I’ve seen in array of different posts on this forum about the Lightning’s glitchy modems and failures to be able to connect shortly after purchase. I picked up my 2023 ER Lariat two weeks ago and love it except for the fact it I can’t get the hotspot functionality to work. Ironically, all other Internet functions seem to be working. I spent about five hours on the phone with several different Ford technicians, did countless resets, and all of this point to the same system notification they find - “Waiting for modem authentication”. The last active connection was 12/16/21 when the modem was built. I’m being told I need to take the truck back into the dealership and have them manually reset the entire modem. Has anybody else experienced this or found a better solution? The last thing I want to do is have to take my brand new truck into the dealership already. I’ve got a bad feeling even the dealership won’t know how to fix this. Really wish they would not have given me the truck without testing this first.
Modem failure
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2023 XLT SR Carbonized Grey, Nissan Leaf, Honda Clarity
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I have no expertise.
But if this happened to me I would disconnect the 12 volt to do a hard reset.
But if this happened to me I would disconnect the 12 volt to do a hard reset.
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I second this, my services weren’t working (hand-free,etc.) Ford said similar, take it to the dealer and have them ‘re-provision’ the modem…I disconnected the battery and reconnected. And shortly there after all were activated.
The power disconnect reboot is being talked a lot about, so I thought I would throw in something to keep in mind while you are doing this. When disconnecting the 12 volt battery from your truck, you're doing a hard reboot of the computer systems. As with any computer, doing this cleanly will enhance your chances of success, and help you avoid things like data corruption.
When disconnecting the battery, try to do so cleanly. In other words, don't just put a wrench on the lug and let the cable bounce around while you unscrew it, creating a succession of connections and disconnections. Hold the cable onto the battery tightly while you unscrew it's fastener, and then pull the cable away cleanly in one motion.
Once you have removed 12 volt power from the system, wait at least 60 seconds. This lets power dissipate from the components to allow for a true cold boot.
After 60 to 90 seconds, replace the cable as cleanly as possible, again making sure not to have intermittent touches while you retighten your fasteners.
Failure to do this properly can result in system corruption, and in the worst cases a bricked computer.
😎
When disconnecting the battery, try to do so cleanly. In other words, don't just put a wrench on the lug and let the cable bounce around while you unscrew it, creating a succession of connections and disconnections. Hold the cable onto the battery tightly while you unscrew it's fastener, and then pull the cable away cleanly in one motion.
Once you have removed 12 volt power from the system, wait at least 60 seconds. This lets power dissipate from the components to allow for a true cold boot.
After 60 to 90 seconds, replace the cable as cleanly as possible, again making sure not to have intermittent touches while you retighten your fasteners.
Failure to do this properly can result in system corruption, and in the worst cases a bricked computer.
😎
Mine was delivered with a bad modem too, but slightly differy issues. My truck cannot cooect to the cellular network or to my home wifi network, but my phone can connect to the truck's network (phone as the client), which would enable hospot use if the cellular modem worked. I'm told the replacement party needed - a telematics control module (or unit?) - is not available until late next month.
It sometimes almost connects to wifi. More than 90% of the time it doesn't detect any network, rarely it detects the 10-20 nearby networks (real networks and IoT devices that broadcast an SSID), when I try to connect to the router in my garage and enter my passwird, it generally just waits a while before reporting that the connection failed. But one time it told me that my password was wrong. I'm pretty sure it wasn't, but I think it got closer to connecting that time than any other. I've never had any hint of a cellular connection, so Ford Pass is completely non-functional.
Edited to add: While talking to the Ford Pass rep on the phone, I tried two kinds of restart, but I have not yet tried disconnecting the battery. It has been to the dealer though and they pulled out half the interior, apparently to get access to parts of the wiring harness to check for good connections following a diagnostic procedure from the manual to confirm that the TCU (TCM?) was bad. I have no cure whether they disconnected the 12V battery to do that, butI like to think that, if that would work they would have tried it.
It sometimes almost connects to wifi. More than 90% of the time it doesn't detect any network, rarely it detects the 10-20 nearby networks (real networks and IoT devices that broadcast an SSID), when I try to connect to the router in my garage and enter my passwird, it generally just waits a while before reporting that the connection failed. But one time it told me that my password was wrong. I'm pretty sure it wasn't, but I think it got closer to connecting that time than any other. I've never had any hint of a cellular connection, so Ford Pass is completely non-functional.
Edited to add: While talking to the Ford Pass rep on the phone, I tried two kinds of restart, but I have not yet tried disconnecting the battery. It has been to the dealer though and they pulled out half the interior, apparently to get access to parts of the wiring harness to check for good connections following a diagnostic procedure from the manual to confirm that the TCU (TCM?) was bad. I have no cure whether they disconnected the 12V battery to do that, butI like to think that, if that would work they would have tried it.
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I was told my '23's issue with with the gateway module; having same issue. Slipping the negative off the 12 v battery has worked both times to get it to connect.
On my way to go try it. I've got my fingers crossed. Thanks for the tip.
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Do it quick and clean to avoid arching. leave it off 60 seconds.
You're freaking awesome! I just did the battery disconnect power-cycle, hopped in, tried the WiFi (because that fails quickly) and bam, it connected right away. I actually had a hint it was working before then because I got a message that some sort of diagnostic was going on and, while I don't remember the exact wording, it sounded like the truck was talking to Ford.
Anyway,I tried Ford Pass too and, while it takes quite a while to tell you that it didn't connect, it made the connection very quickly. Now I'm a happy camper (other than the glove box popping open on heavy acceleration even after being closed hard,but that's a problem for another day.
I notice you say you've done this twice. I guess that means the problem reoccurred for you. Do you think there's an underlying hardware defect? My service rep has ordered a replacement Telematics Control Unit and Im wondering if I should tell him to cancel that order.
I am now a fan of THEsocalledfan.
Anyway,I tried Ford Pass too and, while it takes quite a while to tell you that it didn't connect, it made the connection very quickly. Now I'm a happy camper (other than the glove box popping open on heavy acceleration even after being closed hard,but that's a problem for another day.
I notice you say you've done this twice. I guess that means the problem reoccurred for you. Do you think there's an underlying hardware defect? My service rep has ordered a replacement Telematics Control Unit and Im wondering if I should tell him to cancel that order.
I am now a fan of THEsocalledfan.
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Yes, it is a known problem to Ford; they are planning on a fix this month is my understanding from talking to the Ford Pass folks. The fix you ordered may be what is needed; I just have not done it yet as I'm waiting for Ford to contact me since I've already called about it.
Gotcha. Thanks again.
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Thanks for the info. 3 weeks after delivery, my '23 stopped communicating with FordPass. The remote troubleshooting had me reset everything which caused me to loose all FordPass functions - I was unable to reactivate FordPass. They said I needed to go to dealer. I tried your battery solution and it activated. Thank you as you saved me a trip to the dealer. Hopefully it is not recurring...
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It will be until fixed....
2023 XLT SR Carbonized Grey, Nissan Leaf, Honda Clarity
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My truck just stopped communicating to ford app and had to pull the 12v, then immediately started talking. I guess I’m keeping a 10 mm wrench in the truck for emergency resets and a cigarette lighter voltmeter to check the health of the battery.
Does anyone know if the cigarette lighter is directly connected to the 12v or through the inverter? I’m assuming it’s to the battery since it is 12v outlet.
I didn’t for me. But… I only waited a few minutes after resetting it to check and see if it worked. Perhaps if I gave it longer to reboot I might have seen it work.
scott
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It’s the same on mine. I pulled it, waited a bit, put it back. No change. Being impatient I pulled the battery negative terminal, timed 2 minutes, put it back. Then I put my stuff back, probably threw the tennis ball for the dog a few times, and checked fordpass. It worked.
scott
scott
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