Battery draining problems with mk4.5 focus

[LNDR Tom]

Hi all,

some of you may have seen my post last month regarding my battery drain on my new focus. Link here if you wanted to- 

this is kind of an update for you and to discuss what else I should do to get this resolved as I’m out of ideas. 
 

I’ve taken the car into Ford 3x now regarding this issue. The 1st time they ran tests and found nothing wrong. The 2nd time they blamed my dash cam being hard wired in and told me to get that removed. The 3rd time they had the car for 3 days! No updates on the car whatsoever. ***** poor customer service throughout for them to tell me on day 3 that nothings wrong with the car and they’ve charged it up to 80%.
 

When it went in for the 3rd time I had the dash cam completely removed to prove it isn’t that causing the problems. I had the problems before the dash cam was installed. 
 

although Ford have told me that they have charged the car up the start stop still isn’t working and I’m just waiting for the same messages to start popping up regarding going into deep sleep mode. 
 

Ford just keep saying the same thing each time. How can there be nothing wrong with the car? I don’t get it. When I got the keys they told me that the battery draining and not charging enough could be down to my mileage as I don’t do a lot of miles. That being said the car is used daily. Although miles may not be high that doesn’t mean the cars not on for longer periods of time. Personally I think that’s a ***** poor excuse for Ford to give for the issues I’m getting. 

[alexp999]

Presumably they’ve done a current draw test?

I do journeys of about 15 mins each way for my commute on country roads and it’s enough to keep it from ever triggering deep sleep. Stop start will only come back if I do a longer journey but that’s to be expected. 

[LNDR Tom]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

Presumably they’ve done a current draw test?

I do journeys of about 15 mins each way for my commute on country roads and it’s enough to keep it from ever triggering deep sleep. Stop start will only come back if I do a longer journey but that’s to be expected. 

Believe they said they did. Although they’re never giving me paperwork at the end. Everything seems to be a bit hush hush tbh. I was told by Ford that start stop works if the battery is above 70%. Ford tells me as I pick the car up that the battery has at least 80%. If start stop isn’t working then the battery must already be below 70% at the time I pick the car up no? In my eyes if everyone’s being truthful then the cars had a 10% minimum drain from the time of testing to giving me my car back which was around 1hr

[alexp999]

Just now, LNDR Tom said:

Believe they said they did. Although they’re never giving me paperwork at the end. Everything seems to be a bit hush hush tbh. I was told by Ford that start stop works if the battery is above 70%. Ford tells me as I pick the car up that the battery has at least 80%. If start stop isn’t working then the battery must already be below 70% at the time I pick the car up no? In my eyes if everyone’s being truthful then the cars had a 10% minimum drain from the time of testing to giving me my car back which was around 1hr

I believe it needs 80% charge for stop start but honestly I wouldn’t worry about that being a sign your battery is draining. Some will suggest modifying the cars config to force it to charge more but honestly I’d just let it be if it won’t stop don’t worry about it. 
 

The signs of a low battery are things like the sync displaying saying it’s saving power, the keyless entry only working on one door or not at all and the deep sleep messages like you’ve said. 
 

In theory deep sleep should only trigger after more than about a week of the car being sat stationary. 
 

I would ask them what the off state battery draw was and if it was below the threshold Ford (the manufacturer not your dealer) set. Ford will have expected them to test and get a reading. Each model has an acceptable range they deem a pass. 
 

Otherwise have you considered visiting a different dealer?

[LNDR Tom]

5 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I believe it needs 80% charge for stop start but honestly I wouldn’t worry about that being a sign your battery is draining. Some will suggest modifying the cars config to force it to charge more but honestly I’d just let it be if it won’t stop don’t worry about it. 
 

The signs of a low battery are things like the sync displaying saying it’s saving power, the keyless entry only working on one door or not at all and the deep sleep messages like you’ve said. 
 

In theory deep sleep should only trigger after more than about a week of the car being sat stationary. 
 

I would ask them what the off state battery draw was and if it was below the threshold Ford (the manufacturer not your dealer) set. Ford will have expected them to test and get a reading. Each model has an acceptable range they deem a pass. 
 

Otherwise have you considered visiting a different dealer?

I’m going to take it to another dealer. Just for another opinion. I’m not fussed about start stop. I think it’s rubbish technology any way but if they truly charged it up like they said start stop should be working 

[Wino]

3 hours ago, LNDR Tom said:

I’m going to take it to another dealer. Just for another opinion. I’m not fussed about start stop. I think it’s rubbish technology any way but if they truly charged it up like they said start stop should be working 

There are other parameters involved as to when the stop start will work or not. Aircon on, heater/seats and also the outside temperature. There's a long list of things on here somewhere also the point of your car shutting down to save the battery isnt an issue itself, that's what it's designed to do.

I was tinkering with Forscan last week and the battery was at 70%SOC after 15/20mins of tinkering I got the same shut down message despite being hooked up to the mains with a smart charger and the charger itself reading 12.4v.

[aah]

Any further update on this, or a resolution (hopeful!).

I have a new mk 4.5 Estate, bought in August, and have exactly the same issue. Don't think Start Stop has worked once since a got the car, and more recently noticing that headlights don't turn on when I unlock car, and no interior lights etc. either unless ignition is on. Fordpass app is also full of "remote features disabled to preserve battery" messages. Going to book it in to local dealership, but thought I'd check if anyone knew anything more?

Cheers

[Mobilemum]

I would love to know if anyone has got to the bottom of this issue. I have a 22 plate with 2000miles on it from new. Last October the stop start refused to work, then on the ford app it told me it has been put into deep sleep to protect the battery. I changed the battery and at full charge it showed 14.4v.  After one use of the car the stop start worked once then not again. The car has never failed to start, but after it went back to be the garage last month they too only charged the battery, on delivery back to me the driver said it was working, but it didn't when I came to drive it after him. I'm not bothered what the cost of repair is I just want it working, what do I say to the garage now to get them to sort it out - if anyone knows?

[alexp999]

Stop start is not supposed to work all the time. Hundreds of threads on here about it and the conditions. Don’t assume there is a fault unless you get other symptoms of a low battery. 

[Mobilemum]

16 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Stop start is not supposed to work all the time. Hundreds of threads on here about it and the conditions. Don’t assume there is a fault unless you get other symptoms of a low battery. 

Thanks, I just find it strange, as it worked every time I used the car from January when I had it through to October 🤷🏼‍♀️

[alexp999]

7 minutes ago, Mobilemum said:

Thanks, I just find it strange, as it worked every time I used the car from January when I had it through to October 🤷🏼‍♀️

And now it’s winter and the battery is a year older. Sounds normal. It’s there to reduce emissions during homologation. Don’t worry about it in the real world.

[Wino]

2 hours ago, Mobilemum said:

I would love to know if anyone has got to the bottom of this issue. I have a 22 plate with 2000miles on it from new. Last October the stop start refused to work, then on the ford app it told me it has been put into deep sleep to protect the battery. I changed the battery and at full charge it showed 14.4v.  After one use of the car the stop start worked once then not again. The car has never failed to start, but after it went back to be the garage last month they too only charged the battery, on delivery back to me the driver said it was working, but it didn't when I came to drive it after him. I'm not bothered what the cost of repair is I just want it working, what do I say to the garage now to get them to sort it out - if anyone knows?

You won't get to the bottom of it, it's an ongoing circle of events. You need to ignore the voltage and concentrate on the battery SOC overall. 

Had mine on charge today, first chance I've had in a long while and will be going back on charge tomorrow.

It was reading 12.5v on the charger as it began its cycle and then I hooked up Forscan and looked at the SOC ...... it was at 55% probably due to the recent cold spell and having the heated screens and seats and the Aircon despite only doing very little mileage. 

 

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Wino said:

It was reading 12.5v on the charger as it began its cycle and then I hooked up Forscan and looked at the SOC ...... it was at 55% probably due to the recent cold spell

Mine is hovering around 63% SOC, despite having it on charge for 3 consecutive nights. The best I managed to get it up to was 72% but the very next day it was back down. It's maybe time to replace the battery (those poor dolphins) and I'll probably get a visit from Gretta.

Days in service recorded 497

[Wino]

Just checked it and its sat at 57% SOC @ 12.5v and 360 days in service so back on charge today and see how it goes. Haven't got to use it today ( Noddy car instead) so should get a longer charge than yesterday providing we get no rain. No rain forecast until later tonight, it's just cold but sunny. 

No idea how long it would take to get the battery to 80% ish though.

[Wino]

In my post above I put days in service as 360 days and this has been niggling me since. So some of you will remember that I changed the criteria of the battery via Forscan last year (22Jan) from the 52ah to 70ah so this must be where the 360 days come from. 

Been back on Forscan today to double check and I noticed that both the battery type and battery Factory had been altered to Unknown on both so I have put them back to what they originally was.

Has anyone any ideas as to why they would come up as unknown and not as the 70ah that I had previously selected ? 

They even come up on the battery list as unknown in Forscan ( no 13). 

I've attached the two images from what I changed last year.

[alexp999]

7 minutes ago, Wino said:

In my post above I put days in service as 360 days and this has been niggling me since. So some of you will remember that I changed the criteria of the battery via Forscan last year (22Jan) from the 52ah to 70ah so this must be where the 360 days come from. 

Been back on Forscan today to double check and I noticed that both the battery type and battery Factory had been altered to Unknown on both so I have put them back to what they originally was.

Has anyone any ideas as to why they would come up as unknown and not as the 70ah that I had previously selected ? 

They even come up on the battery list as unknown in Forscan ( no 13). 

I've attached the two images from what I changed last year.

Have you had any warranty work done, recalls,field actions, new modules, etc by a dealer? They may have loaded the factory asbuilt.

Either that or you are using a newer version of Forscan which has changed the descriptions for your model. Got to remember the UI is just giving you interpretations of bit values which the developer may change given new information or experience. The value may not have changed. Do you know what hex or decimal was changed?

[Wino]

41 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Have you had any warranty work done, recalls,field actions, new modules, etc by a dealer? They may have loaded the factory asbuilt.

Either that or you are using a newer version of Forscan which has changed the descriptions for your model. Got to remember the UI is just giving you interpretations of bit values which the developer may change given new information or experience. The value may not have changed. Do you know what hex or decimal was changed?

I did update Forscan yesterday before I checked the SOC but I didn't notice it at the time. Perhaps that is it. 

It's not been in for any warranty, Field actions or recalls since the PTM one which was prior to me altering the battery specification.

No hex or decimals changed in the process.

[alexp999]

You can see from your screenshot that the value of 13 is what you picked before and it's still the same now, so just Forscan that's changed its description for that value.

It's why I don't think it's worth changing, we don't know what the values really mean.

[Wino]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

You can see from your screenshot that the value of 13 is what you picked before and it's still the same now, so just Forscan that's changed its description for that value.

It's why I don't think it's worth changing, we don't know what the values really mean.

There both the pics I took last year.  Forscan has battery unknown at number 13. I didnt have my phone with me at the time to take a pic but it definitely said unknown at 13.

I've put it back to Factory spec and back on charge.

[alexp999]

Just now, Wino said:

There both the pics I took last year.  Forscan has battery unknown at number 13. I didnt have my phone with me at the time to take a pic but it definitely said unknown at 13.

I've put it back to Factory spec and back on charge.

Yes, but what I'm saying is that the value hasn't changed.

It was 13 then, it's still 13 now.

[Wino]

16 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Yes, but what I'm saying is that the value hasn't changed.

It was 13 then, it's still 13 now.

I get that, but if the ECU doesn't know what type/size of battery no 13 actually is, then how does it determine as to how charge it and by how much ?

[alexp999]

8 minutes ago, Wino said:

I get that, but if the ECU doesn't know what type/size of battery no 13 actually is, then how does it determine as to how charge it and by how much ?

Exactly, that's why I don't think it's worth changing from the factory value, because Forscan is just guessing what it means, or using values from a different model that may not be accurate.

They've clearly decided what the UI used to show 13 meant, does not actually mean that, at least for your model.

Remember Forscan is just changing values, i.e. it changed 8 to 13. The descriptions are entirely within the app.

We don't know how the car really interprets 8 or 13, but at least the factory value should be a value the firmware expects.

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Wino said:

I put days in service as 360 days and this has been niggling me since.

Well now that set me thinking. My car is just over 4 years old and I've never reset the BMS so why is it showing today 498 days ?

Perhaps it can only count to 999 and then rolls back over to 001 ???

[alexp999]

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

Well now that set me thinking. My car is just over 4 years old and I've never reset the BMS so why is it showing today 498 days ?

Perhaps it can only count to 999 and then rolls back over to 001 ???

498 days since you changed your SoC value? I think it resets if you change anything.

[unofix]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

498 days since you changed your SoC value?

Now that might be very possible !! 👍