Strange electrical blip on 16 Edge

[HillbillyHotRod]

So we have a 16 Ford Edge. Yesterday after having sat for 3 days went out to start it. Inadvertently while putting the fob in my pocket hit the emergency button and started the horn blaring. So hit a bunch of buttons to try and get it to stop till finally had to push the start button to get it to stop. This where it gets weird. Tried to start, nothing, barely clicked. Checked the battery and it shows like 7.5 volts. So jump start it to get it running and let it run for about 15 minutes. Now the battery shows 11.9 volts.? Could just running it at idle 15 minutes charge it back up that much? Anyway went to town and back no problem. Get home and check the battery and it shows 12.1 volts. Check it later in the day and it show 12.3 volts. Checked it again today and still showing 12.29 volts. Now this is the original battery but could it run down sitting for 3 days. And if so why is it still holding volts today. This does seem a bit low for a charged battery so maybe the battery is going? Just don't know why it want so low and now holding?

 

[SHOdown220]

There is so many electronics in todays vehicles it doesn't seem like they last as long as they used to. I just replaced mine in my 16 FoST a few months ago. It started slow and and I drove to work and turned it off and tried to restart and it was dead. I let it sit a few hours and tried again on lunch and it started back up although slowly. Wend ahead and swapped that battery. They seem to do some weird stuff near the end of their life but I recommend once you start having starting issues just go ahead replace it with that kind of age.

I've had to do all three batteries this year, motorcycle wifes car and my car, when it rains it pours lol.

 

[James Snover]

As a rule of thumb, a good 12-volt battery should show a minimum of 13 volts. A new 12-volt car battery will typically hit 13.7 volts. Sounds like your battery is just about to die.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[04DeadShort]

My wife has a 15 Explorer Limited. I has all the bells and whistles you could get in 2015. I just put the 3rd battery on it about a month ago. The original battery, about a year after we bought it left her stranded at the Vet on a Saturday. It had cracked across the top between the terminals and killed itself. No issues with the second battery (little over 3 years old) until about a month ago when I noticed electronics getting weird and a little slower starting. I didn't want to risk it with her and the kids so I replaced it. Our Explorer is a pretty good vehicle but it's obvious the electronics really taxes the battery. I maintain our daily's just like our Cobras. I have bought more batteries for the Explorer in 5 years than I have for our Cobras in 10 years. Our Cobras win the alternator war though. lol. With my experience I'm going to say your original battery is about to the end of it's life.

 

[kevinatfms]

So we have a 16 Ford Edge. Yesterday after having sat for 3 days went out to start it. Inadvertently while putting the fob in my pocket hit the emergency button and started the horn blaring. So hit a bunch of buttons to try and get it to stop till finally had to push the start button to get it to stop. This where it gets weird. Tried to start, nothing, barely clicked. Checked the battery and it shows like 7.5 volts. So jump start it to get it running and let it run for about 15 minutes. Now the battery shows 11.9 volts.? Could just running it at idle 15 minutes charge it back up that much? Anyway went to town and back no problem. Get home and check the battery and it shows 12.1 volts. Check it later in the day and it show 12.3 volts. Checked it again today and still showing 12.29 volts. Now this is the original battery but could it run down sitting for 3 days. And if so why is it still holding volts today. This does seem a bit low for a charged battery so maybe the battery is going? Just don't know why it want so low and now holding?

I cannot recall if the Edge Gen 2 has the PCM controlled Battery Management System or not. It makes a massive difference in what the truck sees voltage wise at idle as the BMS/PCM will energize or de-energize the alternator regulator to ensure the truck isn't overcharging the battery.

After 2010, Ford started putting the BMS on the negative cables of the high draw vehicles(anything with alot of options). The BMS will pull the grounds as it sees battery draw on the negative battery cable.

Two ways to check:
Strap a DVOM to the windshield, run the terminals to the pos/neg and drive around a bit. If you see it energize the alternator the voltage will jump above 14.5v. Usually it will kick on the regulator with alot of load....IE lights, air con, radio...etc.

Or, if you have ForScan, you can look at the PIDs for the alternator circuit and see if the PCM is reading the voltage into and out of the regulator. Drive around an monitor it. You should see it kick the alternator on and charge at 14.5v.
It may also allow you to energize the alternator to test the system. If you can, turn the regulator on and see what the voltage reads. Should be 14.5v+ and hold it above there until you turn it back off.

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

#kevinatfms


Took the battery in and they tested it as good. Drove home (20 miles) and stuck fluke meter on it and it reads 12.35 volts connected. At idle it is 13.6 volts from alternator. Will try and find a way to keep the leads on the battery and drive it around and see what’s happens.

So drove around with the meter connected. At idle it was reading 13.6 volts. Driving around for a half hour at speeds 40 - 70 it would read between 13.62 and 13.64 volts. It never did get above that. I had everything running at the time. I disconnected it when I got back and the battery was reading 12.3 volt. Now they put the battery on a tester and it passed all tests showing it was good. I tested the battery in my other car and it reads 13.6 volts, but it is on a trickle charger. I have no idea why the battery tested good yet has a low reading.

 

[L8APEX]

Good video, explains batteries and what's good/what to look for. (Love project farm)
The cheap walmart brand is what I have in my escape, does fantastic. The autozone one In my mustang sits a week in the garage and it definitely lost some of its umph. After driving it for a while it starts easily.
I've had batteries pass that were actually bad. The lead plating falls off of the plates on these newer batteries too easily.
Check the grounds/cables of you haven't. It sounds more like a battery that is crapping out.

Sent from my Note9

 

[kevinatfms]

#kevinatfms

Took the battery in and they tested it as good. Drove home (20 miles) and stuck fluke meter on it and it reads 12.35 volts connected. At idle it is 13.6 volts from alternator. Will try and find a way to keep the leads on the battery and drive it around and see what’s happens.

So drove around with the meter connected. At idle it was reading 13.6 volts. Driving around for a half hour at speeds 40 - 70 it would read between 13.62 and 13.64 volts. It never did get above that. I had everything running at the time. I disconnected it when I got back and the battery was reading 12.3 volt. Now they put the battery on a tester and it passed all tests showing it was good. I tested the battery in my other car and it reads 13.6 volts, but it is on a trickle charger. I have no idea why the battery tested good yet has a low reading.

It should read 14.5v+ with a large load over a 30min drive. Batteries usually only have a 90min reserve and that is without a ton of electrical load.

Sounds like the alternator is not charging at full capacity. Maybe a damaged regulator from the sound of it.

If you wanted to confirm you could check the resistance of the regulator control circuit. That would tell you 100% if the regulator field is damaged.

Unplug the black 3 pin connector on the back of the alternator(with the vehicle off).

Check for an ohm reading between the one of the outer two terminals and the alternator case. If one of the terminals when grounded shows 1.2k-1.6k ohms it would indicate a good regulator field and that its a PCM charging control circuit issue(a bad PCM). If the ohm rating comes up high between 20k+ohms there is an issue with the regulator field and the alternator needs to be replaced.

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

Well this sucks. The alternator is buried on the bottom of the engine and I can see no way of getting to it except on a lift I do not have. I guess I will make a appointment and take it in to have it checked out. I did use a thing called "fixd" which plugs into the OBD2 and it came up clean. checked it today and the battery is holding at 12.7 volts. Low but is holding.

 

[hotcobra03]

Is truck parked outside?

My wife’s tundra out of nowhere had issues.

After staring at it I noticed a harness was chewed up by an animal.

On a side note.

Last month my cobra had issues with starting.
This time I found a dealer installed alarm was fried

In hooked it and car was fine.

But I now see battery drain issue was this piece.

Last 17yrs if car sat more than a week battery was dead.


Try this link. May have some information in TSB’s

Scroll down to link to get in


Chilton Library

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

It is garaged and there are mouse traps around. Not to say one could not get in there. Will look at that site.