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Good luck. Parts are limited dealerships are learning as they go. Call ford customer care immediately take loaner or rental dealership should off.
Battery Failure
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2021 Mustang Mach E First Edition, 2016 Nissan Leaf, 2003 Toyota Tacoma, F-150 Lightning Lariat ER
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3,584 Posts
What were the symptoms?
Count me amongst the newest of the victims. Thankfully, or maybe not thankfully lol, I had read this page as my symptoms started-otherwise I might have blown it off.
I started noticing around the middle of December that intermittently I would start my truck up in the morning and I would get a wrench icon. I would get to work, park the truck, and start it again at lunchtime to go round on patients at the hospital and would not see the wrench. Days would go by with no wrench indicator coming on.
During all of this, I had absolutely no issues. the first sign that something might have been amiss just so happened to occur when we got our first cold snap. I figured that the reason my battery was showing less than 100% battery available to me (not charge mind you but actual battery power) was due to the cold weather. That was until the wrench icon started coming on at every start up. I also noticed that my battery would tell me it only had 90% power available on it- yet the temperature was 45 to 55° or higher. When it originally happened the first time, the ambient temperature was something like 22° so it made sense.
I called my Ford dealership and at first they weren’t going to get me in until the 30th. Thankfully, my service advisor asked her service technician who said no that truck has to come in immediately. I dropped the truck off on the 22nd or 23rd. The next day, service advisor calls, and says the technician found that the problem is a sensor (she didn’t go into detail and I didn’t think to ask as I was doing Christmas dinner shopping so I was standing at the meat counter having this conversation) that is faulty and is causing the intermittent wrench icon. More importantly, the technician also decided to run a system check and found that my battery failed all its testing.
Like many of you it may be one cell but Ford has told the technicians they want the entire battery back. My tech has been out this week, so no progress on my truck. I don’t even for sure know the extent of the problem as the tech went out on holiday leave right after I got that phone call. He or she is not due back until after the new year.
In terms of a loaner, I first picked a Ford Ranger because I don’t wanna pay for gas. That part of the EV lifestyle has been very very wonderful to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t adopt to such a tiny vehicle. My previous vehicle was a lariat V8, I am now in a lariat ER. Nearly 9000 pounds. This ranger sounded like an angry bumblebee and couldn’t even get uphill without maxing out its RPMs. It was noisy as all get out. Overall I felt like I was driving a cheaply made roller-skate/ go kart. It was a base model and I don’t know how much of that played into the equation.
I reached out to my advisor and the dealership was able to let me switch to an XLT F250 which is much more of my liking. It is a door and a half (crew cab?) which means that thankfully it fits in our garage. When I was looking at getting my first F150, I actually wanted the F250 four-door and I know for a fact that that won’t fit in our garage because that’s what led me to buying an F150 instead.
I have not yet reached out to @Ford Motor Company for assistance as it’s only been a week but my understanding based on you guys’ comments is that I will not be seeing my truck anytime soon. Given the size of my truck payment versus what I’m driving as a loaner and the amount of gas I’m going to burn through- some sort of assistance would definitely be appreciated.
I started noticing around the middle of December that intermittently I would start my truck up in the morning and I would get a wrench icon. I would get to work, park the truck, and start it again at lunchtime to go round on patients at the hospital and would not see the wrench. Days would go by with no wrench indicator coming on.
During all of this, I had absolutely no issues. the first sign that something might have been amiss just so happened to occur when we got our first cold snap. I figured that the reason my battery was showing less than 100% battery available to me (not charge mind you but actual battery power) was due to the cold weather. That was until the wrench icon started coming on at every start up. I also noticed that my battery would tell me it only had 90% power available on it- yet the temperature was 45 to 55° or higher. When it originally happened the first time, the ambient temperature was something like 22° so it made sense.
I called my Ford dealership and at first they weren’t going to get me in until the 30th. Thankfully, my service advisor asked her service technician who said no that truck has to come in immediately. I dropped the truck off on the 22nd or 23rd. The next day, service advisor calls, and says the technician found that the problem is a sensor (she didn’t go into detail and I didn’t think to ask as I was doing Christmas dinner shopping so I was standing at the meat counter having this conversation) that is faulty and is causing the intermittent wrench icon. More importantly, the technician also decided to run a system check and found that my battery failed all its testing.
Like many of you it may be one cell but Ford has told the technicians they want the entire battery back. My tech has been out this week, so no progress on my truck. I don’t even for sure know the extent of the problem as the tech went out on holiday leave right after I got that phone call. He or she is not due back until after the new year.
In terms of a loaner, I first picked a Ford Ranger because I don’t wanna pay for gas. That part of the EV lifestyle has been very very wonderful to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t adopt to such a tiny vehicle. My previous vehicle was a lariat V8, I am now in a lariat ER. Nearly 9000 pounds. This ranger sounded like an angry bumblebee and couldn’t even get uphill without maxing out its RPMs. It was noisy as all get out. Overall I felt like I was driving a cheaply made roller-skate/ go kart. It was a base model and I don’t know how much of that played into the equation.
I reached out to my advisor and the dealership was able to let me switch to an XLT F250 which is much more of my liking. It is a door and a half (crew cab?) which means that thankfully it fits in our garage. When I was looking at getting my first F150, I actually wanted the F250 four-door and I know for a fact that that won’t fit in our garage because that’s what led me to buying an F150 instead.
I have not yet reached out to @Ford Motor Company for assistance as it’s only been a week but my understanding based on you guys’ comments is that I will not be seeing my truck anytime soon. Given the size of my truck payment versus what I’m driving as a loaner and the amount of gas I’m going to burn through- some sort of assistance would definitely be appreciated.
2021 Mustang Mach E First Edition, 2016 Nissan Leaf, 2003 Toyota Tacoma, F-150 Lightning Lariat ER
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3,584 Posts
Sorry to hear about your troubles.
Just a heads-up on the replacement of the entire battery pack. With new products, Ford does this to diagnose issues. In a year, the same problem would probably be resolved with the replacement of a single battery module or such. However, Ford wants to go over these failed parts with a fine-toothed comb to learn what went wrong and watch for potential future issues.
When my Mustang Mach E was brand new (one week old), the 12v battery went flat causing the all possible system alerts to flash on the dash then strange noises from the speakers. Ford installed new HVB to LVB software on my car and soon sent out a TSB based on my car and a few others.
However, when I went to pick the car up, it put itself into park and would not come out. They diagnosed it to be intermittent communication with the parking pawl. They could have replaced a couple of small parts but instead did the very first replacement of a customer-owned rear drive unit. Yep, the whole rear motor. They wanted mine for testing. It's been fine ever since.
Oh, believe me, I’m happy that they want to replace the entire battery pack. That info was included more for information for others rather than a complaint. With a new platform such as this, I understand the need for R&D. You can run all kinds of hypothetical scenarios, but you can’t prepare literally 100% for everything and truthfully what could be happening may not be a scenario they envisioned. I’m happy to contribute to the resolution of the issue. I know supply chain issues may make battery replacement difficult. My only gripe is that I wish that priority for battery packs went to those of us who already purchased and delivered our vehicles rather than to keep rolling out new vehicles. but, it is what it is in that regard.
I’m hoping this doesn’t stretch out into a month because then I’m paying for a vehicle that’s not in my hands and I’m not driving a vehicle that is equivalent to what I’m paying for, but I will cross that bridge when and if I get there.
I’m hoping this doesn’t stretch out into a month because then I’m paying for a vehicle that’s not in my hands and I’m not driving a vehicle that is equivalent to what I’m paying for, but I will cross that bridge when and if I get there.
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21 Posts
Good luck on getting fuel reimbursed im now 2 months of no truck making payment on it and driving my other vehicle that likes to drink premium gas ford said they can only pay $200 per month of truck being in the shop. And since i choose to not get a rental now they are saying they arent responsible to pay me for driving my other vehicle so what i shouldve done was rent something and let them pay the rental because now they are getting the better deal and paying less. Im hoping to get truck notes covered hoping for more than $200 per month on fuel i want reimbursement for the pro charger install im getting rid of the truck as soon as it comes out of the shop. Contemplating getting rid of all my 15+ fords at this point. @Ford Motor Company customer care has been a complete joke. My repairs have been on hold since before christmas because they forgot to send a $500 tube of glue with the battery replacement and shockingly that tube of glue is on back order however they are still pumping lightnings out at the factory basically saying tough luck we already have your money
Thankfully, the big battery was not the one that failed. My issue was a faulty ACP sensor, something with the AC, and a dead 12V. I know what the ACP does and why the 12 V battery failed. But I’m not sure how the air conditioning system played into all of that. Anyway, I got my truck back yesterday and I’m thanking my lucky stars.
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804 Posts
The air conditioner compressor cools the battery. If you have MaxTow, it also has a second compressor.
(Not sure that's what the ACP module does, but that's why the HV battery might not work without A/C.)
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29 Posts
My truck finally got fixed yesterday, I asked them to keep it over the weekend and put a few miles on it to be certain. Apparently they did only replace the bad cell vs the entire pack - I’m told by the service manager who came from GM that this is a big difference in how ford designed these packs vs the Chevy Bolt that he watched large packs get replaced and trashed. I had a good experience overall with my dealership (Camelback ford in Phoenix) and someone from ford corporate did keep reaching out to me once a week or so. Had an XLT F150 as a loaner the entire time so I wasn’t all that put out. I just hope it’s a small speed bump at the beginning of a long happy ownership experience vs the beginning of a line of problems. Choosing to be an optimist right now 
my range was never as good as I thought it should be so im also hoping maybe this bad cell explains that, a few hundred miles should tell me either way.
hope the rest of you that have had issues get them repaired quickly! And I hope Ford is using our failures to learn on the fly and make their production better.
my range was never as good as I thought it should be so im also hoping maybe this bad cell explains that, a few hundred miles should tell me either way.hope the rest of you that have had issues get them repaired quickly! And I hope Ford is using our failures to learn on the fly and make their production better.
It is interesting he should compare it to the Bolt pack, as the lightning pack is virtually identical to the Bolt pack with one important exception. The Lightning pack is designed to be opened and serviceable.My truck finally got fixed yesterday, I asked them to keep it over the weekend and put a few miles on it to be certain. Apparently they did only replace the bad cell vs the entire pack - I’m told by the service manager who came from GM that this is a big difference in how ford designed these packs vs the Chevy Bolt that he watched large packs get replaced and trashed. I had a good experience overall with my dealership (Camelback ford in Phoenix) and someone from ford corporate did keep reaching out to me once a week or so. Had an XLT F150 as a loaner the entire time so I wasn’t all that put out. I just hope it’s a small speed bump at the beginning of a long happy ownership experience vs the beginning of a line of problems. Choosing to be an optimist right now
hope the rest of you that have had issues get them repaired quickly! And I hope Ford is using our failures to learn on the fly and make their production better.
👍
My battery cell showed up just in time for the tech to be off the week before Christmas. He gets back and cannot get everything to balance. So they have to order a new cable to balance things out. Once it shows up it still isn't balancing. I am now waiting on them to talk to someone to figure it out. My customer care rep with Ford is now not responding to anything. I am like you and seriously contemplating just selling the truck once all of this is done. I am now at 1.5 months without the truck, and not any closer to having answers about when I can expect it back.
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21 Posts
I’m waiting on a tube of glue that is back ordered @Ford Motor Company customer rep never responds only continues to send useless updates that part is still back ordered. Truck is being sold soon as I get it back. Have raptor ordered that’s built but on chip hold
My newest battery array is on the charger as we speak. They are hoping to get it installed today once it gets into the 40% range. I still have little confidence in Ford getting this correct. I started emailing random execs at Ford and finally got a call from someone named Karen Jones. Not sure if she helped anything, but shortly after she started making phone calls, the battery was on it's way. Could be coincidence or maybe I finally found the right person to actually get something done.
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804 Posts
I hope they are treating you well.
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2 Posts
So last Friday I got the dreaded Stop safely now and service vehicle soon warnings, power reduced to 4%, and Ford pass app saying pro power was overloaded. No issues with range or charge loss before. Today the dealer is saying it's a bad cell.
For those who are curious, Lariat ER, 7k miles, bought back in July. Get's charged on the 80 amp charger once or twice a week, and I do use the remote start when cold in the mornings. Only fast charged it once for 20 minutes.
Anyone know if the batteries are still on backorder? I'm not looking forward to spending money on gas for a month or 2.
For those who are curious, Lariat ER, 7k miles, bought back in July. Get's charged on the 80 amp charger once or twice a week, and I do use the remote start when cold in the mornings. Only fast charged it once for 20 minutes.
Anyone know if the batteries are still on backorder? I'm not looking forward to spending money on gas for a month or 2.
From my experience, it has taken 3-4 weeks for each battery cell they sent for mine. Today marks 2 months since my truck got towed in for this. The good news is though, the dealership had a Ford engineer out as they were putting things back together. According to Ford Pass app, they have the battery back in. Just waiting on the call that everything is good.
Then we start to fight on getting gas, payments, etc covered.
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804 Posts
I wonder if it's LG's problem or SKI's? It's definitely Ford's, too.
My service advisor said they were now fighting with Ford on who's covering the cost of the rental. Ford is pointing the finger at the battery manufacturer for them to cover the rental.
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