2016 FFE Suddenly became a brick [Solved]

[photojon]

I had a situation with my 2016 FFE that I have never experienced before, and searching the Forum for help didn't yield any results, so I thought I would post the background and my resolution. After running a few errands, I parked my FFE with about 40% of the charge left. About 20 minutes later, I was going to run another errand, and all the electrical in the car was off. No dome lights, courtesy lights, etc. The first indication is that I could not unlock the car. I sued the key in the FOB (thank you Forum posters for explaining that). I searched the Forum to see if there was a "Master Switch" like a circuit breaker that needed to be reset- no joy. Several posts mentioned dead 12v batteries, however I have never had battery issues, left nothing on in the car, and had just driven it 20 min earlier. I used a volt meter to check and indeed I had 12.8 volts across the battery.

Unsure what to try next, I disconnected the positive terminal from the 12v battery and waited about 5 minutes to see if there was some capacitance or electronics that needed to be reset. To my pleasant surprise, the car appears to work fine after reconnecting the battery. I will now carry a wrench in my glove box that fits the size of the battery lug incase I'm in a parking lot when this happens. I am glad I wasn't driving it when this happened!

Has anyone else had this kind of issues. The only thing out of the ordinary is that it has been pretty warm (high 90's low 100's) this past week, but I wouldn't suspect that or anyone who lives in Phoenix would experience this most of the year

Thanks again for the great Forum

 

[NightHawk]

Very interesting - so a 12v power reset fixed it?
Perhaps pulling a certain fuse might have had the same effect?

Indeed its important to practice and learn how to use the backup manual key if the car's power is out, since everything is powered now - doorlocks, windows, etc.
Keep any backup starter battery, etc. inside the car not in the hatchback area for easier access if the power is out too.

 

[photojon]

That's a great point that I forgot to mention. In my effort to "search for a master reset switch", I needed to reach over the rear seats which wasn't easy. It would be nice if Ford had a key slot on the hatchback so we could use a key to get in the back as well. Fortunately, the hood is a still a manual cable pull

 

[user 5595]

It would be nice if Ford had a key slot on the hatchback so we could use a key to get in the back as well. Fortunately, the hood is a still a manual cable pull

I was just thinking this morning that it would be nice if they had a cable-pull on the inside of the hatch. The trunk of one of my old cars (Civic?) had this, presumably so you couldn't accidentally lock yourself in the trunk.

 

[Nhung4677]

My FFE stopped working! Can't start, no sin of any electricity, charger is plugged in but no sign of any power coming into the car. So you think I shold unplugged the battery?

 

[davideos]

I've never had this issue, but I have a few thoughts:
1) If the 12V battery is dead or below operating voltage, you can't charge the car. The circuit that runs the charging circuit runs off of 12V. However, once you get it going (car running or car charging), the High Voltage Battery will charge the 12V battery.

2) I have had odd issues where pulling the 12V battery or appropriate fuse fixed some issues...so this is a good troubleshooting step in my opinion. 2 instances: 1) The radio wouldn't shut off after turning off the car and exiting. I pulled the fuse or two for the radio and afterward, no issue. Radio came on fine when I started the car and shut off when I turned the car off. 2) The cruise control was acting funny. I would get a yellow wrench when trying to set my speed...and some other operations. It was pretty consistent though. But after disconnecting the 12V battery and reconnecting, the issue went away.

So before taking it to the dealer, you might try resetting the system by pulling power. I also highly recommend the OBD Link MX with the Forscan software. It can help you figure things out...not super intuitive, but has helped me figure out why my car wasn't charging....the coolant was low after a HVB swap and so it was overheating. Forscan showed that the charge current was low and that the temp sensor on the charger was high...in addition to some related error codes which I noticed later.

 

[campfamily]

My FFE stopped working! Can't start, no sin of any electricity, charger is plugged in but no sign of any power coming into the car. So you think I shold unplugged the battery?

This is exactly what happened to my FFE when the 12V battery died. Put a charger on your 12V battery under the hood. Vehicle should "wake up". Charge the car. Then, drive down and get a new 12V battery. If your car is still under the BtoB warranty (you don't tell us the year or mileage on your car), Ford will cover this for you.

 

[Pearl]

My FFE stopped working! Can't start, no sin of any electricity, charger is plugged in but no sign of any power coming into the car. So you think I shold unplugged the battery?

This is exactly what happened to my FFE when the 12V battery died. Put a charger on your 12V battery under the hood. Vehicle should "wake up". Charge the car. Then, drive down and get a new 12V battery. If your car is still under the BtoB warranty (you don't tell us the year or mileage on your car), Ford will cover this for you.

My 2013 did the exact same. I tried to put a charger onthe 12V battery for over 12 hours, but 12V battery never rose above 7 volts. I figured I was at end of life for the battery, as it was 55months old. I replaced with a new battery from Ford (BXT-67R) for $129.