I've searched here and on the oogly google and don't see any solid matches for what I've been experiencing, so putting it here in a thread. If you guys can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

Recently (over the last 6 months) I've been seeing the message "System Off to Save Battery - Please turn ignition off or start engine" more than I ever did in the first 4 years I owned it. I usually see it when I get in the truck after unlocking with the remote, just after the Sync splash screen (and before I've pushed the start button). I had to replace the OEM AGM battery just shy of 3 years in. I bought an EverStart AGM with a three-year free replacement period and am approaching the end of that period. I have experienced one completely dead battery requiring a jump start, and several instances of a very sluggish start. I took the battery to Wallyworld and they say it tests fine. I have also noticed what sounds like solenoid actuators randomly clicking in the engine bay while the truck sits unlocked and turned off. I have read that the fuel pump will cycle when the driver's door is opened (and do notice that), but sometimes I hear things like that without opening the driver's door. I have heard it coming from the engine, not the fuel tank, with all the doors closed... so I'm not sure what that is. I assume those things could be draining the battery, resulting in the messages.

I'm currently sitting just under 67k miles on the odometer, and the only accessory I've added to the truck is the Autostop Eliminator module that goes in the dash behind the switch that keeps it from resetting every time the truck is turned off. I've had that on for a couple of years, well before this stuff started. I live in the Houston area, so heat is obviously a threat to battery life but this summer wasn't as bad as last year. We don't salt the roads around here, so the underside of my truck and all the electrical stuff looks pretty tidy (i.e. no corrosion). It's a daily driver, but my drive is usually under 20 minutes. I know that can be taxing on a battery, so this might just be the early warning signs of a failure but I would've expected it to test bad if that were the case.

TIA for any and all suggestions... I hate just waiting for the battery to finally die, but not sure what else to look at.

 

Sure sounds like a low charged battery, or one dieing. Do you drive much on the hwy? at least once a week for a good charge? Turn the *** on, and see what the display says at a stop light. Most likely it will not allow the engine to turn off. I have read many stories as yours, and everytime the conclusion is, battery replaced fixed it. I recently saw Costco was a great deal, but wally world probably would be 2nd. There are specific instructions for battery replacement, be sure to follow them (ie, install fully charged battery, let sit untouched overnight, reset blm) Good luck.

 

battery replaced AND follow the instructions to "tell" the truck is has a new battery. I'm also a big believer in using a battery tender to keep the battery better longer, but it's probably too late for that in your case.

 

It sounds like you have a parasitic draw on your battery, and the clicking might be from relays. I would start testing the relays to see if you can find a bad one. Worse case, you break out the multimeter and start pulling fuses and relays to see if you can find the circuit where there is a draw but shouldn't be. I assume you have run Forscan and nothing is showing up?

 

Thanks for the responses... when I replaced the battery in 2021, I did follow the instructions on resetting the BMS. I've also let the battery sit disconnected overnight to reset it recently, but am still seeing the message and have had at least one sluggish start. My daily drive does include highway speeds for 10 minutes, so feel like I give it enough juice that it will recharge if the BMS tells it to. I have not tried turning the *** back on, nor have I connected to Forscan to see what it has to say. I will try both of those things. Not sure about breaking out the multimeter... I would need to read a good primer (or watch a YT video) on how to approach that. I can pull fuses, but the behavior is so random I'm not sure I could get to the fuse box and find one to pull before it would stop. :/

 

Parasitic draws are really hard to track down because the truck stays "awake" for a while when the door is open, and you'll almost always have the door open when you are doing the readings. It's a real pain in the rear.

 

I was getting that message for a while.
My start/stop also quit functioning....something you wouldn't notice.

Check the voltage on the battery....if it's getting down to 12.3 or so you may have an issue.
I would suggest you get a battery charger/maintainer for an AGM battery and charge the battery completely.
Then go from there.

 

UPDATE: Tried running with the *** switch enabled today... had zero sluggish starts, but the truck did show the symbol in the cluster that indicates the *** is being disabled by the computer. If I understand it correctly, that's due to the BMS seeing a charge state or battery health that it doesn't like (not sure of the technical details). I have a bluetooth OBD Link adapter that I can run a monitor on my iPad with, and I can also hook up Forscan... but that will need to wait until the weekend. It's been a hot minute since I used Forscan and I need to do some refreshing.

 

I have one of these in the power port on my dash, which is fun to look at while I'm at stop lights.

 

UPDATE 2: Second day of driving with the *** enabled and the truck still won't permit it to shut off the engine when you would expect it to. I turned the *** back off because I have learned as much as I think I can using that approach. I hooked up my OBD Link to the truck this afternoon and the reported voltage while running is 14.0V. With the engine off it shows 12.2V. It reported four "current codes" that could all be related to the electrical system - P06E9 (Engine Starter Performance) and U0199/200/256 (Lost communication with Door Control Module A, B and Front Controls Interface, respectively). Of course, the OBD Link code reader decoded one of the Ford PID's as "Active Engine Warm-up Timer (Lifetime)" and reported a time in seconds that would be 136 years, so not sure how much I trust the OBD Link.

With the key on engine off, the instrument cluster illuminates the battery light... I don't normally sit with the ignition on like that, so not sure whether it always does that. Also not sure what voltage is required for that to turn off, but this seems to be pointing at the battery charge state. The light does not stay on with the engine running, and it wasn't sluggish when I saw that and started it. I've ordered one of those voltmeter displays from Amazon and will be watching it just to see if anything funny is going on as I drive around. I will also be hooking up Forscan this weekend to see what it can tell me.

 

Depending on the original state of charge (AKA "SOC"), and how long since the charging system was turned off, 12.2 volts is very close to a half-charged state. It should be at 12.5/12.6 volts in a resting condition on a good battery.

 

UPDATE 3: I bought the digital voltage meter and have run with it a couple of days now. When I tested voltage KOEO before cranking, it showed 11.9 once, but most of the times it's been around 12.2... after cranking it the first time, it ran 14.5-14.6, but since then it seems to run 14.2 while I'm driving. I took pictures with my cell phone for the record, but all the elements of the darn LED display don't show up so I only got part of the numbers... I guess it's that display frequency/camera shutter speed thing that causes it. Anyway, I will continue watching it but didn't see anything while driving that seemed alarming.

On another front, I was checking my oil today and heard the noises I mentioned in the OP. The truck had been sitting overnight, all I did was unlock and open the driver's door, pop the hood then close the driver's door. Never keyed the ignition at all... I didn't hear the pre-pressure fuel pump actuation when I opened the door, but maybe it did it. However, while the hood was still up, several minutes after I had closed the front door, I heard the clicking and humming sounds while I was standing there. I got my phone out and was able to video it... based on my brief study of the interwebs, I cannot determine what it is. I'm sure you guys can school me.

 

FINAL UPDATE: It was the battery. Let it sit over a 3-day weekend after it had been sluggish starting on Thursday. Tried starting it on Monday morning and resting voltage was 9V, so I pretty well knew what was going to happen. Fortunately, when I took it to Wallyworld they had a more experienced service rep working and she ran it on the battery tester and found it to be bad. Got a free replacement, so hoping to get another 3 years. Video below is how it acted when I tried starting... no surprise, the electrical stuff all started making noises that weren't normal. I still want to know what was making those sounds under the hood in my last post.

One other thing I noticed today - the 12V plug on the dash stayed powered up after I turned off the truck, which it had not been doing. I suppose the battery management system was turning it off with the bad battery, but it surprised me that even when KOEO voltage was ~12, it wasn't leaving it turned on.

 

Those clicks are relays that aren’t getting enough power to stay switched on. A very common sign of a bad battery.

Hopefully trying to keep a bad battery going didn’t permanently damage any of you trucks electronics.

 

Glad you got it figured out.