the radio, and it appeared to work. Came out to go to work today, and the truck is completely dead. I guess I'll have to try pulling the fuse, shutting off all modern connectivity (that works fine in plenty of other vehicles without draining the battery), and seeing if Ford will replace my potentially defective battery as well. Really disappointing on a brand new truck. I've owned lots of different vehicles and have never had this happen.

 

[melnycm]

Hey All,

Was hoping I wouldn't run into this problem, but here I am with 2,400 miles and a dead battery. Got home from the grocery store a couple nights ago and the radio would not shut off no matter what I did. Carried the groceries in, locked and unlocked the doors, started and shut off the truck again. Still wouldn't shut off. Finally reset the radio, and it appeared to work. Came out to go to work today, and the truck is completely dead. I guess I'll have to try pulling the fuse, shutting off all modern connectivity (that works fine in plenty of other vehicles without draining the battery), and seeing if Ford will replace my potentially defective battery as well. Really disappointing on a brand new truck. I've owned lots of different vehicles and have never had this happen.

Houston-You have a problem. Don’t feel bad. I’m in Canada and had a similar problem. The radio not shutting off is a new twist. I’m convinced the battery drainage is because of the telematics running 24/7 (truck constantly communicating with app, updating, whatever). U can’t turn it completely off unless u pull fuse 11. It’s located just above the pax door mat. Pulling it doesn’t effect anything else. Prior to doing this, my battery died completely 3 times. Ford said it was fine and wouldn’t do anything. That’s because it was charged when I went in and my phone wasn’t nearby for the 3 days they had it. That was further proof to me it was the telematics. Anyway, since pulling fuse 11, the truck has been fine. Who really needs a truck app anyway except the remote start is nice in winter but that’s not an issue for u!
Anyway, I learned that Ford must’ve been aware of this problem cuz in 2023 they put a bigger battery in. It went fm 390 CCA to 470 CCA. I had the smaller one. Mine was only 45 Ah and I don’t know what the upgrade is and Ford couldn’t even tell me. C’mon Ford?!
Anyway, if u have the smaller battery and it’s under warranty, get ur dealer to talk to Ford for the upgrade. The battery is about $200. Ford has agreed to cover mine.
If u have the newer 470 CCA battery, just pull fuse 11. It will help.
Good luck.
Mike
NS, Canada

 

[HoustonAreaHybrid]

Houston-You have a problem. Don’t feel bad. I’m in Canada and had a similar problem. The radio not shutting off is a new twist. I’m convinced the battery drainage is because of the telematics running 24/7 (truck constantly communicating with app, updating, whatever). U can’t turn it completely off unless u pull fuse 11. It’s located just above the pax door mat. Pulling it doesn’t effect anything else. Prior to doing this, my battery died completely 3 times. Ford said it was fine and wouldn’t do anything. That’s because it was charged when I went in and my phone wasn’t nearby for the 3 days they had it. That was further proof to me it was the telematics. Anyway, since pulling fuse 11, the truck has been fine. Who really needs a truck app anyway except the remote start is nice in winter but that’s not an issue for u!
Anyway, I learned that Ford must’ve been aware of this problem cuz in 2023 they put a bigger battery in. It went fm 390 CCA to 470 CCA. I had the smaller one. Mine was only 45 Ah and I don’t know what the upgrade is and Ford couldn’t even tell me. C’mon Ford?!
Anyway, if u have the smaller battery and it’s under warranty, get ur dealer to talk to Ford for the upgrade. The battery is about $200. Ford has agreed to cover mine.
If u have the newer 470 CCA battery, just pull fuse 11. It will help.
Good luck.
Mike
NS, Canada

Thanks for the advice! Dealer tested the battery, and it failed pretty quickly. Figured that would be the case after driving 30 miles after getting it jumped and having truck enter deep sleep 6 hours later. Service dept. here at a pretty big metro Houston dealership said there's a handful of Motorcraft batteries that are bad in all the new models that they see. So, we'll see if that was the problem or not over the next few weeks. Still doesn't explain the radio not shutting off without a hard reset, but who knows?

Will follow the guidance here if battery dies again and pull the fuse (though it is actually nice to get the AC going with 105-110 heat index in the summer).

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Hey All,

Was hoping I wouldn't run into this problem, but here I am with 2,400 miles and a dead battery. Got home from the grocery store a couple nights ago and the radio would not shut off no matter what I did. Carried the groceries in, locked and unlocked the doors, started and shut off the truck again. Still wouldn't shut off. Finally reset the radio, and it appeared to work. Came out to go to work today, and the truck is completely dead. I guess I'll have to try pulling the fuse, shutting off all modern connectivity (that works fine in plenty of other vehicles without draining the battery), and seeing if Ford will replace my potentially defective battery as well. Really disappointing on a brand new truck. I've owned lots of different vehicles and have never had this happen.

Hi, I am in Austin. I have two 2022 hybrids. Lariat w/30,400 miles XLT LUX 2,300 miles (coming up 9/9/24 for 2nd Annual Oil Change). I have NOT had the radio not turning off and don't have a clue but that is a dealer item. I have had no dome light a couple times on the lariat with all options and it has always started. I have had all the recalls done. Neither of mine have failed to start. I do place a noco g5 maintainer on under hood posts for each one about every three months and try to leave it on for at least 5-7 days to let the maintenance optimization have plenty of time to complete which seems to take several days as the slight overnight drain has to be replaced every day. I just checked my XLT today which has not seen the noco for 5-6 weeks and had not been driven for four days. Battery was 12.4v. lariat battery was 12.3v getting driven 2 out of 3 days more or less. Noco g5 is visiting the large 12v on the diesel tractor for a couple weeks. If you have added anything electrical to your truck be sure to not place the negative to the negative battery post. It needs to be body ground or at the very least on the other side of the BMS which has the bar code on the neg post. The BMS has to see the charging and discharging of the battery. (It acts as a 24/7 battery tester and makes decisions). If you change batteries be sure to fully charge the new battery before installing and reset the BMS so it doesn't think the new battery needs to be charged like the old one (maybe to 60-70%?)!

 

[melnycm]

Thanks for the advice! Dealer tested the battery, and it failed pretty quickly. Figured that would be the case after driving 30 miles after getting it jumped and having truck enter deep sleep 6 hours later. Service dept. here at a pretty big metro Houston dealership said there's a handful of Motorcraft batteries that are bad in all the new models that they see. So, we'll see if that was the problem or not over the next few weeks. Still doesn't explain the radio not shutting off without a hard reset, but who knows?

Will follow the guidance here if battery dies again and pull the fuse (though it is actually nice to get the AC going with 105-110 heat index in the summer).

Yes, I thought of ur heat too after I posted. Lol.
Good luck

 

[CurtisB]

Before anyone goes out a buys a spare fuse please keep in mind that this is a 300 amp fuse in the high voltage side. screwing up will not just tingle your fingers it will light your ass up and may just lay you out permanently. Let the people with the training handle this one

Just call them "sparkey"

 

[Stout]

My 2022 Maverick Hybrid XLT has about 23k miles on it and has been doing this for almost a year. Dealership has replaced the battery 4x. I sent Ford a notice of final attempt to repair before the most recent one and they still couldn’t figure out the problem. I have retained a lawyer and am now going through the lemon law process (I’m in Georgia). Hoping for a replacement Maverick but the lawyer says it’s not a guarantee. Like other people here, the problem accelerated the longer it went on. Last time it only took two days to die. I can jump start it and as soon as I connect the last cable the lights and everything come back on and it’s drivable. I bought a battery jump pack to keep from getting stranded while we go through the process, which I’m told will take about 3 months.

 

[Tuch]

I had all the same issues, always started though for 18 months. Battery was replaced twice, but this time they did module bypassing to figure out the draw over a 3 week span and they finally determined it was the TCU. I've had it back for a couple weeks now and all seems good. I had/have a voltage meter in the cig lighter, so visually I can see things seem to be in order now. I'm attaching the work order to maybe help others out. If you have questions, keep it simple because I don't know what anything means on the work order. Lol.

 

[HeyBales]

I know that the ECO Mavs MY22 were suppose to have the AGM battery but installed an EFB instead due to a part shortage. Most of MY23 and MY24 due come with an AGM battery (I have read that some of these batteries are defective and the owners are buying other brands like Die-Hard and Interstate). Unfortunately, Ford does not make an AGM battery for the Mav yet...shame on them. Some Mav hybrid owners are buying AGM batteries from other manufacturers.

My Apr 24 manufactured MY24 came with same cheap Motorcraft others have shown.

Well, maybe it was made differently or by someone else compared to older models.
Some maybe not as cheap and problematic.

I just know I got the details for the replacement group 140R or H4 AGM ready to go if needed.

 

[HeyBales]

I had all the same issues, always started though for 18 months. Battery was replaced twice, but this time they did module bypassing to figure out the draw over a 3 week span and they finally determined it was the TCU. I've had it back for a couple weeks now and all seems good. I had/have a voltage meter in the cig lighter, so visually I can see things seem to be in order now. I'm attaching the work order to maybe help others out. If you have questions, keep it simple because I don't know what anything means on the work order. Lol.

I find it interesting in their notes - both times they charged battery up, reset BMS, then drove vehicle and parked.

The manual doesn't say to drive and then park. Says to reset, lock doors, and let rest 8 hrs.

I'm curious if they have special procedure that does say to do that - or if going off other vehicle processes they are used to - but don't apply here.

 

[Darnon]

I find it interesting in their notes - both times they charged battery up, reset BMS, then drove vehicle and parked.

The manual doesn't say to drive and then park. Says to reset, lock doors, and let rest 8 hrs.

I'm curious if they have special procedure that does say to do that - or if going off other vehicle processes they are used to - but don't apply here.

You can manually force a BMS relearn by turning the key on, flashing high beams 5x, and pressing brake pedal 3x. A capable enough scantool can do it as well.

 

[Tuch]

I find it interesting in their notes - both times they charged battery up, reset BMS, then drove vehicle and parked.

The manual doesn't say to drive and then park. Says to reset, lock doors, and let rest 8 hrs.

I'm curious if they have special procedure that does say to do that - or if going off other vehicle processes they are used to - but don't apply here.

I know they were in contact with Ford and were told what to do and in what order.

 

[HeyBales]

You can manually force a BMS relearn by turning the key on, flashing high beams 5x, and pressing brake pedal 3x. A capable enough scantool can do it as well.

Yes, so. Even Forscan Lite can do it.

But the point - Should their process be followed of a decent drive and then park - or the manual instructions which give that process you stated.

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