First time being stranded

[NH_Leadfoot]

Well I got out of work at 10PM tonight up here in Northern, NH, and the truck wouldn't fire up. I guess -20F ambient with windchills approaching -50F decided to kill it. One of my coworkers was nice enough to give me a ride back home and I'll be reaching out to Ford first thing in the morning to see if they can go grab it. When I got in to start it, everything was normal except it seemed like every system in the truck was showing an error on the gauge cluster, and it didn't even attempt to crank. I'll report back with an update once I have one.

Truck is just under 2 years old with ~29,500 miles.

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[imnuts]

You didn't try to jump start it?

 

[Ford4Ever]

Well I got out of work at 10PM tonight up here in Northern, NH, and the truck wouldn't fire up. I guess -20F ambient with windchills approaching -50F decided to kill it. One of my coworkers was nice enough to give me a ride back home and I'll be reaching out to Ford first thing in the morning to see if they can go grab it. When I got in to start it, everything was normal except it seemed like every system in the truck was showing an error on the gauge cluster, and it didn't even attempt to crank. I'll report back with an update once I have one.

Truck is just under 2 years old with ~29,500 miles.

You should probably invest in one of these
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[Jimi]

You didn't try to jump start it?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[diambo4life]

The battery may have just drained. Heck that happened to my truck a couple months ago at 2000 miles. Called ERS and they jump started it and has not done that since. I think you need to exercise remedial actions before asking the Dealer to tow your truck.

 

[NH_Leadfoot]

I got it fired up earlier this afternoon when the temp reached 0F. It felt like a heatwave compared to last night. I used one of those portable lithium battery boosters to get it going that I had back at my house. The thing that concerned me last night was when I tried to start the truck, I seemed to get every warning coming across the gauge cluster that's never happened before, I had to keep hitting the OK button on the steering wheel to close the prompts. It was showing parking sensor fault, brake system fault, collision assist fault, etc etc. I had full brightness of all the interior/exterior lights and dash when I attempted to start it, but it wouldn't crank at all when I pressed the start button, I would just get flashing green lights from the button. I did try and jump it with a booster pack one of my coworkers had, but it didn't change anything. When I got it running today, it had to go through two start cycles before the engine fired to life. I've got it on a battery charger now, and I might still drop it off at Ford so they can scan it for codes.

 

[jeffrt]

That’s exactly what mine did a month or so ago when the battery died. Tons of error messages like you said. Ended up getting a new battery from the dealer.

 

[cheesedogf150]

Electronics are sensitive, if the voltage and amperage are not right they will error out like crazy and light up the dash.

 

[RcFlyer330]

when you have a dead battery in any newer vehicle every single module is going to put out a low voltage code, voltage out of range, or muliiple voltage related codes. This will turn on every single check light in the vehicle. Its a good idea have your ford service center check for codes and test the battery just to be sure. you said you have it on a charger now make sure the negitive lead is not attached directly to the battery terminal but to a good body ground location or the battery magagment system (bms) may get have some issues.

 

[imnuts]

When a battery is so dead barely anything turns on, you need to leave a standard jump pack hooked up more than just a few seconds, especially in subzero temps. The battery pack you were using also could probably barely supply any power due to temperature as well, so that likely only added to it.

 

[Calson]

With my 2022 F-150 I now consider as essential equipment a lithium jump starter and 20-foot 2-Gauge battery cables and have them in the cab.

Backup is a cell phone and an Uber account.

 

[Pedaldude]

It boggles the mind that with all the information available on the dashboard that there’s no voltage readout; especially considering all the electronic modules that will act up when they don’t see the correct voltage.

I don’t drive my truck every week and sometimes it’s sitting up to a month. I also received the truck off the transport with the battery light on, so my battery wasn’t in the best condition to start with.

I use a plug in battery monitor and the critical moment to check the battery’s health is during cranking; if the voltage drops below 10V during startup, it’s safe to say that it’s time for a new battery.

It’s good practice to replace the battery before it’s totally bad because it’s a strain on the alternator when it’s constantly charging a battery in poor condition. I’ve seen many times where an alternator failed relatively soon after a battery was replaced. You don’t notice how slowly the engine is cranking and barely starting up until a fresh battery is installed!

Lead acid batteries degrade rather gracefully and it’s likely yours was on its way for a while and was definitely helped along toward failure by the cold.

Good luck!

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Well I got out of work at 10PM tonight up here in Northern, NH, and the truck wouldn't fire up. I guess -20F ambient with windchills approaching -50F decided to kill it. One of my coworkers was nice enough to give me a ride back home and I'll be reaching out to Ford first thing in the morning to see if they can go grab it. When I got in to start it, everything was normal except it seemed like every system in the truck was showing an error on the gauge cluster, and it didn't even attempt to crank. I'll report back with an update once I have one.

Truck is just under 2 years old with ~29,500 miles.

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your F-150 concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

 

[NH_Leadfoot]

Quick update for everyone. The day I got the truck back in my garage, I put it on a battery charger to try and bring the battery back up to a normal state of charge. After charging overnight the charger said it was good to go, but I still made an appointment to have Ford check it out. I brought it in yesterday, they ended up replacing the battery under warranty. The service manager said he had no idea how the battery had been starting the truck for the last week, the factory battery is rated at 720CCA, when they tested it, it was putting out something like half of that. I'm happy with the outcome.

 

[My 2ND Ford]

It boggles the mind that with all the information available on the dashboard that there’s no voltage readout; especially considering all the electronic modules that will act up when they don’t see the correct voltage.

I don’t drive my truck every week and sometimes it’s sitting up to a month. I also received the truck off the transport with the battery light on, so my battery wasn’t in the best condition to start with.

I use a plug in battery monitor and the critical moment to check the battery’s health is during cranking; if the voltage drops below 10V during startup, it’s safe to say that it’s time for a new battery.

It’s good practice to replace the battery before it’s totally bad because it’s a strain on the alternator when it’s constantly charging a battery in poor condition. I’ve seen many times where an alternator failed relatively soon after a battery was replaced. You don’t notice how slowly the engine is cranking and barely starting up until a fresh battery is installed!

Lead acid batteries degrade rather gracefully and it’s likely yours was on its way for a while and was definitely helped along toward failure by the cold.

Good luck!

I have a question about your battery monitor. Do you leave it plugged in all the time or only when you get in and start the truck? If you leave it plugged in all the time, is there any battery drain associated with it? Thanks

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