I purchased a 2016 Ford C Max Hybrid about 15 months ago, with about 90k miles on it. It has actually been one of the best running vehicles I’ve ever owned up to now.
Over the last week or so, I’ve been getting notifications on this “gold star connect” app (tracks where my car is, trips, battery levels, etc) telling me the battery was running low. It has usually been warning me that it was asking 10v.
Around the time this started, I tried to start the vehicle and instead all that came up was a wrench icon and a message saying “see manual”. I turned off the key and tried again - and it started fine. This did not happen again until today.
Today at work, the app notified me that the battery was at 8.429v, the lowest I’ve seen. I didn’t see this until just as I was leaving. When using the key clicker to unlock the car, nothing happened. I thought maybe the battery in the key died, so I manually opened the door.
I immediately noticed upon entering the vehicle that the usual stuff wasn’t appearing on the dash screen. It was just off. I started the car, and got the wrench icon and “see manual” message again. This time, I hit OK and drove down the street to the gas station. It drove fine.
After getting gas, the car started up like normal again and ran fine. As of this moment (after my 45 minute drive home), the app shows my better is at 12.7v.
Full disclosure, I am not a car person. I have no idea if this is the battery that all cars have, or if its the other battery that powers the car when it’s in EV mode (I assume there is a separate battery for that?).
I am hoping all this points to is me needing to spend the $150 or whatever to replace the car battery and nothing more. It’s a used vehicle and I don’t know how old this battery is. But are these error messages signs of something worse?
