"Check Battery Charge" warning while driving

[Washingtonian]

I bought a 2014 FFE via a dealer transfer out of California. When it arrived the 12v battery was dead so the dealer replaced it. On the way home I got a "Check Battery Charge" warning/notification to the left of the speedometer. I kept driving and it was gone the next time I drove the car. However, it keeps coming back when I'm driving. I checked the voltage of the replacement battery and it's 12.5v when the car is not plugged in to 110v.when plugged in to the 110v charger with the car off it measures 13.5v so I think the battery is healthy. Has anyone else seen this message while driving and yet the car works fine?

On an unrelated note, has anyone had any luck pushing Ford to correct a sheet metal defect? One of the rear wheel arches looks like it's dented (or "wows in") where it meets the plastic trim. I mentioned it when inspecting the car at pickup and was told Ford likely would say it's within spec so would not fix it. Does that sounds right? Ford's warranty docs specifically call out sheet metal defects in the "Check Your Vehicle" section of the warranty guide.

 

[WattsUp]

I checked the voltage of the replacement battery and it's 12.5v when the car is not plugged in to 110v.

Was that measurement taken with the battery "at rest" -- that is, car off and left off for at least two hours? If you measure too quickly after just turning the car off, you may get an inaccurate reading.

Best way... leave the hood up overnight (so you don't have to open the car door and/or cause the car to "wake up" electrically in any way) and take a measurement first thing before you next use the car.

when plugged in to the 110v charger with the car off it measures 13.5v so I think the battery is healthy.

That's just measuring the charging voltage (when the car is connected to an EVSE and charging, it will also maintain a small charge on the 12V battery).

In any case... the FFE has been known to be a little finicky about the health of its 12V battery. If your battery is below 12.5 while truly at rest, the battery may be "marginally healthy" as far as the car is concerned.

 

[davideos]

I haven't had the "Check Battery Charge" message. On the 12v battery, all I ever got was a low voltage warning when it was at the dealer for an extended time. The 12V battery ended up being replaced and everything has been fine after that.

As for the sheet metal defect, you'll have to take a picture. I don't see any defect...or don't know what to look for.

 

[Washingtonian]

I haven't had the "Check Battery Charge" message. On the 12v battery, all I ever got was a low voltage warning when it was at the dealer for an extended time. The 12V battery ended up being replaced and everything has been fine after that.

As for the sheet metal defect, you'll have to take a picture. I don't see any defect...or don't know what to look for.

The defect is where the plastic meets the metal on the rear wheel arch. The passenger side is normal but the driver side looks pushed in. I measured it and it's about a 1/4 inch further in than its supposed to be. It looks like a dent but I'm pretty sure it came that way from the factory because the paint is flawless. I'm working with the dealership. I will get some pics uploaded later when I'm on a computer.

Edit - Pics can be viewed at http://1drv.ms/1w9M8pc

 

[Washingtonian]

Was that measurement taken with the battery "at rest" -- that is, car off and left off for at least two hours?

Sort of. I hooked it up right away and watched it slowly drop voltage. I checked about 30 minutes later and it had settled at 12.5.

 

[NightHawk]

12.5V is about right if the 12v battery was recently charged such as having the car in Drive mode for awhile.
Mine goes down to about 12.3V soon after and can sit there for days with the car in OFF mode.
I've only gotten faster discharge if you plug the car into the EVSE when the HV battery is already at or near full charge and leave it plugged in overnight, so I only plug it in when the car needs an HV battery charge now.

Its wise to have your own external 12v battery charger kept in your garage for emergencies and maybe even a portable 12v battery jump starter to keep in the car. There is one such device on sale this week at Lowe's stores and its small using a Lithium-Ion battery, can also charge USB devices like phones and even power 12v accessories.

 

[Olagon]

I bought this for $6 for my FFE to check the 12V battery. Works like a charm. http://www.ebay.com/itm/111463736127

Good point on the 12V charger. May need to pick one up.

 

[EVA]

Your two pictures on the left look like my Focus Titanium. Every time I drive past it, I think the car has a dent. It has looked like that since brand new. The car is the dark gray. A similar looking dent is on the FFE, just don't notice it as much in white.

Good luck with the dealer. It might really be normal.

Good luck with your battery too.

 

[Washingtonian]

A similar looking dent is on the FFE, just don't notice it as much in white.

Good luck with the dealer. It might really be normal.

Thanks EVA. I added a pic of the passenger side of the car to show there is a significant difference between the two sides. I hear what you are saying about the "dent" being normal, but I have one dent that is visibly bigger than the standard styling.

 

[hybridbear]

We have the same "dent". The center of the back bumper also has a similar "dent". I've thought it strange since day one, but non-electric Focuses that we see look the same so I figured it is normal.

 

[davideos]

I looked at my car and there is a little bit of deflection of the sheet metal as it goes toward the bumper, but it appears to be the same on both sides. If there is any difference between the two sides, I'd have to say that at that the sheet metal is very slightly bent in toward the wheel at the very edge of the rim where the metal meets the plastic on the passenger side...maybe 3 deg of deflection but not noticeable at all. But in all fairness, that very spot on the driver side was hit by a car in a parking lot and I had it repaired. But prior to that, I never noticed a difference.

 

[Washingtonian]

I can confirm the car was serious about the battery charge message. I was greeted with a "Stop Safely Now" message on my commute home shortly before the car lost all power. Ford Roadside Assistance is towing it back to the dealer. I like the car but this is ridiculous...

 

[WattsUp]

The defect is where the plastic meets the metal on the rear wheel arch. The passenger side is normal but the driver side looks pushed in.

The lower portion of the rear wheel arches grow a little "flange" right after the transition from quarter-panel sheet metal to bumper plastic. From certain angles (esp. looking rearwards) this can appear like a "dent". The dent-like nature is less apparent when looking frontwards, where you can more clearly see the intentional flange shape:



So, I think your car is just a little different on each side, but it would seem that the shape of the wheel arch near the transition is normal.

 

[jeffand]

A couple of months ago i had an incident were the radio would not turn off. Normaly if the radio is left on when car is shut off it will turn off when the door is opened. Powering up the car trying radio's power button didn't work. I tried using the voice comands, but when i hit the switch their was no voice prompt. The touch screen had no control of the radio. I ended up disconecting the battery to reset the car's electronics. I could have not disconected the battery and let car run the battery until it was dead. Then jump start the car. This would reboot the car. This could be why some cars 12 volt batteries seem to die for no reason.

 

[jmueller065]

I ended up disconecting the battery to reset the car's electronics.

Did you first try pulling the sync module fuse under the glove box?

Resetting this fuse usually fixes, for me, whatever glitches the MFT display has. Seems a bit drastic to completely power down the car for a single module's problems.

 

[jeffand]

I did't try pulling the fuse.
What may of caused this problem? The night before i was using the level 1 charging cord. I unplug the charger from the wall socket before unpluging the car.This may of caused sync to crash. If one of the system cashes then it could be possible other systems may not have power down. With every thing not powering down will discharge the battery.

 

[davideos]

I wouldn't get too concerned about it unless it happens often. I'm just speculating, but the radio module likely got into some weird state such that it would no longer accept commands...in which case, the reset will help put things back into order. There are so many different scenarios that software has to consider that more corner cases may exist than were considered...and when one occurs, unpredictable things happen.

Removing power at the plug is likely not a problem, but may have been a factor. I've done it a few times inadvertently but never had a problem.