Anyone have this issue before? MFT related

[explorernoles]

The other day when I went to start my 2012 explorer in the morning, it sounded funny, almost like the battery was dead because I heard a few click, click, click before the engine finally turned on. Then, MFT home screen never came on and was black for 10 seconds or so before a message appeared saying that an automatic system update was taking place.

The system update was successful, but I noticed that when I shut the car off, my music stopped playing (normally it wouldn't stop till my car door was opened) and now a message appears saying "saving system battery power" every time I turn the car off. And ever since then, my car seems to be not starting like it normally did before this issue happened.

Do you guys think this could be battery/starter related or a new system feature based on the automatic update that occurred? The battery is around 2 years old, so I'm a bit skeptical that it's something to do with that, but I guess you never know.

Any ideas?

 

[peterk9]

Low or bad battery. My bet is on the latter. A bad battery will cause several 'weird' things to occur. I get the low battery warning many times and one result of it is the radio shutting off before the door is opened. I just throw the trickle charger on it for 8 hours or so and everything is fine until the next time. I just don't drive it enough to keep the charge up. I don't get the other issues you described but others have and it has always required a new battery. I believe the MFT reboot was just a coincidence.

Peter

 

[explorernoles]

Thanks for the reply, Peterk9. If the battery is the issue, wouldn't I have received a system warning notification on the steering wheel panel? I haven't seen any battery signal icon or received any warning notifications on there.

 

[peterk9]

Thanks for the reply, Peterk9. If the battery is the issue, wouldn't I have received a system warning notification on the steering wheel panel? I haven't seen any battery signal icon or received any warning notifications on there.

No one that has had this issue and had the battery replaced because of it ever mentioned getting any other warning. Have the battery checked out just to be sure.

Peter

 

[thefranchise713]

Failing batteries rarely trigger a warning. There are a few warnings built into the BCM logic to indicate a problem, but appear to be more based on system health than battery health for the vast majority of possible errors. If the alternator is putting out the required output, it's not going to trigger a warning unless system voltage still dips too low.

Otherwise, in my experience, you're going to see the exact error you are because the system is estimating a low State of Charge on the battery, but that error only shows when the vehicle is off.

I would bet good money on a bad battery. I've read WAY too many cases this year about bad Motorcraft batteries with failure symptoms in this manner.

I generally treat batteries with a 3 year expiration, although in New York they often go longer. In warmer climates, batteries tend to deteriorate more quickly.

 

[Flatplane]

Make sure they do a BSM reset on the Battery and charging system after replacement