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So I am receiving this notification when I turn my switch on to just have my radio on. I don't have a reason to believe that the battery is bad as I just bought the truck from a dealer last Thursday. Searches come up it is a known glitch in the safety feature that cannot be disabled and is happening with good batteries. Any ideas please?
I'd be willing to bet low or dead batteries at dealerships aren't uncommon. In any case it's worth cleaning the posts up and charging the battery up thoroughly overnight, etc. The alternator won't work for this. Use a charger. Have the battery tested maybe, defective batteries can cause other problems you don't want.
I also suggest putting it on a trickle charger overnight to be sure it is fully charged. My 2013 has about 46K miles on it and has just now shown that low battery notice, but only once after sitting outside in the cold for a week with no use.
In short, if they hooked up jumper cables to get the truck started the truck may have not had time to "learn" that the battery isn't dead.
The easy fix at home is to make sure that you hook the battery charger up to the chassis ground rather than the battery cable so that the PCM stays "in the loop".
Whether your battery is dead or not, it would probably make sense to do this in your case so that the computer can see that the battery has been charged. if you have a charger/maintainer, I'd hook it up and leave it sit over night.
Ok thanks. I am waiting on my dealership to call me back. Hopefully my warranty will take care of this with minimal effort on my part.
I paid this much for a truck and I expect to be able to sit and listen to the radio. For a couple of years at least! Lol
Hard for me to understand how the battery can start it just fine but can't run the radio...
Ok thanks. I am waiting on my dealership to call me back. Hopefully my warranty will take care of this with minimal effort on my part.
I paid this much for a truck and I expect to be able to sit and listen to the radio. For a couple of years at least! Lol
Hard for me to understand how the battery can start it just fine but can't run the radio...
Welcome to the forum, plumm30; congrats on the rig! Be sure to come back and let us know what you find out from the dealer. If you decide to head in for diagnosis, I'll be able to research some ways to help.
Ok an update... The old battery voltage was low so by design I was getting this message. So they gave me a brand new battery. Before I drove off I test it again, and I get the same message on the new battery. Perturbs me a little.
So the tech pulls up his support stuff, because he has never seen it before, and as it turns out, that same message appears if you have just replaced or recharged or battery too. The fix is , the new battery has to sit undisturbed for at least 8 hours for the system to report the correct charge on the battery.
If this does not fix the issue, it is likely some bad computer module of some sort. Something to take the better part of a day to trace and fix.
Thanks for the replies! Will see what happens this time tomorrow
Ok an update... The old battery voltage was low so by design I was getting this message. So they gave me a brand new battery. Before I drove off I test it again, and I get the same message on the new battery. Perturbs me a little.
So the tech pulls up his support stuff, because he has never seen it before, and as it turns out, that same message appears if you have just replaced or recharged or battery too. The fix is , the new battery has to sit undisturbed for at least 8 hours for the system to report the correct charge on the battery.
If this does not fix the issue, it is likely some bad computer module of some sort. Something to take the better part of a day to trace and fix.
Thanks for the replies! Will see what happens this time tomorrow
Correct. I swapped mine out and made sure the truck sat unused overnight.
for what it's worth, it needs to sit completely undisturbed with the key out of the ignition for 8 continuous hours for the process to complete.
if you open a door in that 8 hour period, the timer resets. if the key is left in the ignition, it disrupts the cycle as well (and drains your battery too)
charging the battery with the ground wire attached to the chassis ground also eliminates the need to go through this re-learning process.
they are supposed to be able to go in through the diagnostics software and tell the computer that the battery is new too.
let us know how the re-learning goes
There is a Ford Service Bulletin (No. 19312) on this issue applicable to Ford Freestyles. I am having this problem with a 2005 Freestyle with a good, fully charged battery and a good alternator. I have ordered the bulletin from NTIS, but we are way over their 20 working day turnaround and still no info. Anybody know what the bulletin says to do?
I just had the dealer change my battery during my recent oil change. The battery tested at 399 amps so I told them to install the Maxx battery. No warnings or driveability issues but my vent actuator behind the center stack failed as a result of a power loss. I'd imagine that it was weak anyway. The dealer made it right and it only cost me $50.00.
I'm real pleased that I didn't do this at home like I was planning to. I would have been on the hook for a $900.00 repair.
I went around with this low battery warning issue on my 13 that was bought new. I first started seeing low battery message when it was about a year old. The battery in my truck was tested many many times and it always tested OK but voltage was a little low. Finally about a month ago I installed a new 850CCA Deka and I did reset the BCM with my puter and all is happy now. I'm pretty sure the battery was no good when I bought the truck, starter has never sounded so happy....
Ok a final update on this issue...
Let it sit overnight (at least 8 hours) and it seems to have fixed the issue. Makes me very happy!
Thanks for the advice!
Sitting 8 hours hasn't helped on my Freestyle. Guess I could have the dealer clear the light and see if it comes back. Sure wish the Technical Service Bulletins were available without having to subscribe to AllData! NTIS isn't getting it done.
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