Ford Focus ST '22 Battery Drain!

[LukeJQuinn]

Just now, alexp999 said:

It's not totally dead if it started though?

No dead in the terms of, no lights, no keyless entry and a tonne of alerts in the app. No car after a full charge should drain that quick in less that 12 hours. Basically the same things it's done for months. 

[alexp999]

1 minute ago, LukeJQuinn said:

No dead in the terms of, no lights, no keyless entry and a tonne of alerts in the app. No car after a full charge should drain that quick in less that 12 hours. Basically the same things it's done for months. 

Ah, no that's fair enough. Not overnight no, my keyless still worked at -5 this morning. I thought you meant it was proper dead.

When I had the TCU battery drain it took the battery to 6V at one point and the car was then truly dead 😅

[LukeJQuinn]

Gone back to the FCC Rep and asked for the error relating to the battery Short to be investigated and resolved. Also asked for the battery control module @Ecosport2019 mentioned further up to be tested. Will see what they come back with. In the meantime, I'm going to charge the battery up, and leave it disconnected to ensure Ford haven't installed a duff battery.

[LukeJQuinn]

11 hours ago, unofix said:

Neither am I 👍

The circuit that controls the lights been active when it should be asleep is a far more likely issue.

I know this might sound an odd request but can you take a few photos of (a) the car battery, (b) the BMS module, and (c) the battery terminals / leads. It would be especially useful to be able to see the part number of the BMS.

Let me know if you need any further pictures. Got them as clear as I could. 

[Tizer]

7 minutes ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Let me know if you need any further pictures. Got them as clear as I could. 

I think that BMS is fairly up to date, there may be another one out very recently though but that would not cause your battery to drain overnight.

As far as I know they were reporting the wrong information back to the BCM, which caused the Charging System not to charge correctly and/or to report that the battery was not as charged as it actually was.

[unofix]

I can say with quiet confidence you will not find any problem with the battery.

However, I know for peace of mind and to satisfy your own curiosity you need to remove the battery from the car and fully charge it for at least 12 hours. Then test it after standing for at least 12 hours.

When fully charged and only just disconnected from the charger (test within 2 minutes) you should expect the terminal voltage to be approximately 13.9V This is an artificially high level which will quickly start to decrease. After standing off load for around 8 hours the battery terminal voltage will stabilise at about 12.70V  If left off load for longer the battery will discharge slightly further and should settle at around 12.60V

The above voltages are only intended as a guide as things such as the type of battery charge used and the temperature in which the battery is being stored will affect the readings. I'm sure you understand the general idea that there will be a quick decrease in battery voltage as soon as it comes off charge until it reaches the 'Standing Terminal Voltage' which is determined by the type and construction of battery.

[LukeJQuinn]

9 minutes ago, unofix said:

I can say with quiet confidence you will not find any problem with the battery.

However, I know for peace of mind and to satisfy your own curiosity you need to remove the battery from the car and fully charge it for at least 12 hours. Then test it after standing for at least 12 hours.

When fully charged and only just disconnected from the charger (test within 2 minutes) you should expect the terminal voltage to be approximately 13.9V This is an artificially high level which will quickly start to decrease. After standing off load for around 8 hours the battery terminal voltage will stabilise at about 12.70V  If left off load for longer the battery will discharge slightly further and should settle at around 12.60V

The above voltages are only intended as a guide as things such as the type of battery charge used and the temperature in which the battery is being stored will affect the readings. I'm sure you understand the general idea that there will be a quick decrease in battery voltage as soon as it comes off charge until it reaches the 'Standing Terminal Voltage' which is determined by the type and construction of battery.

Cheers, so battery and BCM look ok yeah? 

[unofix]

4 minutes ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Cheers, so battery and BCM look ok yeah? 

The behavior of your battery (under the present fault conditions) would seem to perfectly normal, and I very much doubt you will find an issue with it.

As regards the BCM, body control module, I'd reserve judgment until further tests can be carried out.

As regards the BMS, battery monitoring system (not sure if that is what you meant to ask about), it can only feed information regarding the flow of current both in to and out of the battery. It also reports back to the charge system the battery terminal voltage. A faulty BMS (even if totally dead) can only effect the charging voltage of the battery. It can in no way cause the battery to discharge.

For your battery to become discharged there has to be something or multiple things drawing current when the vehicle is parked. 

[LukeJQuinn]

Ok that sounds good to me. I'll do the charge up more for my own sanity. The errors regarding battery drain are still a big issue for me. They haven't even looked into it but instead blamed the headlights. Asked FCC to insist they check and also test the negative drain from the earth.

[LukeJQuinn]

Working at home today so it's allowed me to do some better testing while on lunch. I've used the manual and looked at what fuses are what. Fuse 21/10A is the headlight levelling fuse. So I've removed that and disconnected the battery to do another full charge. 

If the battery/car stays alive with the fuse not present, then that proves it is the headlight levelling actuator, if not then I've proved we are waiting around for a part that isn't going to fix it at all. 

[Gus T]

12 minutes ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Working at home today so it's allowed me to do some better testing while on lunch. I've used the manual and looked at what fuses are what. Fuse 21/10A is the headlight levelling fuse. So I've removed that and disconnected the battery to do another full charge. 

If the battery/car stays alive with the fuse not present, then that proves it is the headlight levelling actuator, if not then I've proved we are waiting around for a part that isn't going to fix it at all. 

Good work! I really hope we (and Ford) can get to the bottom of this ASAP as currently i'm enjoying my car not going into deep sleep but am sure it will do in a week's time or so with the new battery! It really makes a huge difference to the overall experience with the car that should be expected considering the price of these vehicles.

[LukeJQuinn]

Just now, Gus T said:

Good work! I really hope we (and Ford) can get to the bottom of this ASAP as currently i'm enjoying my car not going into deep sleep but am sure it will do in a week's time or so with the new battery! It really makes a huge difference to the overall experience with the car that should be expected considering the price of these vehicles.

I hope so too. If the car regains its power with this fuse out, I will be over the moon as it means we know the root cause and all is good. My worry is, if it still drains afterwards which because I am glass half empty kinda guy I think it will ha. 

This is what I'm trying to get across - the battery being lower than normal ruins the entire car. Nice features stop working and just leaves a bitter taste when you drive it.

Further update, the battery was charged up full last night and I drove it around for 20 mins. Came home around 20:30 and parked up with everything working as it should. The app started to alert about low power at 06:41 this morning. So that is roughly 10 hours from all systems working, to dropping so low that not even keyless entry or interior roof lights work. I appreciate it's rather cold but still should't happen on a 2 month old battery which was charged up the night before.

[LukeJQuinn]

Fuse removed, battery charged and reconnected. Got a warning saying “Check Adaptive Headlights - See Manual”. So it’s definitely registered that something is not connected. Will see what the outcome is tomorrow.

[unofix]

8 hours ago, LukeJQuinn said:

So that is roughly 10 hours from all systems working, to dropping so low that not even keyless entry or interior roof lights work.

So making some assumptions (not normally a good idea):

You have a 60Ah battery which we will say was fully charged. The deep sleep/low power events started to alert you about 10 hours after the car was parked up. I reckon that would occur when the battery capacity had fallen to 40Ah. This means that you have a load drawing approximately 2 Amps continually for 10 hours.

To be honest I was expecting the parasitic current draw to be much higher, so this kind of rules out things like the headlights, heated seats, heated screens etc.

PS. thanks for posting the photos.

[LukeJQuinn]

I think I've cracked this. So no alerts over night which is new. I came down at 08:30 and unlocked the car - DRL came on, interior lights came on all as normal. 

As soon as I open the door, lock it and 3 mins later unlock it - everything is off no light at all, then I get the below error in the app. I am sorry but that ForScan alert is right and I've ruled the headlights out by removing the fuse. FCC are due to call me today and I will have to demand that error is looked into and the door handle replaced or something.

[LukeJQuinn]

Quick Update. Spoke with Ford and M53. They have checked the FordPass Portal only they have access to. Managed to tally up the BCM Status LED battery Short error to every time I open the door. Gentlemen this is the cause 100%.

Used the car 4 times today and not once has it reported back (checked with them) and the only difference is I am having to climb over from the passenger side. They are going to 'review' things on Monday.

[alexp999]

1 minute ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Quick Update. Spoke with Ford and M53. They have checked the FordPass Portal only they have access to. Managed to tally up the BCM Status LED Battery Short error to every time I open the door. Gentlemen this is the cause 100%.

Used the car 4 times today and not once has it reported back (checked with them) and the only difference is I am having to climb over from the passenger side. They are going to 'review' things on Monday.

Almost like the car knew itself the whole time...

[LukeJQuinn]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

Almost like the car knew itself the whole time...

The car new the entire time yet they ignored it. Clever car....silly Ford. 

[unofix]

Didn't we come to the conclusion of the faulty door handle back in early November ? 🤣

On 11/7/2022 at 9:40 PM, unofix said:

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.

 

[LukeJQuinn]

4 hours ago, unofix said:

Didn't we come to the conclusion of the faulty door handle back in early November ? 🤣

 

You say we but it was you! Thank you! 🙂 - but yeah pitty this was mentioned so far back (which you saw I did mention in an email) and its been ignored.

Well I will not be ignored this time. I've further proved my point as around 1 hour ago, I charged the car up again and had a friend watch the charger - as soon as I open the driver door.....boom it drops down to 12.4 volts in an instant, then then starts to charge up again.

As none of you know where I live (I trust you of course), I don't mind saying I've left the car unlocked over night as to avoid the LED Status Light (the light mentioned in the error code) from coming on - Here's thinking, if that light is never requested to come on (i.e when telling the car to lock) then it shouldn't cause the short and thus stop the battery from draining. (I've since disabled the auto lock feature entirely too so the light doesn't come on when driving)

Will take the dog for an early cold walk then come back and see what the state of play is. 

[unofix]

Team effort I think 😀

Let's hope the end is in sight and you will soon have a fully working car. As always keep us all updated with your progress 👍

[LukeJQuinn]

Left the car unlocked over night (not ideal I know), walked up to it this morning entering via the passenger door - everything came on: DRLs, interior lights, rear lights, and animation on the screen. Climbed over, and drove down the road. Soon as I stopped stop/start kicked in (and that was with heated steering wheel & seat on). 

I am yet again even more certain the drivers door and more so the LED lock indicator is the fault. I think this has 99.9% proved it. The car has sat there over night, frozen over with everything connected and its kept its charge - only change is I have to climb over and look like an tool in the process, and I am not locking the door, avoiding that LED from coming on.

Will make these finding known to M53 and Ford Customer Care on Monday. FCC have offered to return the car to Peterborough if M53 aren't willing to listen.

[Gus T]

On 12/17/2022 at 10:29 AM, LukeJQuinn said:

Left the car unlocked over night (not ideal I know), walked up to it this morning entering via the passenger door - everything came on: DRLs, interior lights, rear lights, and animation on the screen. Climbed over, and drove down the road. Soon as I stopped stop/start kicked in (and that was with heated steering wheel & seat on). 

I am yet again even more certain the drivers door and more so the LED lock indicator is the fault. I think this has 99.9% proved it. The car has sat there over night, frozen over with everything connected and its kept its charge - only change is I have to climb over and look like an tool in the process, and I am not locking the door, avoiding that LED from coming on.

Will make these finding known to M53 and Ford Customer Care on Monday. FCC have offered to return the car to Peterborough if M53 aren't willing to listen.

Would you mind quickly summarising exactly what you think is the issue as I have got quite confused with the last weeks messages 😂? Is the glove box light still somewhat of an issue or can that be safely ignored for now? I am just wanting to know all the deets as I will need them when eventually my new battery is drained and I need to explain again to the dealership.. Also do you have any kind of case number for this issue with FCC that I can use as reference? 

Cheers

[LukeJQuinn]

6 minutes ago, Gus T said:

Would you mind quickly summarising exactly what you think is the issue as I have got quite confused with the last weeks messages 😂? Is the glove box light still somewhat of an issue or can that be safely ignored for now? I am just wanting to know all the deets as I will need them when eventually my new battery is drained and I need to explain again to the dealership.. Also do you have any kind of case number for this issue with FCC that I can use as reference? 

Cheers

Hahah no worries, It has got quite chaotic.

So I've narrowed it down to the door, and more so the LED light that comes on when the doors lock. This is causing a short and in tern draining the battery. Not used the door nor locked it and the power has remained. The car reported this back in Oct/Nov and M53 Ford Ignored it as did F.C.C. If I avoid this door and not lock it, the car performs fine with no issues and this is with the glovebox light re-enabled, and the fuse back in for the levelling motors. Again, the car told them this and they ignored it entirely. 

Spoke with M53 this morning, they still want to replace the headlight part then go from there. So as you can imagine I am rather annoyed at this blindsiding attitude. Plus their Master Tech is now off until after new year. Rang T.C Harrison and asked them to get the ball rolling in collecting the car and letting their techs give it a look. They have offered to come and collect the car, and drop off one of their cars as courtesy car.  

Will update you later once I've spoken to T.C. H. @Gus T Private message me and I will send you all the details. 

[Cookey09]

Enjoyed reading this thread, to an extent... motoring can be annoying, frustrating and everything inbetween! I've had the same issue with my Mk4 ST edition, battery completely going flat, car deadlocking itself and had to have it charged up etc... interesting to see this though. Curious if the little pesky door light is the issue! Might have to give that a try myself... 

 

One issue at a time though... currently battling with a stiff/sticky/dry feel in the brake pedal accompanied with a "pssssh" when pressed. 71 plate, 13k miles.