3 hours ago, unofix said:

I'm not sure what you are expecting to do ?

The vehicle is under Ford warranty, any attempt by you or anyone else to carry out work on the vehicle will invalidate the warranty. Your only option is to get the vehicle looked at by a Ford main dealer.

Not really expecting anything. I am taking it to an official dealer, just pointed out that it will be a while until I can get the problem looked at.

2 hours ago, RaduF86 said:

I am curious if now with confirmed fault the car drives differently. If it confirmed a fault on the 48V battery (and again I mention the battery because I believe the rest of the 48V-12V system is ok), it should not try to engage it so it should not shake anymore?

 

That's the thing, the car itself doesn't recognize the error. Apart from that Wrench icon that appeared on the dashboard once, the car itself doesn't show any type of error. Even in the Ford Pass app it doesn't show any error. 

Hiya Luke JB WIL SON From MK4/4.5 Forum.

Yes my 2023 Focus ST 2.3 Ecoboost is having this exact issue.Start stop not working, interior lights not working until engine started and my fog lights randomly switching on with high beams. This happens on two way busy roads with oncoming traffic blinding the drivers. After parking (around 5 minutes later) my Ford Pass App pings saying Remote Features Disabled drive car to activate. This happens after I've just driven her ten minutes an hour or 5 hours.Then on top of that the screen will notify me after shutting off the engine that's it's going into sleep mode to preserve battery. Took to Ford dealership and they checked over car replaced battery as original had a bad cell they said but everything else is fantastic...... The start stop started to work and seemed fine but it is a Ford dealership repair you know and base warranty so wait for it. Not 3 weeks later same issue started all over again so booked into same dealership again and they say there's no knowledge of Parasitic drain issue. Well it's been there two weeks now and supposedly they are waiting for a new battery to put in. I wanted safety and security on top off Ford  Thatcham key fob engine immobiliser so I bought Thinkware F200 Pro Camera System, Ghost II and had them professionally fitted. Keep in mind the Thinkware automatically switches off if battery goes below 12.2 and the Ghost draw is only 8mA which is 0.008 Amperes. They disconnected the cameras charged battery and waited over night and 10% loss occurred. So they now say it's the Ghost II. I had Trackershop Technician disconect the ghost and guess what it pinged my phone saying disable mode again two day's later. I'm awaiting them to get stock and fit a new battery and I will NOT connect the Ghost or Camera's up and give it time but have a suspicious feeling it will be going back to Ford. I'll check what version sync 4 I have as the Master tech working on my car is supposed to call this Monday so I can make sure the ten story's im getting are just one. However online loads of MK4/4.5 Owners are experiencing this same issue and Ford saying  it's a isolated issue (REALLY FORD REALLY) Ford another one bites the dust as I have decided one chance to step up and fix it this time as know my rights and who to call and it's not Ghost Busters. The Motor Ombudsman will be contacted as it was an obvious problem with this issue before I purchased the car as it was owned by Ford Motor Group LTD UK. 

Mr John Wilson 

Scotland

39 minutes ago, John Wilson Jnr said:

Hiya Luke JB WIL SON From MK4/4.5 Forum.

Thought we had a record recently, but this post is by far a winner. 459 words with no paragraph breaks at all. I'm sorry, but these tired old eyes can't even read this mass of lexicon in one hit.

Hope you get sorted...

Out of interest, has anyone ruled out the 2 different sync Wifi devices? 

TCU and APIM parts of the car are joined to my house wifi, I noticed on my router logs the TCU WiFi part of my car is very active 24/7

Hi new member here, had four Focus previously, first was 2007 MK2 black ST2, next 2008 Black Zetec Mk2.5 1.8 TDCi, after that a 2013 Mk3 Titanium X Navigator. 

Never had an ounce of bother with any of them, great cars. 

However... I got my self a Ford-DIrect 12 month old Mk4.5 ST-line X 155 MHEV in April 2023. 3K miles on the clock. beautiful car, love driving it. 

I have been having similar 12v battery issues to every one else in this thread.

I didn't realise what was happening at first, I just got messages on the central display telling me the system was shutting down to save battery, which I took as a precautionary measure to stop you playing the radio  too long with the engine off.

Then came the messages on the Ford Pass app, about remote features being disabled to preserve battery, and the nail in the coffin was when going out in the dark mornings, opening the car resulted in no puddle lights, no interior lights, and a frozen sync 4 display. I couldn't even change drive modes by pressing the physical button. The only remedy was to turn the car off, open the door, close it again and start the car again. I began looking at forums, including here and have found others who share my frustration.

I bought a maypole 4A smart charger and charged the battery until the display showed full bars and was green. This appeared to solve the issue, but only for it to return a few days later. 

My daily mileage is two trips to take my wife to work which are about 7 miles there, 7 back, twice a day, thus about 28-30 miles. this is 2-3 times per week, with my days at the office adding an extra 20-25 miles. then I usually take a 40 mile round trip once per week and have some weekend miles in there too.

Thus far since owning the car I've covered about 7000 miles. (holiday last year included).

to my mind its covering more than enough miles, I've done much less in previous cars and never had battery issues, except for during the pandemic when my diesel sat for 6 months doing nothing, and the battery failed but that was a 7 year old battery at  the time!

I don't buy this nonsense of too few miles, if that truly is the case then the vehicle is not fit for purpose is it? or at the very least the vehicle battery is not fir for purpose

I have booked the car in to my nearest Ford dealer, (not the Point of Sale dealer, who was in Yorkshire as they had the right car for sale at the right time). Dealer has said if they cant find anything wrong warranty wise, I will be charged £115 for the privilege of them diagnosing the issue! I was flabbergasted! It seems these days that a warranty means nothing at all. 

Dealer even mention a charge of £20 for the courtesy car.... I know its not much but its the principle, its not a courtesy car if I have to pay for it is it? 

All in all I am not happy, it has really soured Ford for me. 

Anyhow, that's my Rant over. 

I may return here and post results of my dealer visit (mid Feb).

I have always found forums to be a good source of info and thought I would contribute my experience for others.

Cheers, 

LSMC77

 

 

35 minutes ago, LSMC77 said:

I bought a maypole 4A smart charger and charged the battery until the display showed full bars and was green. This appeared to solve the issue, but only for it to return a few days later.

Do another re-charge. This time, ignore the full bars and green display. Do it for at least 12 hours...

@StephenFord yes thanks, its been on now since midday, plan to take it off around midnight.  Appreciate the advice, ta! 

2 hours ago, LSMC77 said:

I bought a maypole 4A smart charger and charged the battery until the display showed full bars and was green

All modern battery chargers are misleading. When you see the 'full bars' and a green screen it is just indicating that the charging voltage has levelled out. You then need to leave it for around 12 hours for the battery to be fully charged.

When you have the battery on charge I assume that you do have the negative lead of the charger connected to cars chassis earth point, and not the battery negative terminal ?

@unofix Yep, Its connected to the earthing point, over on the passenger side. I've read that the BMS wont register the battery is charging/charged if connected directly to the negative terminal.  I may leave the charger on overnight after your advice, this way by 7am it will have had 19 odd hours on charge.  What I'm not understanding though, is why has the battery discharged so much? surely its just going to do the same thing again?

In a new car (relatively speaking) I don't think we should need to be charging the battery like this at all. Not once in 30 years of car ownership have I ever had to do it. 

Cheers. 

1 minute ago, LSMC77 said:

is why has the battery discharged so much? surely its just going to do the same thing again?

Yes it will do the same again, and again etc.

The sad fact of life is that all new cars suffer this problem, it's not just a Ford thing. Firstly the alternator uses a smart charge (or dumb as many would say) system. It mostly only really puts charge in to the battery when the engine is on overrun, that is, when the car is slowing down. This is all in the name of saving the planet. Manufactures are limiting the output from the alternator to the absolute minimum to keep emissions down so they can pass the type approval.

Secondly, and again to 'save the planet' new car batteries are not as good as those fitted 10 years ago. so the combined result of poor charging and a poorer battery means you need to keep charging the battery at home. For many owners they find an overnight charge every 4 to 6 weeks is enough to keep things working. It's far from ideal but until 'saving the planet' is pushed to the back and reality kicks in, we just have to live with it.

😒 I don't see many people down my street having to do this and there are a good number of new cars, VW Tiago, Nissan Qashqai, Bmw , Mercedes, all not much more than 2-3 years old. Nor do I hear about it from work colleagues either... 

I will see what this charge brings, I was tempted to fit a larger capacity battery but fear that it will only delay the time before requiring a recharge again. 

thanks for your input so far. 

 

@LSMC77 I’d be interested to hear how you get on with this problem and especially if you have an exchange with your Ford service dealer. I am also experiencing irritating ‘battery saver’ mode issues on my recently acquired 2023 Focus (discussion link)

Hi there

I have a Focus ST-Line X 125HP from 2023, and have got some battery problems, but still did not replace mine since according to the dealer is still ok.

But i was wondering how isnthis petition going? This issues with Battery and Sync4 are an absolute mess for Ford

3 minutes ago, VilhenaChen said:

But i was wondering how isnthis petition going? This issues with Battery and Sync4 are an absolute mess for Ford

As fully expected, the management at Ford were horrified to learn that one of their products have caused such disappointment amongst their valued customers. A unanimous vote at a recent board meeting saw them all agree, that effected customers should all be allowed to call into their local Ford dealership, and be offered a full refund on the purchase price of the car, along with any expenses incurred on raising this issue with them...

🤣🤣🤣

Focus ST-Line Vignale 1.0L Petrol MHEV 2018MY

Date of first registration: 09 09 2022

Complete electronic failure, resulting in the loss of all dashboard info (electronic dashboard - no speedometer or fault system display), exterior lighting (headlamps, indicators, brake lights), windscreen wipers, electronic park brake.

 

It happened at 0345 on the way to an early work shift, during a rain shower, whilst driving along an unlit country lane. I managed to bring the vehicle to a safe area in the next village, driving extremely slowly. I had to park it into the curb as I could not apply the electronic park brake.

Whilst waiting for the AA Recovery, I googled the fault and found it had occurred with the same type of vehicle and I tried to restart after 90 minutes. The vehicle started and immediately returned the vehicle to my home address.

I'd be interested to know what the latest is on the petition.

1 hour ago, Andy1416 said:

I'd be interested to know what the latest is on the petition.

Petitions do not work. The latest is, that it did not work, I know, shocking! 😂

On 2/2/2025 at 7:40 PM, LSMC77 said:

I got my self a Ford-DIrect 12 month old Mk4.5 ST-line X 155 MHEV in April 2023. 3K miles on the clock. beautiful car, love driving it. 

I have been having similar 12v battery issues to every one else in this thread.

I just bought the same car last week, a 2023 with 5k miles on it,
After connecting my phone I put the Aircon on because it was a very hot day,
But the Aircon did not work (no dash lights/messages), I went back into the showroom and they took it into the Service bay,
90min later they said they put a new battery in it and all is good.

Glad it was fixed but it worried me why a low milage car would need a new battery,
I intended on keeping it in good condition with low miles, now that sounds like it's going to be a problem.

14 minutes ago, RAIDER32 said:

I intended on keeping it in good condition with low miles

Best make a start then !! 🤔

Your profile says you drive a 2015 Focus ST-2 Estate

1 hour ago, unofix said:

Best make a start then !! 🤔

Your profile says you drive a 2015 Focus ST-2 Estate

1 hour ago, RAIDER32 said:

I just bought the same car last week

Yeh, some nice young lady decided to drive out of a street straight into me and write off the ST

Picked up the ST-Line X a week ago

Hi all 

Apologies ifboff topic but seeking advice. Bought a focus ST line 68 plate second hand in March 24. 

Have had limp mode activate 4 times since then. First time , turned engine off waited 5 mins then everything working fine for a few months.

Next two occasions were while driving up steep inclines after an oil and filter change . Took it into garage for diagnostic test , my neighbour works there, and was told that there were historical fault codes that hadn't been cleared by Ford before sold to me. Two of which were low battery voltage. He told me he had cleared the faults but couldn't find anything wrong with the car. 

Today , while going up an incline it went into limp mode again. I then remembered unplugging an unsused USB cable from inside the arm rest drawer that morning, that had been there for months and months! 

I am wondering if this could be the culprit, as I do not use the car every day and could it be draining the voltage over time? 

Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks 

 

6 hours ago, Leeroy78 said:

Hi all 

Apologies ifboff topic but seeking advice. Bought a focus ST line 68 plate second hand in March 24. 

Have had limp mode activate 4 times since then. First time , turned engine off waited 5 mins then everything working fine for a few months.

Next two occasions were while driving up steep inclines after an oil and filter change . Took it into garage for diagnostic test , my neighbour works there, and was told that there were historical fault codes that hadn't been cleared by Ford before sold to me. Two of which were low battery voltage. He told me he had cleared the faults but couldn't find anything wrong with the car. 

Today , while going up an incline it went into limp mode again. I then remembered unplugging an unsused USB cable from inside the arm rest drawer that morning, that had been there for months and months! 

I am wondering if this could be the culprit, as I do not use the car every day and could it be draining the voltage over time? 

Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks 

 

I had the same problem (fault light and limp mode triggered under load which cleared on restart) and it turned out to be a turbocharger fault.

On 5/7/2025 at 9:47 PM, RAIDER32 said:

I just bought the same car last week, a 2023 with 5k miles on it,
After connecting my phone I put the Aircon on because it was a very hot day,
But the Aircon did not work (no dash lights/messages), I went back into the showroom and they took it into the Service bay,
90min later they said they put a new battery in it and all is good.

Glad it was fixed but it worried me why a low milage car would need a new battery,
I intended on keeping it in good condition with low miles, now that sounds like it's going to be a problem.

I've got a similar car too. Yesterday I drove it and turned,the air con to low and hot air continued to come out of the vents. When I got home I look,Ed on line and found it could be due to low battery, which I get messages about all the time. I've charged up over night and will see if it makes any difference today. It was only serviced in February and they didn't comment on the battery.

1 hour ago, Dixy said:

It was only serviced in February and they didn't comment on the battery.

Why would they even test the battery back in February, it is not part of a service.

13 hours ago, Dark Andy said:

I had the same problem (fault light and limp mode triggered under load which cleared on restart) and it turned out to be a turbocharger fault.

My neighbor mentioned turbo as a possible problem. Thanks 

3 hours ago, Dixy said:

I've got a similar car too. Yesterday I drove it and turned,the air con to low and hot air continued to come out of the vents. When I got home I look,Ed on line and found it could be due to low battery, which I get messages about all the time. I've charged up over night and will see if it makes any difference today. It was only serviced in February and they didn't comment on the battery.

I have no issues with anything in the car , that's the thing. Everything works fine but , as mentioned, unused USB cable plugged in for months and months