Ecoboost random dead battery

[Kenny]

Thought I'd post my experience. I got tired of randomly having to jump start my Ecoboost, sometimes several days in a row, sometimes more than once in a day, other times two weeks with no issues. So I finally took it to the dealer under warranty. After a total of three times having it in the shop, they couldn't figure it out, finally blaming it on my added electronics, which I had unplugged so knew that wasn't it. Researching it on my own including here on MTC, I tried unplugging the BMS wire and it still died, so that wasn't it.

Finally I did what I should have done in the beginning, tested the Ford flooded cell battery, which was still under warranty. After being disconnected from the vehicle and charging all night, it would only hold a maximum 11.75 volts. Bingo. I replaced it with a new AC Delco AGM battery ($180 on Amazon) and haven't had a problem since. What I learned in the process is: a) The Ford flooded cell battery is a low quality battery. b) Maverick electronics draw heavily on the battery and short trips to town drain it heavily. c) AGM batteries can recharge up to 5x faster than a FC battery. d) The newer models of Ecoboost come with AGM battery. So Ford is aware of the issue and finally did something about it.

Two days ago I decided to drop off the dead battery with my dealer, showing the service manager with a multimeter that it would not hold more than 11.75 volts, which by most experts is considered a dead battery, certainly needing to be replaced. He explained to me by some technical terms I'd never heard of why it was still considered a good battery. I told him I didn't care to argue, there was no excuse for their "inability" to solve my warranty issue, and left. I left them a one star review on Google saying what bothered me more than the money was time wasted scheduling (waiting 3-4 weeks to get in), getting shuttled back and forth, having to drive a crummy Ford Focus and not being able to use my pickup for up to three days at a time. Yesterday they tried to get a hold of me. If it's anything other than "We want to refund the price of your new battery," I'm not interested.

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[B2000]

I was checking my voltage last winter because my auto start/stop did not work. After fully charging with a battery tender it would drop a lot the next day and continue to drop- don't remember the exact numbers. I don't drive every day and mainly make short trips but so far have not had any problems with starting or with any features not working. From the prior battery threads it seems like the battery management software only allows the battery to be charged to 80%. Combine that with a questionable quality battery and you can see how you will have problems. When it comes time to replace mine it will not be a Ford.

If you attach a battery charger or tender to the battery terminals directly I think you bypass the battery management system and you can charge to 100%.

 

[Kenny]

I was checking my voltage last winter because my auto start/stop did not work.

Most people want to disable auto start/stop, you shoulda left it alone ;-)

From the prior battery threads it seems like the battery management software only allows the battery to be charged to 80%.

Interesting. I wonder why that is?

When it comes time to replace mine it will not be a Ford.

When I dropped off my dead FC battery, the dealer told me their AGM battery is something like $270. I told him the same thing, that I would never buy a Ford battery.

If you attach a battery charger or tender to the battery terminals directly I think you bypass the battery management system and you can charge to 100%.

From what I've read that is true, connecting directly to the battery bypasses the BMS.

 

[Montana]

Oddly enough, I had nothing but problems with a Hybrid Escape that had their early AGM and have no problems with my current '22 EB that does not have the AGM. I will replace it with an AGM once it goes, but for now, still holding strong. I do power a dash cam with battery packs but I rarely use the battery packs anymore and I always drive pretty short trips, so they are not draining much at all. It's pretty rare I sit in parking mode for longer than an hour when I do need it. PReviously on the Escape it would sit in parking mode for entire nights, but was driven on longer trips over 2 hours with plenty of time to charge. I had never encountered an issue before owning a FORD and the dashcam / battery pack setup had been done in 3 vehicles before them.

As for the battery being only charged to 80%, apparently that is to preserve life. From google:

"As a battery reaches its maximum capacity of 100%, its charging speed slows down, because the electrons coming in have to work harder to find space. If you stop at 80%, you're avoiding the slowest rate of charge right at the end."

I've always disabled A.S.S. with an eliminator and like many here, I will not be replacing with a FORD battery. But so far, my story has been one of success and I have no idea how. I do suspect it will die prematurely though and I'll be shocked if I get another year out of it. I have not done any testing other than at the 12v interior and it does show the typical 11.8 volts most people with issues have. I remote start every time but do not use the app. I do not even have the app connected. Overall, I'll be impressed if I get another year out of this battery before I need to swap to an AGM, but so far it does work and has been issue free for me.

It's very obvious the voltage is not where it should be though, if I run the dashcam directly from the vehicle and not the battery packs, because even after longer drives I'll be shocked if it gets more than 20 minutes in parking mode. Most times it would get less than 5 minutes. I can't remember but I think I had the cutoff set to 11.7 which is as low as I am willing to go.

Strange FORD battery things indeed.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

I was checking my voltage last winter because my auto start/stop did not work. After fully charging with a battery tender it would drop a lot the next day and continue to drop- don't remember the exact numbers. I don't drive every day and mainly make short trips but so far have not had any problems with starting or with any features not working. From the prior battery threads it seems like the battery management software only allows the battery to be charged to 80%. Combine that with a questionable quality battery and you can see how you will have problems. When it comes time to replace mine it will not be a Ford.

If you attach a battery charger or tender to the battery terminals directly I think you bypass the battery management system and you can charge to 100%.

According to other posts including one that quoted from Ford service manual that if you bypass the bms it cannot detect that the charging (or discharging if grounding anything to negative battery post) is accounted for. The bms apparently needs to know the charging and discharging rates and capacities to operate properly (presumably to adjusting it charging parameters to account for things like battery age and state of sulfation). Also some have reported that forscan shows that some trucks have wrong battery type than what was actually installed. Also mentioned in a Ford memo was that during software updates the voltage on the 12v bus should be over 13v to prevent the BMS shedding some active circuits during the updates. (This implies that if the bms turns off something during the update the update may not detect that that function is not installed on your truck and then that would not be available.).

 

[CurtisB]

Thought I'd post my experience. I got tired of randomly having to jump start my Ecoboost, sometimes several days in a row, sometimes more than once in a day, other times two weeks with no issues. So I finally took it to the dealer under warranty. After a total of three times having it in the shop, they couldn't figure it out, finally blaming it on my added electronics, which I had unplugged so knew that wasn't it. Researching it on my own including here on MTC, I tried unplugging the BMS wire and it still died, so that wasn't it.

Finally I did what I should have done in the beginning, tested the Ford flooded cell battery, which was still under warranty. After being disconnected from the vehicle and charging all night, it would only hold a maximum 11.75 volts. Bingo. I replaced it with a new AC Delco AGM battery ($180 on Amazon) and haven't had a problem since. What I learned in the process is: a) The Ford flooded cell battery is a low quality battery. b) Maverick electronics draw heavily on the battery and short trips to town drain it heavily. c) AGM batteries can recharge up to 5x faster than a FC battery. d) The newer models of Ecoboost come with AGM battery. So Ford is aware of the issue and finally did something about it.

Two days ago I decided to drop off the dead battery with my dealer, showing the service manager with a multimeter that it would not hold more than 11.75 volts, which by most experts is considered a dead battery, certainly needing to be replaced. He explained to me by some technical terms I'd never heard of why it was still considered a good battery. I told him I didn't care to argue, there was no excuse for their "inability" to solve my warranty issue, and left. I left them a one star review on Google saying what bothered me more than the money was time wasted scheduling (waiting 3-4 weeks to get in), getting shuttled back and forth, having to drive a crummy Ford Focus and not being able to use my pickup for up to three days at a time. Yesterday they tried to get a hold of me. If it's anything other than "We want to refund the price of your new battery," I'm not interested.

Hi Kenny,
You are so correct in all of your issues. After reading several posts in here I reached the same conclusion. In a post that I can no longer find, someone researched and discoverd that during 2022 to 2023, the Maverick builts received different batteries (lower quality) than what was originally meant for our trucks. This was due to a lack of supply (no fault to Ford) and to continue the production flow, another battery was installed. The orginal application (according to what I read in MaverickTruckclub) was supposed to be an AGM battery. I had battery issues within weeks of owning my truck. Dealer told me it was my aftermarket install, but I knew otherwise. I got rid of the original battery and installed a flooded Die Hard T4 470 CCA and have had no issues since. I didn't find out about the need to purchase an AGM battery until after I bought the Die Hard, so I will wait until the end of the year and get an AGM battery. I did reset the battery after installing the Die Hard. I followed the manual's instructions on how to do it. Out side of this issue, I really enjoy driving the truck!!

 

[Kenny]

Hi Kenny,
You are so correct in all of your issues. After reading several posts in here I reached the same conclusion. In a post that I can no longer find, someone researched and discoverd that during 2022 to 2023, the Maverick builts received different batteries (lower quality) than what was originally meant for our trucks. This was due to a lack of supply (no fault to Ford) and to continue the production flow, another battery was installed. The orginal application (according to what I read in MaverickTruckclub) was supposed to be an AGM battery. I had battery issues within weeks of owning my truck. Dealer told me it was my aftermarket install, but I knew otherwise. I got rid of the original battery and installed a flooded Die Hard T4 470 CCA and have had no issues since. I didn't find out about the need to purchase an AGM battery until after I bought the Die Hard, so I will wait until the end of the year and get an AGM battery. I did reset the battery after installing the Die Hard. I followed the manual's instructions on how to do it. Out side of this issue, I really enjoy driving the truck!!

No doubt the Diehard will outlast the OE battery and probably live up to or exceed its warranty. One thing I forgot to mention - I also checked the amperage draw when parked. It was something below 50 milliamps, not enough to kill an ordinary FC battery. I've lived in my current house for 30 years and owned multiple vehicles in that time that never had an issue with dead battery caused by short trips to town.

 

[40caliber]

Had oil change at dealer at ,943 miles. They left this on dash. At 2100 miles now. Zero issues. Battery seems fine. 2.0, only elec. Addon is dashcam which stays on 5 or 10 minutes after shutdown.

 

[CurtisB]

No doubt the Diehard will outlast the OE battery and probably live up to or exceed its warranty. One thing I forgot to mention - I also checked the amperage draw when parked. It was something below 50 milliamps, not enough to kill an ordinary FC battery. I've lived in my current house for 30 years and owned multiple vehicles in that time that never had an issue with dead battery caused by short trips to town.

Totally understand and agree. My original factory battery was the LX6T-10655-BA 12V 65RC SLI 45Ah 390A SAE/EN H4. You can read on the web about this battery with Ford Escapes having similar issues.

 

[Gschaef]

According to other posts including one that quoted from Ford service manual that if you bypass the bms it cannot detect that the charging (or discharging if grounding anything to negative battery post) is accounted for. The bms apparently needs to know the charging and discharging rates and capacities to operate properly (presumably to adjusting it charging parameters to account for things like battery age and state of sulfation). Also some have reported that forscan shows that some trucks have wrong battery type than what was actually installed. Also mentioned in a Ford memo was that during software updates the voltage on the 12v bus should be over 13v to prevent the BMS shedding some active circuits during the updates. (This implies that if the bms turns off something during the update the update may not detect that that function is not installed on your truck and then that would not be available.).

As you mention, connecting directly to the negative post bypasses BMS. But this means problems like dome lights, auto start/stop etc. may still not work because even though the battery is at 100%, BMS still sees it as undercharged. If you bypass BMS you would need to turn off the ignition and all accessories, lock all doors, and leave the truck parked for 8 hours. This allows the BMS to learn the new battery status. If you charge the battery and use something other than the negative post as a ground, then BMS updates in real time.

 

[Packer Bill]

To solve my battery, I replaced the EFB battery with an AGM battery from Interstate (bought it at Costco for $170). I also reset the BMS and changed the battery charge level to 95% by using ForScan. No more issues for me.

 

[Kenny]

I also reset the BMS and changed the battery charge level to 95% by using ForScan. No more issues for me.

I didn't do anything to the BMS after changing my battery. Is that something I need to do? I have used Forscan before. Where would the settings be for charge level, and why wouldn't you make it 100%? Thanks.

 

[Packer Bill]

I didn't do anything to the BMS after changing my battery. Is that something I need to do? I have used Forscan before. Where would the settings be for charge level, and why wouldn't you make it 100%? Thanks.

Ford recommends to do a BMS reset after you get a new battery to relearn the capabilities of you new battery. To change the battery charge level, go to the ForScan Masterlist in the Forscan section of this forum. I did not put 100% for the charge level due to not wanting to risk over charging the AGM battery (this can damage a AGM battery much easier than the EFB battery).

 

[Montana]

To solve my battery, I replaced the EFB battery with an AGM battery from Interstate (bought it at Costco for $170). I also reset the BMS and changed the battery charge level to 95% by using ForScan. No more issues for me.

I was always a fan of Interstate batteries and then I worked for a fleet of transfer dumps where they had a service tech come in and service all our batteries for us. So the couple times I've replaced batteries since dealing with them, it's always been Interstate.

But I hear a lot of good things currently about the Die Hards and Everstarts as well. The internet is a beautiful thing sometimes and it's nice to not overpay when you don't need to. Not saying you did, I think that's a decent price, but when mine fails I might consider something else this time.

Can you share the exact battery you got so I can add it to my list? You are the first person I've seen mention buying an Interstate AGM so far.

 

[Packer Bill]

I was always a fan of Interstate batteries and then I worked for a fleet of transfer dumps where they had a service tech come in and service all our batteries for us. So the couple times I've replaced batteries since dealing with them, it's always been Interstate.

But I hear a lot of good things currently about the Die Hards and Everstarts as well. The internet is a beautiful thing sometimes and it's nice to not overpay when you don't need to. Not saying you did, I think that's a decent price, but when mine fails I might consider something else this time.

Can you share the exact battery you got so I can add it to my list? You are the first person I've seen mention buying an Interstate AGM so far.

I have very goo luck with Interstate batteries (knock on wood). The size is 65-48/H6-AGM, 760 CCA.

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