[Exp]

I just bought a used 2016 Explorer Limited with only 27,000 miles on it. I love everything about it. Out of nowhere after sitting in a parking lot for 8 hours while at work, the battery was dead when I got off work. I didn't leave any lights or an accessory on. I mean it was completely dead. I got a jump start and it was fine. I put a slow charge on it for 5 or 6 hours when I got home. I was wondering if there is some kind of issue with the 16 Explorer and a weird electrical drain or something that owners are experiencing.

 

[J_C]

You could put a multimeter between the battery and positive battery cable, on current measurement mode, then see what the current draw is.

Certainly it powers the mytouch screen and various electronics for a few seconds after the door is shut, but some pollution control solenoids might even stay energized for several minutes more after the engine is shut off - not sure on that model year. It should settle down to below 100mA but start out with the meter on the 10A or more range.

Anyway after those several minutes or more have passed, you get a multimeter current reading to see if current is too high. If it is you can then pull the fuses and relays to see through process of elimination, what subcircuit is draining the battery. This would be done at both the distribution box under the hood and the passenger compartment fuse box.

The odd thing is that I thought it should have a low battery shutoff circuit to prevent complete drain. Is it possible that someone pulled the old switcharoo and put an old near dead battery in it just before selling it? I'd look for the battery manufacture date as it shouldn't be prior to 2015 on a 2016 vehicle, or at least not by much. See the following webpage to decode battery dates:
http://carbatteryhelp.com/what-you-should-know-about-buying-a-car-battery/

 

[Rob2]

Had the same exact thing happen the other day, in a very similar situation. Having purchased a used 2016 with similar miles. When I went to charge it overnight, I found that the cable for the main accessory lead (+) was loose. Hoping that was the culprit preventing a good charge to happen. Also seems to have fixed many other issues, that we were experiencing.

 

[J_C]

I just reviewed an old service report for my '14. It was bought new and not used nor stored in rough conditions for the battery, not even many miles.

On that report the battery was already reported as being on the low side. It read something like original CCA 500-somthing and already down to low 400-something. The report itself stated that was problematically low, they had a color rainbow like chart and that value dipped into bad/red color. I had someone else take the vehicle in for that servicing so I never saw the report till now.

This leads me to believe that:

1) They put low end junk batteries in a $35K+ vehicle.

2) All those electronic toys really eat up battery life. I'd always wondered about that, that you can't even open the door without half the electronics including the dash display coming on.

Further it seems like my rear power lift gate is nowhere as fast as it used to be, and it's not a service vehicle for work, just personal use where it doesn't get used more than one up/down cycle every couple days.

I'll put a battery charger on mine and see if that improves lift gate speed, but the difference was subtle, I kept thinking "isn't that slower" but dismissed it, but now it has gotten slower still, so now I am sure it is slower.

If it were to remain outside for a significant % of the day then I'd think about mounting a solar panel on top to top off the battery, but it's not, garage kept too so not much opportunity for that. At least my paint and headlight lenses should hold up better from less UV exposure.

I don't believe I have any electrical problems otherwise. No signs of malfunction, no lights being left on, not excessively short trips, and I don't live on the North Pole where the low temperature is a perpetual strain starting it.

This could be a new niche for Ford. ICE engine vehicles that you have to plug in every night to recharge. lol.

 

[Rob2]

Its been a while now, since I tightened the accessory lead, and everything seems to be fine.... Ill report back any issues, if they arise.

 

[amp]

had the same thing happen to me on my 15 sport with 26k..
sat for two days in the garage... still baffled as to what might have caused it..
doubting really heavily that it was due to anything being left on..

 

[explorer_671]

I myself just purchased a used 2016 Limited XPLORER with only 19028 miles on it and the factory or stock battery that came with the car was already "DEAD". My Ford service department did a diagnostic test on the vehicle and was told by my service advisor that the battery was only giving out 12.2 volts which was too low compared to 14.9 volts as required due to all the electronics this vehicle has. Battery was replaced with a new one under warranty. I will keep you guys updated.

 

[J_C]

^ I wouldn't say out of nowhere. You just purchased it, meaning it probably had been sitting around a lot and deep drained the battery. They can put a charger on it and get it started but the damage has been done once a lead acid sits in a deeply discharged state for too long.

In your case it's actually a good thing, that you got a new battery when the original was a low end unit that probably only has 4 year life in ideal conditions, let alone real world. Now that you own it you can drive it regularly instead of it sitting on a lot senselessly draining the battery.

I have been thinking about mine recently, about low hassle ways to keep the battery topped off while it's sitting in a garage. The more of a hassle it is to recharge it, the less often and likely I am to do it.

The two thoughts I've been considering are a very lossy setup where I do put a solar panel on the roof, but then a directed LED light bulb shining down on it. That would be horribly inefficient, and yet AC mains power is cheap, and some will reflect off the solar panel and adjacent areas around it, so it is also useful as ambient garage lighting.

I just can't get over the inefficiency though, and then I'd have to put the light on a pole from the ceiling to get the light close enough and have the solar panel where it would also be effective for catching sunlight when outside.

My other thought was embedding a couple of rare earth magnets, perhaps in the bumper, with a circuit between them and the battery to trickle charge up to around 13.3V peak. By using magnetic pole orientation (north pole out on one magnet and south out on the other), a mating connector with the mating opposite-pole magnets in it too, would have the right electrical polarity (though a series diode could provide more proven protection) and it would just stick to the bumper.

However for now, my original '14 battery is still working acceptably. We had an extremely mild winter this year so it never had to start in very cold temperatures. I'll wait and see how long I get out of that battery and if it starts causing problems, will hook up a multimeter and log the current drain to determine if a trickle charger as mentioned above is worth the bother. I do already have all the parts I'd need to make it, accumulated for different reasons.

 

[explorer_671]

Thank you for chiming in. So far so good with the new battery.




2016 Explorer Limited 3.5L IWD (I Will Drive)

 

[explorer_671]

Thank you for chiming in JC. Update: So far so good.




16 Explorer Limited 3.5L IWD (I Will Drive)

 

[stowestarr]

Door Keypad

My parents have a 2016 Sport. they had the same issue...random dead battery just sitting overnight or for a day. Happened a couple of times. They noticed that the keypad on the outside of driver door would light up for no reason. After two trips to service dept, the keypad was replaced and they haven't had a battery issue since. Don't know if this helps, but in case anyone is having this issue.

 

[Merrillizer]

Used car, used battery. I dealt with it when I got my '12 Ex used. 6 months later I am stranded at a friends 12 miles away from home, in the cold. These trucks, especially loaded, have a LOT of current draw from a bunch of different devices, etc. The cars have changed and gotten more current-hungry, while the batteries are still basically the same. Best thing to do with these type of loaded-up vehicles is buy a new battery every 2-3 years. We have to take in to account that the previous owner(s) used the vehicle and its amenities, too, plus the vehicle sits on a lot for X amount of days/nights before it's used daily again. I get a new battery every 2 years.

 

[Weeback]

My 2015 did the same thing everything was good went in to eat lucnh came back and nothing. 2 yr old batt.

 

[J_C]

The original factory battery is low end. My '14 factory battery still works at ~4 years old but it's stored in an attached garage so it never sees dead/cold/winter/night/morning startups. Limit how low a lead acid starter battery is drained and lifespan is greatly extended.

A decent battery should last more than 3 years in these, but if it has a good warranty, 3 yr replace + 2 pro-rated, (or longer) then it matter less.

 

[JOHN1956]

On this dead battery posts...I have a 27,000 mile, 2015 Explorer Limited. And yesterday afternoon I plugged in my shorter phone charging cable into one of the HDMI connections and no phone connected and went back in the house. Maybe an hour or 2 later we are leaving for a party and went to start it....no go....sympton dead battery. Tried cranking a couple times....no go. Sat there a minute and thought only thing different is installing that charging cable into the HDMI port.....so pulled it out of the port and it fired right up. Went to the party and there was a Ford Tech there and he mentioned after conversation with him that is a typical problem....there is a constant/direct power supply to those ports. So best to use only while vehicle is in operation.

 

[J_C]

On this dead battery posts...I have a 27,000 mile, 2015 Explorer Limited. And yesterday afternoon I plugged in my shorter phone charging cable into one of the HDMI connections and no phone connected and went back in the house. Maybe an hour or 2 later we are leaving for a party and went to start it....no go....sympton dead battery. Tried cranking a couple times....no go. Sat there a minute and thought only thing different is installing that charging cable into the HDMI port.....so pulled it out of the port and it fired right up. Went to the party and there was a Ford Tech there and he mentioned after conversation with him that is a typical problem....there is a constant/direct power supply to those ports. So best to use only while vehicle is in operation.

I assume when you wrote HDMI than you meant USB port (socket)? Plugging a cable into that without a phone connected should cause no power draw at all, electrically should make no difference, unless the cable itself or the socket has a defect or damage that causes it to short out.

If it shorted out, there should have been a fuse blown or it would fail. A blown fuse should cease excessive power draw and not result in the battery not having enough power to start the vehicle if it otherwise had good margin. A failure would be as you'd expect, the USB port would no longer work. I suppose there is a 3rd possibility, that it uses a resettable fuse but that seems least likely in this application/circuit.

Due to these things, your report seems very unusual. When I get a chance I can check on whether my USB ports in my '14 stay powered when the vehicle is off but as above, there should be no power draw with nothing attached to the cable (maybe 5mA (a trivial amount) if it's one of those fancy cables with an LED in it to indicate power but those are rarer these days).

Further, whatever power might be drawn once a phone is hooked up, is gone *forever* (until the vehicle starts and the alternator recharges the battery), should not result in the vehicle being able to start once the cable is unhooked.

Even though everything I wrote suggests something else is wrong, I would still expect that your battery is nearly at the end of its lifespan. The factory battery in yours is now at about that age.

Previously I wrote that my '14 battery still works, but ironically a few months later it showed signs it was struggling, so I replaced it last winter.

Something noteworthy is that Walmart, where I got their replacement Maxx group 65 battery, was going to put in a smaller battery with lower CCA yet it cost even more than the group 65.

A group 65 fits perfect in my '14, glad I caught that they were going to put the smaller battery in, BUT there is a battery insulation sleeve (foam and fabric construction) that Ford put around the original that is too small for the group 65 battery.

Since I don't operate the vehicle in arctic cold nor desert hot temperature extremes, I much preferred having the larger battery over retaining use of the insulating sleeve... and even then, a lot of vehicles in those temperature extremes don't have a battery sleeve, particularly in cold weather the extra CCA's might help more. IIRC Walmart's Maxx 65N was $93 +tax for 850CCA and a 3 yr full replacement, 5 year prorated warranty and was made by Johnson Controls.

 

[JOHN1956]

Sorry yes usb.....HDMI on the brain.....nothing at all wrong with the cable. Plugged just the cable into the port and walked away for an hour or 2.....then leaving for a party and a no start condition. And like I said thought about it and pulled the cable out and fired right up....without hesitation.

 

[J_C]

^ That's the weird part, that there is no rational explanation for that happening.

Even more bizarre is that this Ford Tech claimed that was a typical problem, because it's not a typical problem to plug a USB cable into a port, with nothing connected to that USB cable, and have it effect the battery. In that case there is no current flowing to anything, so no drain on the battery.

I don't know if different versions of Sync, Myford Touch, etc, have the USB port power set up differently but in many Ford vehicles the USB ports do not receive power unless the ignition is in on or accessory position, or the circuits through the battery saver feature are live due to a sensed event, for example when opening the door (then soon powering off unless the key is used in the ignition as above, or another even resetting the power-off timer like door opening again).

The cigarette lighter 12V outlets on the other hand, often one stays powered and the others shut off with the vehicle ignition and battery saver circuit.

It would be interesting if you could get that Ford Tech to participate in this topic, because electrically, what he claimed is impossible without a fault like those I already mentioned, shorting out port or cable. Perhaps he was unclear about what you meant, had thought you had your phone charging the whole time which is something that could drain the battery a "little" bit, but it would not take the battery from a good charge state down to a level unable to start the vehicle in only a few hours.

 

[JOHN1956]

Dead battery.....everything was just a coincident.

 

[Ediaz]

2017 explorer sport. I drove 4 hours on a road trip. About a couple hours later I left to go to a CVS and the car started fine with no hesitation. Leaving CVS I tried to start my car and all I can hear was the starter clicking. Long story short a day later I went to advanced auto parts and the employee tested my battery and the machine said it had a bad cell. Ok! Then he noticed that the battery terminal was cracked at the base. That that was the issue why the battery went bad after only a year.