Dead Battery on new Edge ST

[ALDriver]

? Had our 2020 Edge ST  about 4 months and really like it. Delivers on most all it promises. Recently had parked it in the garage for the night in the usual way. The next morning all the electrical components were dead. Voltage across the battery terminals was 4.2 Volts. Jumped the battery from my other vehicle and got it started. The only message was a “power train malfunction please see the dealer.” Drove it to the local dealer (about 20 minutes) and they could find nothing wrong and cleared the power train warning. They also said the battery tested at 12.6 volts even though no additional charging was done. They also recommended that I should have it towed in if it happens again.

Anyone have any thought as to what happened.

 

[enigma-2]

Battery getting weak (can't really tell just using a voltage test, you MUST run a  load test or test the CCA rating to get an actual measure on the battery. A weak battery can test good voltage wise, but goes down quickly as it gets under load). 

 

Other possibility is a power draw. Light left on, hatch left open, that type of thing. Was ANYTHING plugged in?

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by enigma-2

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

charge the battery with a smart charger.  driving will not bring it back to life, it is too far gone for that.  you can put it on a pulse charger for some time, but you have to monitor it periodically for voltage and temperature.

 

or as YT videos show, if it is an AGM battery, put it in series with a known good SLA battery and get the voltage up to above 11V.  Then you can charge the AGM battery directly.

 

Or get a new battery and keep it charged.  If not driven much, or not far at highway speeds, it probably needs to be on a tender on a regular basis.

[enigma-2]

12.6 volts is really meaningless in today's cars. Couple of years ago we were out shopping. Short trips to various stores. Was at local grocery, and when we came out the battery wasn't able to turn the car over. I carry an emergency  jumper battery and was able to jump the car and get it started. But it was an old battery that finally wasn't able to take a sufficient charge with so many short trips. 

 

In today's cars, you need to test the battery by testing the CCAs (dealers refer to this a test under load). Even a weak battery can test good volts at rest, and certainly should have charged up during the drive to the dealer. 

 

Start by doing a CCA test of the battery. (Eleminate the obvious).

Edited July 23, 2021 by enigma-2

[KrazyIvanUSA]

Check the date code on the battery. I have heard a lot of stories about Service Techs swapping their old broken batteries from their vehicles into dealer vehicles or vehicles that come in for service/warranty work.  Pretty messed up, but from what I hear, it happens a lot.  If the battery is older than the vehicle, you should talk to the dealer about it.

[Dnickerson]

I’m a little late to the party but decided to look and see if I’m the only one experiencing this dead battery syndrome.  Our 2020 Edge ST (purchased new in 2021) currently has 11k miles on it and is on the second time around of having the battery go mysteriously dead.  A couple days before it happening we did receive messages on our ford pass saying remote features disabled to conserve battery life. Then as usual every day it was driven to work, shopping, etc and suddenly just flat dead the next morning.  First time I was extremely mad after trying to jump and charge it with no luck.  Had it towed to the dealership under warranty and had it looked at.  Service department said they had to run a battery load test and diagnostic on it and it took longer to get a result then they’ve ever seen but it came back as passing so they could not change the battery under warranty.  The service guy was questioning if we left anything on in the car or something plugged in.  NOPE, nothing, we don’t even have a phone charging cord in it.  And quite frankly on this vehicle it’s almost impossible to have an interior light on or anything else without it shutting off automatically, the car is pretty intelligent.  But we did check and nothing was left on.  So we wrote this experience off as just weird and a one time thing.  Well this morning, 2 months later, here we are again with a completely dead battery.  As usual for the last 2 mornings we got the messsges on the Ford pass saying the remote features are disabled but every day the car started up just fine and functioned normally.  Beyond upset again…. 

[ebank]

I was experiencing the same issues in my '19 ST at about 21K, I wasn't going to take a trip to the dealer for them to tell me it was fine, I waited until it would not start one morning.
Jump started and drove to the dealer.

I saw the tech come and put paperwork on my service writers desk after parking my car in the service lane, the service writer wasn't at his desk so I went over and read the diagnosis:

Battery cracked and leaking, replaced.

 

Online service history says:
 

SERVICES PERFORMED

Electrical

TOTAL COST

$0

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

idk if the pcm retrains itself whenever a new battery is installed on gen 2+ but if it thinks it is charging an old battery, this can happen.

 

also pretty easy to check for parasitic draws. normally takes 40+ minutes after engine shutoff for all modules to go to sleep, but plug in additions can be responsible too.

[Xtra]

I bought a 2016 Sport new and went through 3 batteries in 3 years. I got tired of it and bought a larger H7 size battery and have had no problems for over 2 years now.  They do make an H8 that will fit, but it is big, heavy and overkill unless you live where it is freezing a lot and / or your car has auto stop and start.  Because the battery sits up high in the Edge and weight affects the handling, I think that the stock ST battery might be the same small battery that they used in the Sport. I have found the H7 size to be the best comprise between weight and reliability. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Xtra

[dajo2012]

Have had the battery replaced once. Battery has gone dead a couple of times.  Get Ford messages sometime  about remote being shut down. Never have got the message before battery dead in the morning. I carry a small jump start unit and have used it after overnight. 30,000 miles 2020 ST.  Never had a new car do this before..

Edited April 20, 2022 by dajo2012

[JoeVic]

I had a similar problem with my 2019 ST.  Battery only died completely once.  But I got the 'going to sleep' warning about 5 times. Dealer checked it and said everything shows fine.  Hasn't occurred in a while, but I hate feeling like it may happen randomly again. 

[ebank]

That is one of the reasons I carry a jump start battery in the car.

The other is I hate seeing people hook up 2 cars via jumper cables, there is so much that can go wrong and both batteries will suffer.

IF I see someone in a parking lot with the hood up (and I have time) I will usualy ask if they need a jump start.

[Xtra]

New cars like the Edge have lots of  energy vampires. Systems that run even when the car is turned off.  These parasitic vampires take a toll on damaged and marginalized batteries that have just enough CCA  and reserve  to do the job. 

[Dnickerson]

20 hours ago, ebank said:

I was experiencing the same issues in my '19 ST at about 21K, I wasn't going to take a trip to the dealer for them to tell me it was fine, I waited until it would not start one morning.
Jump started and drove to the dealer.

I saw the tech come and put paperwork on my service writers desk after parking my car in the service lane, the service writer wasn't at his desk so I went over and read the diagnosis:

Battery cracked and leaking, replaced.

 

Online service history says:
 

SERVICES PERFORMED

Electrical

TOTAL COST

$0

I hear you, the service guy called me several times over the 2 days our car was at the dealership garage to tell me that they found no unusual errors on the car, no unusual power draws unexpectedly and finally after the battery being on a load tester literally the entire day that it passed.  I told him this was basically unacceptable and there must be some explanation.  But of course their hands are tied to do anything under warranty unless they can prove it.  I would 95% put my money on a flakey battery but I’m not gonna pay for it! 

[Dnickerson]

10 hours ago, Xtra said:

New cars like the Edge have lots of  energy vampires. Systems that run even when the car is turned off.  These parasitic vampires take a toll on damaged and marginalized batteries that have just enough CCA  and reserve  to do the job. 

You are absolutely right, which is scary.  The systems do updates and software downloads and all kinds of weird stuff when it’s parked.  You would think that since it must monitor the battery voltage (enough so to let me know that remote features are being disabled to conserve) it would shut whatever other built in features off also.  

[Dnickerson]

18 hours ago, WWWPerfA_ZN0W said:

idk if the pcm retrains itself whenever a new battery is installed on gen 2+ but if it thinks it is charging an old battery, this can happen.

 

also pretty easy to check for parasitic draws. normally takes 40+ minutes after engine shutoff for all modules to go to sleep, but plug in additions can be responsible too.

The dealership kept ours overnight hooked up to their diagnostic equipment to check for parasitic draws and found nothing.  I’m not completely sold that there wasn’t something going on at home where it connects to our WiFi and typically does system updates and whatever else.  We also have absolutely no accessories in the car such as a phone charger or anything as this model has the charger pad built in.  

[Dnickerson]

14 hours ago, JoeVic said:

I had a similar problem with my 2019 ST.  Battery only died completely once.  But I got the 'going to sleep' warning about 5 times. Dealer checked it and said everything shows fine.  Hasn't occurred in a while, but I hate feeling like it may happen randomly again. 

This is my biggest fear.  My daughter drives a 1999 Honda Accord that we bought her 7 years ago for $3K that has proven more reliable then our 2020 Edge.  We bought a new car to not have to worry about these kinds of things!! ?

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

1 hour ago, Dnickerson said:

This is my biggest fear.  My daughter drives a 1999 Honda Accord that we bought her 7 years ago for $3K that has proven more reliable then our 2020 Edge.  We bought a new car to not have to worry about these kinds of things!! ?

much could be said about older vehicles. never had batteries die in our pre2000 Taurus-es either.  the demand on them is just so much more now.

 

there are many reasons to buy newer vehicles, but DIYability and battery reliability are definitely not two of them lol. 

[Dnickerson]

52 minutes ago, WWWPerfA_ZN0W said:

much could be said about older vehicles. never had batteries die in our pre2000 Taurus-es either.  the demand on them is just so much more now.

 

there are many reasons to buy newer vehicles, but DIYability and battery reliability are definitely not two of them lol. 

I agree 100%
 

Its funny, the car can park itself, drive itself, stop itself and even update software/systems by itself.  You’d figure by now it would be able to tell that the battery is getting low and it would just start itself up to charge it… or at least give you the option lol 

[enigma-2]

2 hours ago, Dnickerson said:

 You’d figure by now it would be able to tell that the battery is getting low and it would just start itself up to charge it…

Dangerous if it started up in a closed garage when no one was aware.

 

But, continuing the thought, if it sensed the battety voltage getting low and sent you a text on your cell .... 

 

"I'm sorry to bother you Dave. This is your car, Hal. I'm  afraid to tell you but it appears that my battery voltage is getting low. I've tried shutting off everything I can,  but it appears that the APIM module and the drivers door mirror have gotten into an  arguement and are refusing to listen to me. Would you like for me to open the pod-bay door and start the engine?"