Having just gone through the list of Stop/Start inhibitors, there are a total of 140 conditions that have to be correct on the Focus MK4 before it will work. Many as you might expect are to do with the battery, the load on the alternator and the battery temperature. Other things that inhibit the system that might not be so obvious is things like the steering angle sensor or cabin heating (or cooling). Given the vast list of conditions it is more of a surprise that it ever works.

Don’t worry about stop start as a sign of low battery. As unofix says there are many conditions. However the low power messages are something you shouldn’t regularly be seeing. Heated seats and steering wheel won’t mix with lots of short journeys though. At this time of year my 6 mile commute would in time trigger the same warnings if I use those too much. 

11 hours ago, alexp999 said:

Don’t worry about stop start as a sign of low battery. As unofix says there are many conditions. However the low power messages are something you shouldn’t regularly be seeing. Heated seats and steering wheel won’t mix with lots of short journeys though. At this time of year my 6 mile commute would in time trigger the same warnings if I use those too much. 

Have to disagree. Tried with no heating or features on. Car is 4 months old, and the replacement battery is 2 weeks old. 

Car is now reporting an error will I'll post below. 

Ran ForScan again and it came up with this error:

Looked up the error and seems to relate to a faulty right door handle among other things.

https://www.engine-codes.com/b1490.html

The only change is the auto door lock - would that setting cause the handle to act differently? 

 

1 hour ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Have to disagree. Tried with no heating or features on. Car is 4 months old, and the replacement battery is 2 weeks old. 

Car is now reporting an error will I'll post below. 

I’m not saying you haven’t got a fault. I’m just saying don’t judge it by stop start. It’s fair enough if you keep getting the deep sleep and low power messages despite longer journeys and not using high drain features. 
 

Just take it back to Ford. If you have an amenable service desk show them the code you have. It’s in warranty they should fix it if there is a fault. 

11 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I’m not saying you haven’t got a fault. I’m just saying don’t judge it by stop start. It’s fair enough if you keep getting the deep sleep and low power messages despite longer journeys and not using high drain features. 
 

Just take it back to Ford. If you have an amenable service desk show them the code you have. It’s in warranty they should fix it if there is a fault. 

Stop/Start is the first thing to stop working when there is battery fault. I've heard this from several mechanics, so it's good tell tale sign when something isn't quite right. The last post is evidence of this, as I knew there something wasn't right, and the car is now reporting an issue with battery drain. As they say you know your own car best (albeit only having it for 4 months)

I fully intend to use the warranty, I am posting for troubleshooting purposes and more often than not, people on here have a better understanding than the garages. Car is booked in and Ford Customer Care are aware of the occurring issue. However this is the first time ForScan has reported such issue (or any issue for that matter)

I appreciate the advice but we post on here to help others, if we all took our cars back to Ford without discussing it - there wouldn't be any conversations to help others.

Stop start will also frequently not work when there is no fault. That’s all I’m saying. 

5 hours ago, LukeJQuinn said:

error and seems to relate to a faulty right door handle

I think you may be on to something. If the keyless door entry on the drives door is in a permanent 'active' mode then that would be enough to keep the canbus and the therefore the BCM awake. These in turn will keep other modules in a state of standby instead of allowing everything to enter sleep mode.

Faults with the keyless door handle TX/RX is certainly an issue that has been reported by others and worth investigating further.

3 hours ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Ran ForScan again and it came up with this error:

Looked up the error and seems to relate to a faulty right door handle among other things.

https://www.engine-codes.com/b1490.html

The only change is the auto door lock - would that setting cause the handle to act differently? 

 

The description that you see in FORScan is the same as what Ford Technicians will see, I would take anything you see when looking the code up online with a pinch of salt.

I doubt if enabling Auto Locking has caused the fault but it would be wise to put the car back to factory settings before putting it in for warranty work.

Does your ST have a lock Indicator LED?, I'm sure my non ST doesn't.

If you want to do some more investigation to satisfy your curiosity then have a look at the PID's in the BCM, there will be lots of them for the doors, alarm etc. It would be wise to keep your engine running while doing so if you can't connect a charger, because these cars have a massive Current draw when the Ignition is on and even a fully charged Battery will discharge rapidly and could brick something if I doesn't shut itself off before the critical point.

Another simple thing that you can do is to disable Keyless Entry in the Vehicle Settings, although I doubt if that will make the problem go away.

Thanks all. 

It does make sense as the Keyless does always remain on ready to go. The door shows an orange light on the Door Lock button when the doors are locked, if that is what you mean? 

I'll make sure the engine stays on as that will only make the problem worse 🙂

Oh and I'll remove the auto door lock feature before they get it back just in case, but kind of tempted to just turn it off in the Sync 4 settings, as I don't want them to fix it, I enable it again and it causes the same issue ha. 

16 minutes ago, LukeJQuinn said:

The door shows an orange light on the Door Lock button when the doors are locked, if that is what you mean? 

Ah thanks, my car probably has that too, I never lock the doors when I'm inside it so I have not noticed it.

It is obviously working though if you took that photo after the fault, unless it is on all of the time.

It does stay on for a few mins after locking it, but just been out to check after taking that photo and the light is off as well as every other light in the car. 

It could be as @unofix said and be the keyless entry side, but its odd it mentions an LED. Can't see any LED either not working or remaining on for long periods of time annoyingly. 

@LukeJQuinn Hello, any update on this issue for you?

I have a St-Line Vignale 2022, got it brand new in August and for the last 2 months or so it is constantly deep sleeping no matter how much I am driving it. Super annoying trying to see in the boot at night when no lights come on etc. Not to mention AC takes forever to kick in if it has been in deep sleep which is always. I am starting to think the B&O sub woofer is also being affected but I am not sure..

I have contacted my dealer who have said they have 'never heard of this issue' which is already worrying me about the excuses they will come up with as this is a known issue.. I have it booked in for a check-up in December, 5 week wait! I have built in dash cams but I have set them to be disabled when the engine is off and that didn't fix the issue. My auto start/stop works fine whenever in the car meaning the battery must be at 90% charge or over according to the dealership.

The first 4 weeks I had this lovely car everything was working swimmingly even with dash cams recording when the car is off.

Hoping Ford can sort this out but I am also not very confident..

Let me know how your issue unfolds please.

Cheers,

Gus

57 minutes ago, Gus T said:

@LukeJQuinn Hello, any update on this issue for you?

I have a St-Line Vignale 2022, got it brand new in August and for the last 2 months or so it is constantly deep sleeping no matter how much I am driving it. Super annoying trying to see in the boot at night when no lights come on etc. Not to mention AC takes forever to kick in if it has been in deep sleep which is always. I am starting to think the B&O sub woofer is also being affected but I am not sure..

I have contacted my dealer who have said they have 'never heard of this issue' which is already worrying me about the excuses they will come up with as this is a known issue.. I have it booked in for a check-up in December, 5 week wait! I have built in dash cams but I have set them to be disabled when the engine is off and that didn't fix the issue. My auto start/stop works fine whenever in the car meaning the battery must be at 90% charge or over according to the dealership.

The first 4 weeks I had this lovely car everything was working swimmingly even with dash cams recording when the car is off.

Hoping Ford can sort this out but I am also not very confident..

Let me know how your issue unfolds please.

Cheers,

Gus

Hi @Gus T

Mine is going in today for the third time regarding the issue. I would show the dealer this post to confirm 100% to them this is becoming a known issue with the Mk 4.5 Focus. I will be showing the dealer later today what you've said to prove to them this is not an isolated issue.

Its had all control units updated, full software upgrade and finally a new battery. After 2 weeks, stop/start is now failing to work, alongside that I get the alerts in the app pretty much every time I use it. The dealership did try to tell me 'oh you just need to drive it more'. However they had no answers when they realised I put on over 1000 miles in the 3 weeks of having it back - I don't care what car it is, no car needs over 1000 miles of driving to get stop/start to work (or to get it to a decent charge so interior lights work etc). 

I have Dash Cams via USB and I've not been using them for the same reason. However it seems to make zero difference. Not too sure about the air con or sub woofer but I've learnt most new cars are heavily reliant on their battery so as soon as something isn't quite right, things start to go weird.

I'll keep you updated, as I've told them I need the car back this Friday to do another long trip across the country. (don't fancy doing that in a fiesta 1.1 ltr) 

Spoke to the garage today. They have tested the 3 week old battery it is sitting at 30% charge. Considering since the battery change (3 weeks ago) I’ve done over 1000 miles, they are somewhat concerned/confused.

They are going to do more tests and also test the alternator (Not 100% sure this was tested last time). Also mentioned the OBD/ForScan screenshot of the error and they are going to investigate this too.

@Gus T - I’d be intrigued if the same error/issue is flagging on your Focus. If you are able to check I’d really appreciate it. No worries if not (myself or @unofix can tell you what you need) (Scroll up to see the error I am referring to).

So no update as such, more just an FYI. But they seem to be taking it more serious this time seeing as the new battery is borderline flat, and the car flagging a battery drain fault. Meanwhile I’m driving a new 72 plate Fiesta 1.1 (non ecoboost) which is interesting lets put it that way.

The following is just for information:

FORScan - download is free for laptop use: https://forscan.org/download.html

vLinker FS cable - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-vLinker-Adapter-FORScan-MS-CAN/dp/B0952P4MLP/ref=asc_df_B0952P4MLP/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=534732308385&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1925721049054950249&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006688&hvtargid=pla-1430824679036&psc=1

State Of Charge for 12 Volt car battery:

15 hours ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Spoke to the garage today. They have tested the 3 week old battery it is sitting at 30% charge. Considering since the battery change (3 weeks ago) I’ve done over 1000 miles, they are somewhat concerned/confused.

They are going to do more tests and also test the alternator (Not 100% sure this was tested last time). Also mentioned the OBD/ForScan screenshot of the error and they are going to investigate this too.

@Gus T - I’d be intrigued if the same error/issue is flagging on your Focus. If you are able to check I’d really appreciate it. No worries if not (myself or @unofix can tell you what you need) (Scroll up to see the error I am referring to).

So no update as such, more just an FYI. But they seem to be taking it more serious this time seeing as the new battery is borderline flat, and the car flagging a battery drain fault. Meanwhile I’m driving a new 72 plate Fiesta 1.1 (non ecoboost) which is interesting lets put it that way.

@LukeJQuinn I think our issues will be different as my auto start/stop is always available but the car always deep sleeps after turning off regardless of time driving. But I will never know until it gets looked at by Ford (12th December) and will update here accordingly.

I have seen identical threads on this site for 2019 and 2020 ford focuses which mentioned that a software update fixed their issues for the best part of a month before going back to deep sleeping lol. So there's definitely a range of possible issues and Ford don't seem to know whats what unfortunately.

Regarding the scan, I most likely won't fork out £32 for the FS cable as cost of living hitting quite hard at the moment sorry! But like I say I will report back when Ford have a look at my car.

Please keep up updated on your ongoing case.

Good luck with the fiesta 😜

6 hours ago, Gus T said:

I most likely won't fork out £32 for the FS cable as cost of living hitting quite hard at the moment sorry!

You always have the option of the cheaper modified ELM cable with switch. May not have the speed and convenience of the Vlinker but still works fine.

Picked the car up today.

The guy said he thinks the previous tech didn't reset the Battery Control Module which tells the car how much charge the battery has, when to charge it etc. So he's reset that, charged the battery up and done 3 road tests.

All is good so far but it's booked in again for next week so they can test it all again. So not over but least they aren't washing their hands of it either. 

@Gus TIt could be a different issue to yours, however that is how mine started originally. Still worth getting it checked out.

1 hour ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Battery Control Module which tells the car how much charge the battery

Sad very, very sad !!!

The Battery Monitoring System (BMS) should technically be reset if the battery is replaced or if it is charged when not on the vehicle. Not resetting will mean the Smart charging system will take a few days to finally settle but will by default will eventually learn the battery State Of Charge with out the need to be reset. I do wounder if it is lack of training, lack of understanding or lack of ability that technicians (using the term loosely) struggle to carry out comprehensive diagnostics.

So very sad to say you are once again been fobbed off with a load of bullsh1t.

@Tizer take a look at the bullsh1t given to Luke about Ford forgetting to reset the BMS

1 minute ago, unofix said:

@Tizer take a look at the bullsh1t given to Luke about Ford forgetting to reset the BMS

Yes, I did see that but you had already commented and what I would have said would have been the same, forgetting to reset the BMS would not drain a new Battery in 3 weeks in a car that had been run for 1000 miles in that time.

As you said in the other thread, the days in service would not have been reset and if the car was donkeys years old that may have made a difference, but his car is less than a year old.

So another day, and another dead battery. 

Picked the car up Wednesday evening. Used it 3 times yesterday (another 50 miles or so) and woke up today to pretty much a dead battery. I knew it wasn't right because at no point during the drive yesterday did Stop/Start kick in once. Battery was so dead, the car chugged for quite a while before eventually starting. Usual stuff in the app, alerts regarding power reserve and no lights etc within the cabin. 

Spoke with the Ford garage again and they think they have spotted the issue finally. They said the car is waking up during the night (I knew this as the app alerts are always during the night) and switching on the Headlight control module, which in fact turns the headlights on (DRL only, not actual headlights). So either my neighbours think my car is nuts or they just aren't as nosey as I thought. 

I should add, when I say they spotted it - they can search for any VIN number and check all error alerts, to the point where it shows them a calendar view with little icons on certain days when the errors occurred. Why on earth they didn't do this in the first place is totally beyond me. But yeah this is what has flagged the headlights switching on during the night, while the engine is off. 

Checked the Eufy Doorbell and Ford appear to be correct. It flagged motion alerts when the lights suddenly switch on, which is around 1 min before the alert in the FordPass app flags up. So I think they are finally onto something. They are 99% sure this is a software bug which can be fixed rather quickly. Jury is out on that one.

They disregarded the error code flagging about the door handle, however I am going to bring this up again - as if the handle is awake (or thinks someone is holding it) then its not stupid to believe this could be in fact making the headlights switch on - as it does when you hold the handle, the DRLs switch on and the car unlocks. So I think it's worth them exploring that option again....if only they explored it the first time round but who knows.

Anyway, car is going in again Monday evening after I finish work. Will keep you updated. (it would be going in today but doing a 200 mile trip over the weekend, and the roads wouldn't be the same in the 1.1 Fiesta)

Cheers

Luke

6 hours ago, LukeJQuinn said:

as if the handle is awake (or thinks someone is holding it) then its not stupid to believe this could be in fact making the headlights switch on - as it does when you hold the handle, the DRLs switch on and the car unlocks.

I agree with you. If the door handle is remaining active instead of going to sleep then it could easily trigger the DRL's to turn on, just like when you unlock it.

Personally I think the DRL's would not draw enough current to totally flatten the battery overnight unless they were on for most of the night. I think the DRL's turning on is just an effect of the fault not the actual cause.

Please do keep us all up todate with your progress (or lack of), I'd really like to know what eventually fixes the fault (I bet you would as well !).

Garage has said the entire module is switching on - the DRL coming in is just a fluke really. I agree as they do that the DRL wouldn't draw too much power, but the fact both entire units are switching on, which would include all the radar high beam stuff they do (Matrix I think its called) this would more than likely drain the battery rapidly. 

Dropping the car off later today, so will let you know when they update me later in the week. I am hoping its something as simple as a software update. Fingers crossed (however that door handle error flag is still bugging me).