Faulty SYNC/APIM causing battery to drain???

[deewan]

I'm having a very strange issue. My battery has been draining and causing some start issues over the past couple days. But SYNC and user settings were acting up before the ignition issues. Here is the breakdown of what is happening and when...

Sunday: Car started normal. 5 minutes into an hour drive I attempted to use the steering wheel controls to switch from Sirius to BT Audio. The right dashboard display changed to the Bluetooth audio, but Sirius radio continued to play over the speakers and the main touchscreen continued to display Sirius touchscreen. I could switch Sirius channels while the dashboard display continued to show BT audio information (number of tracks and song progression). Not until I used the touchscreen to switch to BT could I get the system to switch over to BT. Everything else seemed normal on my return drive.

Monday morning: Leaving for work and the battery is nearly dead. Explorer barely is able to turnover but does start. I notice my driver seat moves each time I open the driver door. I conclude the Easy Entry feature is operating, however I've had that feature turned off since day 1. While the Ex is running I check settings and confirm the Easy Entry option is turned off. I turn off the Ex and the seat moves back away from the steering wheel. I also notice that each time I open the driver side door, the dashboard and interior lights flicker instead of staying on or turn off. Not sure if that is due to low battery or something else. Ex starts each time Monday but really struggles to turn over each time. I have a local auto shop check the battery and they said the charge was at 10%. That night I hook the Ex up to a battery charger for about 2 hours and try charging it a bit. I get the battery up to 25%.

Tuesday: Continued problem starting. Now each time I shut the Ex off SYNC and the audio system shut off before a door is opened and the touchscreen displays a progress bar and a sentence stating something like "Due to low power, SYNC is shutting down. Start ignition to power system." Ex continues to start each time I try, and SYNC continues to shutdown each time I shut the Ex off. Tuesday night I decide to hook up the battery charger again. I charge the battery for about 6 hours and when I unhook the charger the charger said the battery was at 75%.

Wednesday: Get into the Ex and the engine won't turn over at all. Nothing. Dashboard lights are lit, but nothing else is operational. I hook up the battery charger and jump the car. Once started, SYNC shows the reboot and maintenance screen. I let the Ex run for 3 minutes, shut it off and restart. It started without the help of the battery charger and actually started faster and better than it had since Sunday morning which shocked me since the battery was basically dead 5 minutes earlier.

I called my local Ford service department and explained the problem. They want me to bring the car in for a battery check which I agree with. But it still seems odd to me that SYNC and other car features are acting up before the battery was failing.

Anyone else have an issue like this? My battery was just checked about a month ago and was said to be in very good condition so it would surprise me that it went that bad that quickly. I've read on some of the Escape forums that SYNC was actually killing the battery. And then I also saw this YouTube video, but it doesn't explain what the fix was. I'm assuming something like the APIM was replaced.

 

[613GT500]

Likely the battery is the cause of sync acting up.
Easy for them to test out and see if there's a parasitic draw.

 

[JAPeterson]

I have seen batteries go from good to dead in a matter of days.

When you get low voltages the newer electronics will do strange things.

 

[FordIVTteam]

Hi deewan,

I agree with the dealer. Schedule an appointment, so they can take a look at it. They'll be able to explore the entire vehicle for a root cause. Keep me posted!

Shaay

 

[deewan]

Thanks for the replies. The one thing I forgot to mention, I found it strange that I do not get a low or faulty battery warning light on the dash if the battery is dead or low on power. I looked through the menus and didn't see a place I could check the battery level. Does one not exist anymore?

 

[peterk9]

In regards to your Tuesday issue with the display mentioning low power and the radio shutting off, I've had that in both my 2011 Limited and my current MKT. I chalk it up to short trips and very limited driving time (11,600 kms or 7200 mi. in 29 months). I used to hook up the charger to it with the 2A trickle charge setting and it would take anywhere from 8+ hours to reach full charge. My MKT has been doing this for a few months now and haven't bothered with the charger and there haven't been any issues. Once Winter gets here I will likely hook it up again. The full charge seems to last about 3 weeks before getting that low battery warning again.
There have been other posts where weird things happened with electronics and it was usually traced back to a bad/weak battery. BTW, at no time did I ever have a dash warning light come on regarding the battery.

Peter

 

[thefranchise713]

My money is on a problematic battery. Voltage causes strange issues, and if the BCM detects a low state of charge or voltage, it pulls power from unneeded components when the vehicle shuts down. In extreme cases where the battery is failing while the car is running, it will even shut down some features (slow down blower motors, disable heated seats, etc) with a message to the driver until the voltage or state of charge recovers.

 

[stuarto]

@deewan Do you have an UltraGauge OBDII display? If yes, I may have the answer for you

Let us know

 

[champco]

My money is riding on the Battery. Exactly as JA Peterson says. These new vehicles get scrambled minds when batteries get weak.
Just went thru this same type of weird stuff going on with my wifes Lexus. Lights acting up, displays doing weird stuff. Tried recharging, disconnecting, key cycling. Battery was only three years old. Took to dealer to replace under warranty and check for codes. After replacement and key cycles shes happy car. No codes were set.
Only other possibility is I understand there is a main ground to the body on the Ex some here have said can be problematic. Have seen it on other cars. Usually wt the firewall somewhere. If you have a Battery to swap/ second car/boat... Few key cycles you will know. In My case the battery was heavily but not completely shorted as indicated by battery charger.

 

[Wes B]

I know this is an old thread but I've been having very similar issues and have already had my battery checked and it checked out good. Between this and my airbag sensor I'm about to trade it in.

 

[sheltonfilms]

I know this is an old thread but I've been having very similar issues and have already had my battery checked and it checked out good. Between this and my airbag sensor I'm about to trade it in.

How and who checked the battery?

 

[Wes B]

My father is a mechanic and all we own is Ford's in our family. Between this problem and the damn thing saying our transmission is not in park I'm pulling my hair out. My wife loves this thing.

 

[peterk9]

My father is a mechanic and all we own is Ford's in our family. Between this problem and the damn thing saying our transmission is not in park I'm pulling my hair out. My wife loves this thing.

The "Shift to Park' warning seems to be an issue that isn't too hard to fix. Some members have done it themselves. http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/shift-to-park-warning.375462/

Peter

 

[Wes B]

Thanks for the help so far guys! Glad I found this site! I just realized I didn't answer the first question completely. He used a digital multimeter he had at the house but when we got to the shop he also hooked it up to his load tester and it tested good there as well. The multimeter read between 12.8V and as high as 14V.

 

[sheltonfilms]

Thanks for the help so far guys! Glad I found this site! I just realized I didn't answer the first question completely. He used a digital multimeter he had at the house but when we got to the shop he also hooked it up to his load tester and it tested good there as well. The multimeter read between 12.8V and as high as 14V.

Ok just wanted to make sure a load was out on it as some people only test open load voltage with a multimeter.

The shift to park issue is probably you issue then. When the car isnt detected to be in park the control units can't go to sleep mode. This cause a substantial drain on the battery. Also, the charging system can't recharge the battery as well as you think. The alternator is there just to run everything while driving and what's left charges the battery (isn't much). A highly discharged battery needs to be brought back using an external charger.

Anyways get shifter fixed first. Maybe able to source a replacement switch instead of replacing he whole shifter assembly.

 

[champco]

Thanks for the help so far guys! Glad I found this site! I just realized I didn't answer the first question completely. He used a digital multimeter he had at the house but when we got to the shop he also hooked it up to his load tester and it tested good there as well. The multimeter read between 12.8V and as high as 14V.

He also checked electrolyte level correct??

 

[kissdemon]

SIMILAR ISSUE....I'm in the process of figuring it out but thought I'd post now to give time for replies

I have a 2008 Focus SES...My sync display says FORD FOCUS but then does not go to the time/radio. The words then flash on and off randomly. No radio/BT, etc, controls at all. The next morning, my car was completely dead. Key fob wouldn't work. No battery power at all. I boost it and it drives fine and can even sit for hours and start again. If I leave it overnight, the battery dies completely.

I pulled fuse 13 (SYNC) and it appears the battery is fine the next morning. I can only assume that this module is faulty and drains the battery. Is it as simple as replacing this module (is it called the APIM?)......if so, can I get a used one and install it myself? The car doesn't have much life left so I don't want to sink a lot of money into it.

Any advice would be appreciated.