So, I get back from vacay and find my baby has a new issue.... the "battery" light came on just after I started it up after my 10 days away.

I can drive it seemingly ok, it did do some cool flashing and lost display and radio on one trip but now it seems not as bad.

I did a volt meter chack on the batt terminals and have 12.3 or 12.4 with key off and 14.9 with engine running.
I turned on the headlights and rear defroster and get 14.6V on the terminals.
21.6A running to the main fuse block right by the rad,

Any ideas? I am going to say voltage reg for $200 Alex... taking it in tmo for a warranty job I believe.

Weird huh?

 

14V range sounds normal to me. Many cars run about 14.4 to 14.6 volts when running. the 14.9 may be a little high though. Not sure about the new truck as I've never ran a voltage check on it, but that's how it was on my Saturn Sky and Dodge Neon I've owned in days past.

 

I say the numbers look pretty normal and lack reason for concern. However, I'd like to know if a code was stored since your battery light appeared.

You're under warranty, let the Ford guys figure it out.

 

So, I got back from my dealer... had to spend 6 hours of quality time with my tech (I just kept him company, he was very good) and located a broken wire in the harness running along the bottom of the engine bay from the alternator to the connector on the back side of the battery!
What a pain in the butt! I would have ben looking for a very long time to solve that one.
The battery was over charging at 14.9V by the way as it is apparently normal at 14.1V.
Replaced the battery as it had fused a cell inside and was done because the alternator kept charging the whole time.
Apparently the main computer reads all the parameters like batt voltage, atl output, current draw etc and adjusts when the alt is charging and when its not via that wire that was broken (Grey/Red).
The wire was broken in the loom and inside the poly pipe that protects it near the intercooler tubing. There was evidence of green powder (from oxidation) and arcing damage (from the current drain as the wire disintegrated) and now I get to wonder what will be next?
I am hoping that will be then end as the bill would be pretty big to find the issue and replace parts.
Got to see how all of the tubing goes off of the intercooler and how it goes back on and really glad someone else did it... pain in the hoop boyz!
Oh, and as an added bonus, the connector to the alternator also had some abrasion on the frickin grey/red wire right at the connector and was doomed to corrode and fail pretty soon!

Watch your connectors and such for corrosion and if something happens maybe take it in right away to save your self even more expense with tracing and repairing... in the loom is very hard to find!

 

Is the alternator on the lower half of the engine on your truck like the ford Taurus? Or did they move the alternator high like on the 5.4 and 6.2? If they kept the alternator low, I still wonder why Ford would do such a thing on a truck (especially a truck that some people will ford through creeks and such)... Did the abrasion happen from Manufacturing? Or from the engine running and rocking left and right? Any clue? I'll check mine out as well.

 

Yeah, the lower area is where they hide the darn things. I had a problem on the other side of the engine from the alternator, near the intercooler tubes at the bottom of the intercooler.
I am not really sure what happened in there as it appeared to be deep into the wrap and even protective plastic tubing down there but it sure happened!
I am truly hoping that was the only blemish in that roll of grey/purple and won't have any more issues crop up later!
As far as finding anything wrong... it may be difficult to even see the outer covering but may be worth having a look at whatever you can to check for obvious signs of damage?
Like I said, hoping to never see another one of those. If another episode comes along maybe it will happen before the warranty is up!

 

That was likely your Asense wire which provides feedback to the alternator to regulate voltage at the battery. If it loses connection (broken wire, blown fuse), the alternator will operate in default mode of roughly 0.5v higher than requested by the PCM.

 

Well, that sounds about right but it did manage to fry the battery as I drove it about 60km to the dealer so I dunno if it was waaay over voltage or just what it was.
Got a fancy new battery too so I guess that is good?

 

Voltage seems a bit high with the engine on. Mind you its not over 15 so i wouldn't find it too be any problem. I don't know what ford set the regulator voltage on these. The old ones were set at 14.7 volts. As long as it isn't over 15 i wouldn't worry.

 

Yeah, it is down at 14.3 or so now but it was 14.9 (at idle... who knows what at speed) before repair which apparently had a bad impact on the battery.

I wonder if anyone else will get to experience this after warranty is up? That would get expensive with a new battery too!

 

Voltage was definitely high given the ambient temperature this time of year. Voltage will vary depending on temperature so that the batteries are not under charged or over charged. During hot weather the voltage will be lower, during cold weather the voltage will increase.