Dead Battery

[FordFusion4653]

Hello,

 

I have a leased 2014 Ford Fusion SE. I got it in May 2014. I had no problems until this past winter, 2016, which was mild where I live.

 

I keep the car in a garage and it sat for only a day or two. When I went to start it, the battery was dead. I had to have it jump started and took it to the dealer, who claimed they could find nothing wrong with it. I didn't leave the lights on, I had recently driven the vehicle, and it was a mild winter. I had no problem in the very cold winter of 2015 where it would sit several days without use.

 

Two weeks ago in our hot summer, I went out and again the battery was dead. The lights inside would flash on, but it was dead. The car was in my garage and had only sat for one day without being driven. I had to have it jumped again. This time the tow company (sent by Ford) technician said that this is a common problem with the Ford Fusion and he has to jump them all the time. He said that something drains the battery and the dealer should know how to fix it.

 

I drove it for 30 minutes and took it to the dealer again. They kept it for a week and claimed that they tested the battery and it was fine and tested to see if there was a draw on the battery and claimed they found none. They claimed that in the week that they tested it, they let it sit and would start it and would periodically test the battery and to see if there was any draw on the battery and found no problems. Clearly, there is a problem or else I would not be getting a dead battery.

 

I was thinking of buying this vehicle at the end of the lease, but I won't unless this problem is fixed. It seems that Ford just wants it to go out of warranty when the lease is up in May 2017 and have whoever buys it pay to fix the problem.

 

Any help from someone who has had this problem or might know why this is happening would be appreciated.

[zip89105]

Personally, I think the dealer is an idiot. Next time don't jump the vehicle; have it towed.

[MightBeASynth]

Stock battery is really not the best for these cars. There is always a drain on the battery with modern cars. Some people argue with ford and the get battery replaced over, and over and over. I just went ahead and put in an AGM battery. No more problems.

[con_fusion]

My experience is the Motorcrap batteries only last me about 2 years and don't always test bad even when they are bad. If they didn't replace the battery, insist that they replace it under the 3yr/36K warranty and see what happens.

[FordFusion4653]

Thank you, I'll try, but they will just tell me it's up to Ford the company and say the "Ford" won't replace it because they can't find anything wrong with it. But, I'll try. Maybe if I try a different dealer than where I leased it, I'll have more luck. Also, I agree, this dealer is an "idiot." If anyone rep. from Ford monitors this, I do not understand how they can find it acceptable to have a battery die twice and have the dealer just shrug their shoulders and basically say, "Oh, Well."

 

Someone from another car site thought that there might be a problem with the "shut down delay system." They said that they keep things turned on for a preset time even when the ignition is off. If the system gets a "glitch" then it can drop the voltage too low to start the engine before it drops and shuts everything down. Has anyone found this to be an issue on the 2014 Ford Fusion SE?

 

My concern is that it's something more than a bad battery, such as some sort of electrical problem. I encountered this on a company car (thank goodness) that was a 2003 Ford Windstar. Biggest lemon that I every drove. One year into driving it, the lights on the inside started going on and off. I took it to this same dealer about five times and they kept telling me that they couldn't recreate the problem. Finally, it got so bad, I got so disgusted, that I told them to keep it until they could recreate the problem. They had one of their service people drive it for a week and it finally did it while he was in the car. They discovered that when the minivan was built, a wire got pinched in the above one of the passenger doors. After getting it back, I was driving to Florida for work when the floor lights started going on and off. Stopped at a dealer in the south to have them disconnect those lights and had to take the minivan back to the same dealer when I got home. Of course, by this time the it was out of warranty, but luckily it was a company car, so I didn't have to pay for the repairs.

Edited August 28, 2016 by FordFusion4653

[akirby]

There are a few known battery killers - body control module, shifter not detecting it's in park, etc. a good shop should be able to find it if that's the case. Sometimes even new batteries are defective.

[eGuru]

If you have a multimeter, you can check the current draw when vehicle is off.

Just pill the positive battery terminal and insert the meter in series.

Anything more than about 200mA indicates an issue.

[FordFusion4653]

Unfortunately, I don't have have a multimeter, but my father, who lives in another county, knows someone works on cars, so I'm sure he would have one or I'll just try taking it to a different dealer.

 

Thank You.

[FordFusion4653]

I called Ford Company's Customer Service Dept. to try and fight for a new battery b/c the dealer is just blowing me off. The rep who answered said that he isn't authorized to do that, but he could take my concerns down and send them to the dealer service mgr to see if he would do anything about it. They have the right to get the feed back and do nothing (ie not even call me). He also took a report to send to a Regional Service Manager to try and work with the dealer on diagnosing the issue. Don't know that she can do anything for me either.

 

I can take it to another dealer for a second opinion, but then I would have to start anew with Ford in documenting this issue.

 

This is very sad in that it shows how Ford is treating their customers.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Invest in a digital load tester like the Solar BA5/BA7 and make your life easier where diagnosing battery/alternator issues are concerned.

[zip89105]

As a Ford stockholder, posts like this bug me to no end. It costs a lot more to get a new customer than it does to retain one. My 2016 Fusion is my first new Ford in 30 years as I got tired of too many Ford problems and switched brands back in 1986. To have a dead battery jumped twice with no resolution as to why nor to have the battery replaced would have me livid, and probably replacing it out of pocket. I wonder if the dealer even bothered load testing the battery. This isn't good when a $100 battery might result in a lost sale or lease to another brand in the future. The other problem of a Ford dealer having the vehicle for a week isn't unusual either as many appear to have service backlogs of four days or more per posts I read at other Ford forums. That isn't encouraging. In the last thirty years driving other brands since my last Ford I've never had a vehicle down for more than one night, and that was because I was waiting for a part to be delivered. My brother just had his Chevrolet transmission replaced in two days at a GM dealer, one of those days waiting for a replacement tranny to arrive, and you can't even get a battery replaced after 7 months, two jumps, and 5 or more days at the dealer.

 

Good for you for moving this up the ladder. The bad news is Ford has probably lost you as a future customer for fumbling badly here. I want Ford to do well, both as an investor and a customer, but like you I have my limits on what I'll put up with.

[FordFusion4653]

Thank you everyone for your help.

 

I spoke today with Heather, the Regional Customer Service Manager, this morning.

 

I'm sad to say they have lost a customer over a $100 battery. I explained the situation and she basically said that because the dealer couldn't find anything wrong with the battery or vehicle that they would not replace the battery. When I asked why the battery was dead, she couldn't give me an explanation, but said that because the dealer couldn't verify that the battery had been dead or had a problem, they couldn't help me. I explained that I called the Ford 1-800 roadside assistance number as a leasee and two Ford towing companies jumped the vehicle and if they don't believe me then they can verify it with these companies, which she refused to do.

 

I asked why I would bother to have the vehicle taken to the shop if I had just left the lights one, it was a cold winter (1st dead battery issue), or I hadn't driven it in awhile? Why would I waste my time? I also informed her that under New York State's lemon law, it is one dead battery of qualifying, but she doesn't seem to know our lemon law. Luckily, I don't own this vehicle. It's a lease, but I was thinking of buying it in May when the lease is up. Now, I will never purchase another Ford vehicle or any vehicle from this dealer, who has numerous other brands that they sell.

 

Also, I told her that when the battery dies again, I won't have it jumped, but just towed to the dealer, so they can see that the battery really is dead.

 

Ridiculous. Saving $100 on a battery when they could have made a $14,000 sale.

[MightBeASynth]

What I find insane is that Ford likely has numbers on this somewhere. There is no way they don't know about the batter problems when you can run across almost every fusion owner on various forums having problems with it and multiple long term users saying "yup, just get a new battery".

 

Ford even sells their own brand AGM. Why the heck are they being so tight about fixing things on these cars? Esp when some of us paid a few grand for an extra warranty. What good is that coverage if they refuse to hold up their end of the deal.

 

I have liked Ford so far but this kind of stuff makes me wary, I switched from Chevy for the EB platform but lets be honest ford is not the only company that makes directed injected engines with a turbo.

[akirby]

I think the problem here is the dealers are saying these batteries are good when they clearly are not which I assume is because they're not using modern testers.

 

My advice to anyone with a modern vehicle is to get a good Solar tester and a C-tek charger/conditioner. This way you can test the battery yourself and prove to the dealer that it's bad. You can also extend the battery life and work around whatever may be causing additional drain by charging it once a month or so and reconditioning it if it gets bad.

 

No, you shouldn't have to do this but these issues are becoming more and more common on all makes and models and dealers have not caught up with troubleshooting skills.

[MightBeASynth]

Agreed, I have already found in some cases that I know more about the Ecoboost platform than the SA or tech working on the car (and I only started wrenching on this thing in the spring!). They just follow OASIS like lemmings without really understanding what is going on which IMO is a bit risky with the kind of tech we are dealing with.

Edited August 30, 2016 by MightBeASynth

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Lincoln dealerships seem to be better at diagnostics, at least the standalone ones.

[rfsheran]

The Dead battery issue finally hit me. After leaving our 2014 Fusion Hybrid Energi for two weeks with the charging cable connected and working, we came home to a completely dead battery. Read all the user comments in this forum, but, I am not seeing any comment about why would the 12 battery go dead when the vehicle's charging port is connected. I am not expert here, but I have been around the block with batteries in my time. I'm guessing that the charging port only manages the voltage of the HV batteries and does not supply maintenance charge to the 12v, I also suspect there are some equipment i.e HV cooling fans or ? that are drawing pwr from the 12v. I can think of no other reason why the 12v system would die over time when the car is plugged in. Looking forward to comments from readers

[akirby]

Batteries in modern vehicles rarely last more than 3-4 years.

[drolds1]

This post is being moved to the Fusion Energi forum, where it may get more exposure to those who have experience with the car and are in a better position to answer you. Note also that there's a dedicated forum for Energi owners.

 

In the meantime, the OM for the 2014 Energi under 'Vehicle Storage' states:

 

 

12V Battery

• Check and recharge as necessary. Keep connections clean.
• If storing your vehicle for more than 30 days without recharging the battery, we recommend that you disconnect the battery cables to maintain battery charge for quick starting.

Note: It is necessary to reset memory features if you disconnect the battery cables.

We recommend the following options for your plug-in vehicle:

• Leave your vehicle plugged in. The 12V battery maintains power if left plugged in. However, this periodically uses electricity from the household outlet.
• Connect a battery charger to your 12V battery and leave it on a continuous, slow charge.
• Disconnect the 12V battery. If your 12V battery is located in the luggage compartment, do not fully shut the luggage compartment after disconnecting the 12V battery. Only leave the luggage compartment open if your vehicle is stored in a locked location.

Apparently, leaving the vehicle plugged is supposed to maintain the 12V battery. Since this didn't work in your case, I'll second akirby. If your 12V battery is original to the car, it may be time to think about a replacement.

[Thomas R]

When I looked at my 2014  Fusion on the lot, (used, as of 2017) they had to jump the battery to get it working.  After i bought it, the car warned after 1/2 of using the stereo

with engine off that Batt voltage was low!

Bought a Duralast Gold at Autozone, now everything is normal.

These must be really crap batteries, after 45 years of driving, all my batteries lasted at least 5 years.

[drolds1]

Motorcraft and Duralast batteries are both manufactured by Johnson Controls.  Get back to us in 3 years.

 

Quote

Johnson controls also makes some or all of these batteries as well.

Acura, Advance Auto Parts, Autocraft, Western Auto, Tough One, Alliance, American Hardware, Ames, Varta, Blains Farm & Fleet, Battery Alliance, Bosch, Carrefour(Europe), Champion, Amara Raja Batteries LTD(Joint venture with Johnson Controls India).

Varta, Optima Batteries, LTH, and Heliar are all battery manufactures owned by Johnson Controls.

Johnson Controls supplies Ford Motor company, Diamler Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Isuzu with original equipment batteries. So next time you go and buy a battery, or a automobile chances are its a battery made by Johnson Controls.

 

[Thomas R]

Duralast Gold has 30% higher cold cranking Amps vs Ford stock battery, and 5yr warranty, vs 3yr on stock.

Had higher buyer ratings than std Durolast or their Platinum on Autozone site.  I assume this means better materials or quality control.

Had a battery in my BMW last over 10 years.

[drolds1]

My friend had a battery last 9 months in his BMW.  You just never know.

[Steve1986]

Came across this thread by googling the topic.

 

i have 2014 Fusion SE 2L EB enginge with a battery that keeps dying.

The car will not start without a boost.

parked in climate controlled underground garage with 65,000Km .

 

Found it a bit strange the battery is completely dead already but from this thread sounds like these stock batteries may be crappy.

Frustrating they don’t cover the shoddy material for the full 5yr/100,000km warranty.

 

Any suggestions on a cost efficient, reliable battery? Lowest price I found was Can tire Motomaster.

 

thanks 

[eGuru]

The Motomaster is a very decent battery.

If you should decide to shop around though, don't be fooled into thinking that CCA rating affects quality/longevity.

 

The battery construction is more important than CCA. A higher CCA rating will often "sell"the battery, but higher CCA in the same case size often means thinner and less durable plates.