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2018 Ford Explorer Sport electrical issues

racerm

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August 18, 2018
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Year, Model & Trim Level
2018 Ford Explorer Sport
Last week our Explorer (12 months old/20K miles) had the battery suddenly die on us. Tried jumping it from another vehicle with no luck. Roadside sent a tow company out to take to dealership but they were able to jump with a box and recommended we just drive it and it should be fine drive around 45 min and got home and and wouldn’t restart. Had it jumped again next morning and took to dealer where they diagnosed a bad battery cell and replaced the battery. After this Though the rear hatch wouldn’t work and we We’re asked to bring back in Monday(today). Didn’t work all weekend but dealer tries it this morning and it works just fine and could duplicate. Picked up and pissed cause it won’t replicate and stop for dinner and wife says it won’t detect key. Replaced FOB battery still get message. Started and shut off several times with FOB and finally was able to shift out of park and brought home and now this issue won’t replicate.

Supposed to drive from TX to FL and I’m worried that we get stuck somewhere and vacation get ruined. Anyone got any ideas of what problem could be?
 



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I don't know if this would do anything for your issues, but did you read page 293 of your Manual regarding restoring settings?

Peter
 






Sorry but the manual is in the Explorer at the dealership. What does pg 293 say?
 






racerm, what ended up being the problem with you Explorer? I think I'm having a similar issue. Replaced the batter and now a few things work intermittently when the car is off (liftgate, fobs, etc).
 






racerm, what ended up being the problem with you Explorer? I think I'm having a similar issue. Replaced the batter and now a few things work intermittently when the car is off (liftgate, fobs, etc).
Welcome to the Forum. :wave:
FYI, the member you quoted was last seen here on November 12, 2019.
Are you saying that the liftgate only works intermittently when the Explorer is OFF? How about when it is ON, does the 'gate' work normally? When it is intermittent is that using the switch on the dash and the fob?

Peter
 






Thanks for following up Peter! I think I solved the issue.

The symptom I was experiencing, after I replace the battery, was intermittent cases when things wouldn't work when the power was off: liftgate, lock/unlock with a fob, self start. And I noticed that it seemed like the touchscreen system would need to boot (with a loading bar) in these cases.

I checked out the leads on the battery, and one of them was a little loose. It probably happened after driving it for a bit. I tightened it all up and it went away. So it was definitely human error.

Thanks!
 






Last week our Explorer (12 months old/20K miles) had the battery suddenly die on us. Tried jumping it from another vehicle with no luck. Roadside sent a tow company out to take to dealership but they were able to jump with a box and recommended we just drive it and it should be fine drive around 45 min and got home and and wouldn’t restart. Had it jumped again next morning and took to dealer where they diagnosed a bad battery cell and replaced the battery. After this Though the rear hatch wouldn’t work and we We’re asked to bring back in Monday(today). Didn’t work all weekend but dealer tries it this morning and it works just fine and could duplicate. Picked up and pissed cause it won’t replicate and stop for dinner and wife says it won’t detect key. Replaced FOB battery still get message. Started and shut off several times with FOB and finally was able to shift out of park and brought home and now this issue won’t replicate.

Supposed to drive from TX to FL and I’m worried that we get stuck somewhere and vacation get ruined. Anyone got any ideas of what problem could be?
I have a 2017 Platinum currently with 41,000 miles that was just towed into the dealership this morning. The first battery was replaced at 16,000 miles. Dealership said it was most likely a bad cell in the battery that caused it to go bad prematurely. A neighbor of mine (who is a mechanic....not for Ford though) said voltage regulator looked like it was going bad. The dealership said that guy was not a real mechanic and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Here we are now (at 41,000 miles) with a completely dead Explorer on battery number 2.

I’ve also had surging issues at low speeds (usually moving forward after pulling out of a parking space). It replicated for the transmission tech at dealership. They said they had to get Ford to help them with this as they were puzzled with why it was surging in the first place. They thought they fixed it (I’m not sure what exactly they did to fix it), but now it’s beginning to do it again.

Sadly, this car has been in the dealership more times than I was expecting. I bought it new in ‘17 with 51 miles on it. I love this car, though the problems are beginning to frustrate me. Previous vehicle was a 2015 F-150 King Ranch 5.0L that went through a buyback at 14,500 miles due to a transmission fluid leak that was leaking internally, damaging other parts, and Ford had trouble fixing. I don’t want to go through that again with this Explorer.
 






^^Welcome to the Forum. :wave:
I also had a 2017 Platinum and it was trouble-free during the 3 years of a 4 year lease that I had it. Mind you, I'm not your typical driver. It had about 7500 miles on it after exactly 3 years when the dealer made me an offer on the current 2020 Aviator. Because I don't drive that much I did have to charge the battery several times but it never got to the point where it wouldn't start the vehicle. I'm having to do the same with the Aviator.
There are several threads on "surging" issues. Here is one of them. 2016+ low speed surging

Peter
 






^^Welcome to the Forum. :wave:
I also had a 2017 Platinum and it was trouble-free during the 3 years of a 4 year lease that I had it. Mind you, I'm not your typical driver. It had about 7500 miles on it after exactly 3 years when the dealer made me an offer on the current 2020 Aviator. Because I don't drive that much I did have to charge the battery several times but it never got to the point where it wouldn't start the vehicle. I'm having to do the same with the Aviator.
There are several threads on "surging" issues. Here is one of them. 2016+ low speed surging

Peter
Thank you so much Peter!! I will check that out. As of now, the dealership told me I need to pay for a new battery to be put into my car. They said it is indeed a dead battery again. I just don’t understand why it keeps happening?!
 






Is there no warranty on that battery? How long have you had it?

Peter
 






Is there no warranty on that battery? How long have you had it?

Peter
The dealership said that because they replaced the first one under the 3/36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, it didn’t have a warranty on it. It was 2 months shy of 3 years (21,000 miles) on the replacement battery. They charged me for the new one they just put in today. Then said it has a 3 year/unlimited miles warranty. If it goes out before 3 years is up, they will replace it for free. My question is still “what is causing the battery to drain so fast?” I’ve only owned the car for 4 1/2 years (bought it new) and it’s on its 3rd battery now. They said I can get a second opinion if I want, but that they are pretty confident it’s a bad cell in the battery (same thing they said with the first one).
 






Did you try charging the replacement battery before you had it replaced? Usually, if a battery is getting low, you would get some kind of notice/warning. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the voltage regulator checked out. Although it isn't pleasant to get caught with a dead battery, at least you're covered for the next 3 years. You could also have it checked to see what kind of drain there is on the battery when the vehicle is off.

Peter
 






Did you try charging the replacement battery before you had it replaced? Usually, if a battery is getting low, you would get some kind of notice/warning. I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the voltage regulator checked out. Although it isn't pleasant to get caught with a dead battery, at least you're covered for the next 3 years. You could also have it checked to see what kind of drain there is on the battery when the vehicle is off.

Peter
The tow driver that towed my car in to Ford said he had a difficult time getting it jumpstarted in order to get it onto his truck. The only warning I had were the interior lights flickering when I opened one of the doors earlier that same day it went dead. That was the first time I had seen that happen. It must of died in the middle of me locking it with the remote because the side mirrors only turned in halfway. The service advisor at Ford said there was no draw on the battery overnight while it was off. I was told by a few other friends and family to have to voltage regulator checked again, as well as the alternator. The picture is a copy of what their system told them while checking the charging system.

A886A2D3-D6C0-4336-8F72-CF32BC8D5660.jpeg
 






What's the voltage while it's running? If the alternator is good it should be putting out 14+, closer to mid 14s. Sometimes the voltage regulator can be replaced separately, you would just have to do some research on your particular model, because they can fail themselves. Mine did on my 06 M5 and had to have it towed.
 






What's the voltage while it's running? If the alternator is good it should be putting out 14+, closer to mid 14s. Sometimes the voltage regulator can be replaced separately, you would just have to do some research on your particular model, because they can fail themselves. Mine did on my 06 M5 and had to have it towed.
I'm not sure. The dealership did not give me that information unfortunately. I remember a friend (as well as someone at AutoZone) checking that for me when the original battery went out back in 2019. Both tested it with the new battery already installed and the car running. I saved the pictures I took while AutoZone checked it. The tool my friend used gave him a number. I think it was under 12. I'm going to have it checked again. The following two pictures are from the first replacement.

IMG_3884.jpeg
IMG_3885.jpeg
 






Too bad they didn't measure the voltage running. When the VR goes bad it can result in either an under or over-charging scenario, neither of which is good for the battery, or for the vehicle. Sounds like you need to pony up for a new alternator unfortunately. The fact that you've had battery issues over the years is a clue. These alternators are tucked away and a pain to get to. On some vehicles, they are easily accessible so the VR is replaceable without removing it.
 






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