Battery dead

[Don O.]

Test case. Had the 2 latest TSBs done. Took 1.5 days as service wanted to monitor any 12V drain for at least 8 hours. After having the CMAX back for several days, I performed a preliminary testcase. My 3 failures were a month to 6 weeks apart & after I left it parked in my garage for 3 days. Jury is still out for the timeframe. But I made a short drive & left it in the garage for 4 days without starting. High voltage level was in the middle of the thermometer gauge when I started it. No problem at this stage. Time will tell for me. Nothing before about the 4th of July would be encouraging to me.

 

Sidebar...mpg. All the 2013 Escapes (4 cyl engines) are rated at 24-26 mpg overall. Assuming that is "close"...MY CMAX right now has close to 2100 miles on it with close to 1/3 of them listed as by electric. That would tell me 1400 miles on gas. 1400 miles/25mpg gives 56 gals used. 2100 miles/56 gals = 37.5 mpg. That is almost exactly what I'm getting overall. Close to 40 mpg now with the warmer temps...

[Missyopu]

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Since I had the battery replaced about a week ago a few times when I have turned the car on the display was slow to turn on. The little middle screen was black for a about 10 seconds but the radio was playing. at other times all the display screen were slow to turn on. Prior to the battery problem I had the screens would turn on instantaneously.

[Monarch59]

I had a new problem yesterday. When I started my CMAX the dash board light up but the car did not start. In stead of getting the ready to drive box. I go a box with a wrench and it said see owners manual.  When we looked in the owners manual we could not find what the problem was. We did go to the dealer and they said that it had coded. They were happy about that. They said that it should tell what the problem is. We did have it towed to the dealers by the roadside assist. They are keeping it over the weekend. This all happened in one week.

It started with a dead battery. Then a weak battery to this new problem. H/as anyone else had this problem

[K-max hybrid]

Hey all, first post, just got my c-max about 2 weeks ago. I have a hybrid SEL 300A package. Found car dead in the garage on Wednesday (5/15) night. Got a tow from ford roadside assist to local dealer. Thursday they jumped the car and then couldn't recreate the issue (dead battery). I had them keep it overnight to see if it would start in the morning, which it did. Just to be safe ( and after reading this forum) I asked them to run TSB 13-5-1, had to twist their arm to get them to do it, but they did. Got the car back last night, fingers crossed on no new problems.

 

Note, entertainment system stopped working about two days before dead battery; System was trying to update Sirius and froze. Performed factory reset which didn't help. Apparently after the jump sync and mft kicked back on, and is now running fine. Dealer had no explanation because again they couldn't replicate the problem. Also, after the jump start the ABS/advanc trac light came on. Dealer ran diagnostic, drove around a bit and then the light went off. Dealer said that diagnostic test returned no problems with abs/advance trac and attributed the indicator light to the jump start.

 

I'll post again if I have additional issues. Otherwise, when the car runs, I'm really happy with it, getting approx. 42 mpg on first 200 miles driving, very comfortable, quite, roomy.

[salman]

K-Max

 

That was inadequate service.

 

Have them check the electrical connectors. Have them contact Ford engineers via their hotline. Tell them you've read of 50-60 cases of dead batteries on this forum and that this is what Ford engineers recommend.

 

Call Ford Customer service to log your case.

 

If the service dept resists doing the TSBs, contacting the engineers, etc, then either go to a different dealership for service or complain to the customer service hotline or both.

 

Be prepared to cite all the TSBs and details of Ford engineers' advice on other cars.

[wab]

Hey all, first post, just got my c-max about 2 weeks ago. I have a hybrid SEL 300A package. Found car dead in the garage on Wednesday (5/15) night. Got a tow from ford roadside assist to local dealer. Thursday they jumped the car and then couldn't recreate the issue (dead battery). I had them keep it overnight to see if it would start in the morning, which it did. Just to be safe ( and after reading this forum) I asked them to run TSB 13-5-1, had to twist their arm to get them to do it, but they did. Got the car back last night, fingers crossed on no new problems.

 

Note, entertainment system stopped working about two days before dead battery; System was trying to update Sirius and froze. Performed factory reset which didn't help. Apparently after the jump sync and mft kicked back on, and is now running fine. Dealer had no explanation because again they couldn't replicate the problem. Also, after the jump start the ABS/advanc trac light came on. Dealer ran diagnostic, drove around a bit and then the light went off. Dealer said that diagnostic test returned no problems with abs/advance trac and attributed the indicator light to the jump start.

 

I'll post again if I have additional issues. Otherwise, when the car runs, I'm really happy with it, getting approx. 42 mpg on first 200 miles driving, very comfortable, quite, roomy.

 

Greetings K-Max and welcome

 

Sorry about your battery, dead batteries on SEL's are rare.

 

 Did you see the other thread "For those who have had 12v Battery problems?"

It's another thread with valuable info plus it has a POLL, you'll be the 5th SEL to report a battery problem.

 

http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/1294-for-those-who-have-had-12v-battery-problems/?mode=show

 

Thanks GOOD LUCK and Welcome

[lordryck]

Another non-standard failure. I have a 2013 C-Max Energi purchased on March 17. Currently has 1200 miles on it. It's been performing beautifully since we bought it and around 1000 of those 1200 miles have been entirely electric. This morning my wife took it to the grocery store (round trip 9 miles). Tonight, around  7pm, I found it totally dead. I had no experience with this but a quick search found several references to the 12v battery and ultimately to this forum. Reading all 36 pages was informative and those of you who've been fighting this for months have my sympathies!

 

I put a charger on it and very shortly a lot of relays started clicking and the car started to come back to life. It took about 10 minutes (I'm charging at 15 amps) before the J-1772 came back alive and the EVSE kicked on. I don't know if it never finished charging this morning or what. We always plug it in when we park it.

 

An interesting, probably unrelated issue. 5 days ago I downloaded and "installed" a small program from Ford that was supposed to record the current MFT software versions on a USB drive which I then uploaded to the Ford Sync site. The description indicates it didn't actually install anything in the car, just read some data. The day after I did that the car wasn't warmed up in the morning and I found all the GO Times were gone. Furthermore the myfordmobile site/app wasn't getting updates from the car. The reason I went out there tonight was I found another post that said pulling fuse 67 would "reboot" the cell-phone module and hopefully get it talking to the Ford cloud again. Not understanding what I was seeing when none of the interior lights worked, I popped the fuse anyway. After I got the charger on the 12v battery and the car started coming back to life it did, indeed, send an update to myfordmobile. But it made me wonder if that cellular modem was in a looping state and that's what killed the battery.

 

I'll talk to my dealer about TSB 13-5-1 but while we do make lots of short trips (it's rare for us to exceed the 25 mile limit of the EV battery), we don't have high electrical loads. The climate system is generally off and the only thing plugged into the USB ports is a thumbdrive of music. Anyway, a data point for an Energi with the large touchscreen.

 

--Rick

[fotomoto]

Add me to the list (voted in poll).  

 

I washed mine with an electric power washer in my driveway but didn't spend a lot of time on the front fascia area as I noted at the time an amazing lack of bugs.  HOWEVER, I also had plugged in an ultra-gauge into the OBD port earlier that morning.  The car was off and I didn't have the FOB with me yet I noticed the gauge which doesn't have its own power supply began search mode.  Even if it continued to search all night, I can't believe the draw from it would drain even a small 12V battery.  

 

The next morning I got in and notice the overhead lights were strobing at a very fast rate and car would not power on (dash completely dark).  Checked voltage at the underhood terminals:  8.7v   Put it on a charger for about an hour at 10amps.  Powered on and drove it to breakfast, left it on with a/c, radio, headlights, and climate all turned off.  Took it back home and left it on the charger at a lower 2amp rate for several hours.  Been fine since and I have also removed the ultra-gauge.  I'm going to wash it again next weekend to see if I can duplicate.  

Edited May 20, 2013 by fotomoto

[salman]

fotomoto

 

you could take the car to the dealer and have them check the electrical connnectors for water intrusion. That should give you the answer you seek better than re-running the test by washing again.

[mbedit]

I hadn't checked in for awhile, I just rolled over 4700 miles and no issues. With warmer weather, my milage has gone up to about 42 MPG actual (it reports +44). 

 

I had the TSB done just for preventative measures, especially after the issues with my 1st C-Max but because I wasn't seeing any issues, its difficult to say it headed off a problem, but Im glad not to see any dead battery in more than 4 months. 

 

I drove it up to RDU and left it for a week in the parking lot, and when I got back at 1am, it chirped alive at the lick of the key and rolled out just fine!

 

It sounds like more issues with upper end packages are being reported? 

[Monarch59]

This week the dealer replaced the battery in my 2013 CMAX. When they replaced it the car started to give all kinds of codes. The dealer called the main Ford Company and they are sending an engineer to look at my car. One of the things that one of the codes said was that one of the three water pumps need to be replaced. They do not know if that is the cause of the problem. They do not know which one of the pumps to replace.  I have had a loaner from the dealer for about 2 weeks. I have not had any problems with the dealer or the main Ford Company. Everyone has been really nice to me.  :)

[DaveofDurham]

Three water pumps?

[zhackwyatt]

Three water pumps?

I'm guessing one for the Engine and one for the invertor. Not sure what the third one would be for.

[fotomoto]

 I'm going to wash it again next weekend to see if I can duplicate.  

 

Update:  Long story short, I did wash it again three days ago but it was a hand wash.  No issues.

[Bill-N]

I'm guessing one for the Engine and one for the invertor. Not sure what the third one would be for.

 

 

And one for the little boy Who lives down the lane.   :)

[ceemax71]

I'm guessing one for the Engine and one for the invertor. Not sure what the third one would be for.

On the hybrid, there is a water pump for cooling the engine and a water pump for cooling the inverter.

 

On the Energi, there is a third water pump for the cabin heater.

The Energi has a coolant loop with an electric heater (powered by the high voltage battery) to heat the cabin without the ICE running.

[Monarch59]

Three water pumps?

Yes that is what the dealer told me. I do not know what they are for. Still waiting to hear from the dealer about the car. 

[zhackwyatt]

On the hybrid, there is a water pump for cooling the engine and a water pump for cooling the inverter.

 

On the Energi, there is a third water pump for the cabin heater.

The Energi has a coolant loop with an electric heater (powered by the high voltage battery) to heat the cabin without the ICE running.

Ah, I didn't know that, thanks!

[bymaine]

Had the TSB 13-5-1 installed by the local dealer about 3 weeks ago. CMax SE found dead over the weekend in the garage. Jumped it myself, and notified the local dealer and Ford Customer Service yesterday. This is my third DOA. Here are some interesting occurrences:

 

Each of the dead batteries occurred at my home, battery failed after 12 hours of non-use

After I jumped the battery, I moved the CMax out of the garage into the driveway, shut it down, then immediately re-started it without the jump-pack, no problem starting

Since the TSB update and subsequent battery failure, "My View" doesn't remember my view, keeps switching to 'miles to go and mpg" when I tell it to do otherwise. 

 

Appointment is slated for Monday. Will advised what Ford/Dealer finds...

[fotomoto]

Hmmm, another SE.  Did any of these occurrences happen after washing the car or driving through puddles of water?

 

Had the TSB 13-5-1 installed by the local dealer about 3 weeks ago. CMax SE found dead over the weekend in the garage. Jumped it myself, and notified the local dealer and Ford Customer Service yesterday. This is my third DOA. Here are some interesting occurrences:

Edited May 30, 2013 by fotomoto

[bymaine]

Hmmm, another SE.  Did any of these occurrences happen after washing the car or driving the puddles of water?

It rained the day before, and I did drive in the rain. It sat in the garage for 24 hours before I attempted to restart. The previous times were a few months ago, and i don't remember. But over this past weekend, it was very rainy..interesting. Thanks for the email. 

[fotomoto]

It is believed there are wiring connectors in the front of the car that are getting water in them and causing a slow draw down.  Because the 12V battery in a hybrid doesn't have to crank start the gas engine (the large hybrid battery does that), it can be much smaller than the one in a "regular" car so it doesn't take too long to discharge it.   

[salman]

see the thread on dead battery & water intrusions for a list of the electrical connectors that Ford has identified as having problems

 

have your service manager contact Ford engineers and ask them about the electrical connectors, and then insist that the service dept check the connectors on your car.

 

my car had water in 3 of the electrical connectors, and like you my car had a dead battery after performing the most recent TSBs. The dealer ran my car through a high pressure wash after doing the TSBs.

 

I think there is a good chance that water in the electrical connectors has been the root cause of many dead battery problems. Time will tell.

[Edsel]

Is there a website with a list of all the TSB's and FSA's for the C-Max?

[Temp61]

does anybody know if Ford engineers are working on a redesign for the electrical harness?

 

i have the dates on my overnight dead batteries so i'll to go back and try to correlate them with weather conditions the prior day.