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Memory seat troubleshooting

56_F100

Elite Explorer
Joined
January 16, 2009
Messages
63
Reaction score
21
City, State
Eastern Washington
Year, Model & Trim Level
2015 Sport
Here's something I learned about Ford's memory function. It applied to my 2015 Explorer Sport which has memory location for the driver's seat location, steering wheel, mirrors and foot pedals. What I've learned may apply to other vehicles in the Ford lineup.

For several prior months (9 at least), I'd had problems with the steering and pedals not going to their pre-set location when I started the vehicle. The seat would most always move forward from it "Easy Entry" position. At first this was an inconvenience since once the vehicle was running, I simply pressed the memory button on the door and all the movements went to their pre-sets. Usually this failure occurred only with the first start of the vehicle after having been overnight in the garage. As time went on, the failure happened every time the vehicle was started, the seat movement also stopped working and this became a real PITA. But I could always press the memory button and all functions operated as they should.

One day the vehicle decided not to start and the battery wouldn't take a charge. Since the battery was over 6 years old, I replaced it.. Lo and behold - the memory function began to work. It's now been more than a month since the battery was replaced and the memory function has not failed once. Most of my trips are short so there's been many "tests" of the memory function. I suspect during the starting cycle (mine has push-button start) that with starting, headlights auto-on, plus all the other drains to the battery, its voltage dropped below the minimum threshold of the memory control circuitry and therefore wouldn't activate the movements for seat, steering, mirrors and pedals. Once the engine was running, voltage was "normal" and the memory function could be activated.

So unbeknown to us Explorer owners, we have a battery condition monitoring system built into our rides. When the memory function begins to fail, start saving for a new battery. :)
 






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So unbeknown to us Explorer owners, we have a battery condition monitoring system built into our rides. When the memory function begins to fail, start saving for a new battery. :)
It may only be "unbeknown" to a few owners. ;)
The monitoring system is covered in the manual. When the overall conditions warrant, several systems will be shut down to save power.
Also, when a battery is replaced, the BMS (Battery Management System) should be reset to delete the old memory stats. This is covered under Maintenance on page 329 of the manual, 2nd printing. There is also a Battery Relearn procedure mentioned there.
When the battery charges get low, there the Battery Saver Program should also show a warning on the touch screen.

Peter
 






Peter - thanks for the descriptive follow-up on details of the battery saver function and of the Battery Re-learn procedure. Unless one reads the manual from front to back, (we all do that, right?) or the salesman mentions, among countless other important points, the owner who performs their own maintenance would inadvertently cause the issues listed in the Battery Saver section, pages 328 and 329.

Now to troubleshoot my "jerky" throttle issue when the Explorer is cold.
 






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