nogoodbum Posted November 4, 2021 Report Share Posted November 4, 2021 Hello, New to forum, reader much more than poster, with a short story & observations. Purchased a 2013 C-Max 08/2020 with a clean Car-Fax report at a very good price [live in a 'hybrid/electric desert] here in eastern NC, 60 miles west to triangle car would have $2K more. 11/2020 car stopped, towed to local dealer, they replaced 12V battery [LB little battery]. Not surprised, 98K & 7yrs on OE battery. No problems [I still need to find a 12yr old to explain how to work radio cluster & steering wheel buttons] until 09/2021. Car died with all 12v powered items not working; previous failure some 12v were working but very weak. Towed to same dealer, after a week they said LB needed charging [as if I had left lights on]. After charging & driving car to their storage spot, car quit again when they tried to bring it to customer pick-up [after I had paid bill]. Rather than admitting they sold & installed a "new" LB 11/20 that went/was bad, they spent the next THREE weeks [I suspect a half a day or two per week] chasing a "phantom"electric drain. They finally put in another new LB in week 5, took a week for new LB to arrive from their supplier. Car has been running & starting great ever since. Observations: #1 LB is more a marine battery than a auto battery [low CCA-longer amp-hours versus high CCA-shorter amp-hours. Typical auto battery tests & observations don't work [some of us for 50+yrs}, especially because LB doesn't start car but big battery [BB] does. #2 If you put in a new LB, check the date of manufacture before purchase. Of all the brands of batteries out there are made by only 3-5 different makers. Look online on how to read code for each one to get the freshest one possible. #3 If you have a problem with a dealer service dept. as I did. call the national Ford service complaint line [#online]. Be sure you have your vin# & service personnel names & #s. They were VERY helpful lighting a fire under dealer service dept. for me Thank for reading, sorry for long story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr08 Posted November 4, 2021 Report Share Posted November 4, 2021 Others will probably advise differently, but I'd ensure the dealer is installing the proper called for battery for the vehicle to rule out any variables. It should Part # BXT67R. If the CCA/AH ratings are different, it could potentially impact the vehicle properly charging/discharging the battery. In addition, ensure they are resetting the internal battery age counter in the vehicle. If you are not aware, it has a complex battery monitoring system that watches age and degradation of the battery and manages charging and discharging accordingly. Not resetting this on a new battery may cause the system not to allow it to fully charge. This can also be done yourself, but you would need to use either Ford's IDS software or the free ForScan software and be familiar with its operation. There have also been some known battery drain issues over the years on these vehicles. These are some of the common causes I have seen: 1) The radio stays on after key-off (screen may go off, but you may still here audio or screen may stay on too) or the radio is unresponsive (More specifically, the touch screen is functional, but if you try to change audio sources from like FM to Bluetooth, the source will not change. Changing AM/FM stations may also not work). The workaround for this is to pull Fuse 79 temporarily. A proper fix requires the dealer to update the calibration on the ACM module. 2) Misalignment of the rear hatch. If you see any odd behavior with the car registering the hatch being open at unusual times, this may need to be checked. 3) The DC-DC converter (which takes place of a traditional alternator in our vehicles) has had some updates to improve operation and proper charging/discharging of the 12v battery. It may also be worth seeing if the dealer can run around the vehicle updating all the modules they can. These are essentially rolling computers and Ford has supplied regular updates over the years and some could improve potential parasitic drain issues. For a 2013, depending on how proactive the previous owner and dealers were, it could potentially have a lot of outstanding updates. C-MaxA2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nogoodbum Posted November 5, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2021 In hindsight, first LB was replaced 11/2020 based on internal car battery monitor [I suspect] & not on any outside the car tests. According to bill statement, correct part# was used & battery monitor was reset. Carfax report showed regular upkeep by previous owner at Ford dealers as he/she moved from original purchase in Tenn. to trade-in in NC. After first LB was replaced I checked local DIY part chains to see if & how much I may had been overcharged by dealer. Turns out dealer was very fair on battery price. I noticed at the time all the local part stores listed the battery as a non-stock item available only by special order. Again, in hindsight this now leads me to think LB was old stock [only took 4hrs to install "new" LB]. Again I live in what I would call a hybrid/electric desert [out of 100 Ford cars new or used available locally you would be lucky to find more than 2 or 3 H/E]. Have had no problems with radio or rear hatch or anything else with car. The biggest problem with dealer was a total lack of communication. Phone call went unanswered & not returned. Had to contact Ford national complaint center [1-800-392-3673] to get any kind of answer from dealer. Three weeks in, dealer said they were in contact with Detroit about car "tracing" problem even to the point of replacing batteries & programming in both key fobs. I do not know if dealer tested battery outside of the car & just relied on car monitor but can't think of reason why they would not. They said battery tested as "good" when charged but finally replaced after 3 weeks of looking for problem. The points of my original post are IMO the battery poses different symptoms of failure than we see in regular cars & that to advise others to check dates on battery purchase to guard against getting one that may have been sitting on a shelf for several years as I believe my first replacement was. THANKS for replying Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lacienega Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 (edited) Almost bought the wrong battery. My 2014 SEL manual says to use motorcraft BXT-96R-590 for battery when it should be BXT67R instead. Good thing I've double checked the old battery in the trunk for the correct #. Lasted me 7 years and 118 000 miles. Bought from the dealer and has a date on it from October 2021...so pretty fresh. Edited November 16, 2021 by Lacienega Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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