No start - no power battery ok

[jmrdv]

Strange event this morning. I got into the explorer and no lights, no power whatsoever and it would not start or even crank. Nothing worked yet the battery was fully charged and the cables were clean and tight. Hooked up a known good battery charger but still no power. Roadside showed up and hooked up jumpers - and still no power so we moved the jumper cable connection to another ground and suddenly everything is fine again. I backed it out of the driveway and it stalled - dead again yet jumping it resolved everything.

A trip to the dealer showed no codes, no draw, proper charging system, good battery test, no obvious faults or loose wires and naturally everything works fine.

Oasis had nothing on this.

Yes I made sure that I tried both remotes - this is a 2016 explorer with push button start, 6 months old with under 4000 miles. The vehicle was fine last night at 9pm when I got home. It's almost as if there is a relay that disconnected the battery from the vehicle yet the radio keep alive memory was fine.

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks
John

 

[613GT500]

Did the low battery warning message pop up?
Doesn't appear to be a battery issue, if you are able to start the vehicle.

 

[JAPeterson]

If it happens again try using a jumper cable from the battery ground terminal to a good block ground and see what happens.

It sounds like a bad connection on a ground or even the positive side. It doesn't take very much amperage to run the radio but quite a bit to turn the starter over.

 

[peterk9]

If it happens again try using a jumper cable from the battery ground terminal to a good block ground and see what happens.

It sounds like a bad connection on a ground or even the positive side. It doesn't take very much amperage to run the radio but quite a bit to turn the starter over.

I don't think he said the radio was playing only that once the vehicle was started that the radio memory was fine.
I would tend to agree with a bad ground connection since changing that when boosting the vehicle worked.

Peter

 

[thefranchise713]

Check all grounds, don't forget the one that lies near the BCM, near the base of the door driver behind the carpet.

 

[asull85]

Just as everyone else said, you probably have a bad ground.

 

[jmrdv]

thanks folks - that's pretty much what the hotline folks think as well. We did check the main battery ground at both ends and it was fine - so my next tactic will be to run two new grounds, battery to engine and follow that to the chassis to make sure that at least one complete and valid circuit is in existence. Then we will start checking the vehicle grounds one by one on as many as are accessible.

John
n2rdv

 

[jmrdv]

Did the low battery warning message pop up?
Doesn't appear to be a battery issue, if you are able to start the vehicle.

NO there was no low battery warning. Indeed the battery itself was seemingly fully charged yet nothing worked - no headlamps, no instrumentation or radio interior lights- zilch. I believe it is a ground but I have not seen a ground that can do all of that and then work fine shortly afterwards. I'll be checking stuff later this morning as it warms up a bit- frost outside here now.

and to the other person - The radio did not work - After it was started we found the keep alive memory had retained itself - clock and stations were intact and yes that is a very minimal draw.

 

[jmrdv]

In checking today we found a major ground under the hood on the right side that had hard glue on and between the body and the ground itself. Major resistance proved that ground was ineffective so we cleaned it. Right side - close to firewall attached to a bracket jutting out from the firewall - up high. It's real easy to see.

 

[Sixonemale]

Strange event this morning. I got into the explorer and no lights, no power whatsoever and it would not start or even crank. Nothing worked yet the battery was fully charged and the cables were clean and tight. Hooked up a known good battery charger but still no power. Roadside showed up and hooked up jumpers - and still no power so we moved the jumper cable connection to another ground and suddenly everything is fine again. I backed it out of the driveway and it stalled - dead again yet jumping it resolved everything.

A trip to the dealer showed no codes, no draw, proper charging system, good battery test, no obvious faults or loose wires and naturally everything works fine.

Oasis had nothing on this.

Yes I made sure that I tried both remotes - this is a 2016 explorer with push button start, 6 months old with under 4000 miles. The vehicle was fine last night at 9pm when I got home. It's almost as if there is a relay that disconnected the battery from the vehicle yet the radio keep alive memory was fine.

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks
John

Purely an editorial post, but while recently traveling and renting a car in Phoenix, AZ, my rental car key fob malfunctioned that resulted in the rental car company sending out a tow truck out to pick my car and take me and the car back to the airport to pick up another car. The car I had trouble with was not a Ford, but 2016 vehicle. In my conversation with the tow truck driver he said he picks up lot of newer cars and when I asked him which type of new cars does he pick up, the first one he mentioned was the new Explorer. Perhaps its issues like this or a malfunctioning throttle body that make them popular with tow truck drivers.

 

[jmrdv]

The throttle body was a defect and has ben replaced. I was a ford A tech and then a service mgr for a few decades so that I can deal with easily. Intermittent problems like this are tougher since if there are no codes and it does not present itself for the tech then there is very little a tech can do short of checking basics. The good thing is that the statistics build up and the tech hotline is good at tracking such stuff. If they see a bunch then it gets elevated and solved. For now I am in the wait - see and hope it starts every day mode.

 

[Sixonemale]

The throttle body was a defect and has ben replaced. I was a ford A tech and then a service mgr for a few decades so that I can deal with easily. Intermittent problems like this are tougher since if there are no codes and it does not present itself for the tech then there is very little a tech can do short of checking basics. The good thing is that the statistics build up and the tech hotline is good at tracking such stuff. If they see a bunch then it gets elevated and solved. For now I am in the wait - see and hope it starts every day mode.

I could not agree more that the intermittent electrical problems that don't throw codes are the toughest to solve.

 

[gjw1]

The exact same thing happened to my 2018 Ford Explorer Sport. Dead: no lights, nothing, and no low battery warning. Ten minutes later, it was back to normal. I'm terrified to drive it long distances now. This is horrible.

 

[peterk9]

The exact same thing happened to my 2018 Ford Explorer Sport. Dead: no lights, nothing, and no low battery warning. Ten minutes later, it was back to normal. I'm terrified to drive it long distances now. This is horrible.

Welcome to the Forum.
I'm wondering if it could be a bad/loose ground.

Peter