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2018 Ford Explorer not Starting!


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Good Morning!

To whom it may concern. 

My wife and I have/had become Ford Owners from Chevy in the past 4 years. Since 2014 until 2020 we have been very happy with our Ford experience.

Our most recent purchase a 2018 Ford Explorer Limited has become this morning something nearing a Lemon. 

On Jan 20th we received the notice Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

On Jan 21st It did not start and we had it towed to Chestatee Ford for not starting, not taking a JumpStart and they stated after having it for 2 days  "They put it on a Deep Charge/Testing machine and it is now working". This was fine we received the car and it had ran ever since. 

But, today March 3 at 6:30 AM my wife went out to start her car and the same thing was happening but no notice had been received. We have once again called roadside assistance to get this towed and as of this writing it is enroute to Chestatee Ford.

We did finally receive notification at 7:57 AM that Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

I did call Chestatee to try to get a courtesy vehicle or Rental and was advised to call Ford at 800-392-3673. I began calling at 9:25 only to be hung up on 3 times after saying 2018 Ford Explorer. And 1 time after selecting 4 then 1 

I then called back again and selected 4 then 2 and spoke with Princess she created a case but could not assist.

I did at 10:50 AM speak with Gwen in SUV support. And have been escalated to a Regional CSM but since that is 24 hours away it is very inconvenient. 

Please Advise, 

Rob Gibbons

 

 

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Sorry to hear you're having problems but your problem is very simple - you need a new battery.  Batteries here in GA rarely last more than 3 years on newer vehicles unless you do a lot of maintenance.   I'm sure they will replace the battery this time since a deep charge did not revive it.   No need to call Ford.   Worst case if they won't cover it just go to Advance auto parts and get a new battery for $150.

 

BTW we used to live in Forsyth Co but moved to Canton a couple of years ago.  I bought my F150 from Chestatee. 

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6 hours ago, maveriick said:

Good Morning!

To whom it may concern. 

My wife and I have/had become Ford Owners from Chevy in the past 4 years. Since 2014 until 2020 we have been very happy with our Ford experience.

Our most recent purchase a 2018 Ford Explorer Limited has become this morning something nearing a Lemon. 

On Jan 20th we received the notice Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

On Jan 21st It did not start and we had it towed to Chestatee Ford for not starting, not taking a JumpStart and they stated after having it for 2 days  "They put it on a Deep Charge/Testing machine and it is now working". This was fine we received the car and it had ran ever since. 

But, today March 3 at 6:30 AM my wife went out to start her car and the same thing was happening but no notice had been received. We have once again called roadside assistance to get this towed and as of this writing it is enroute to Chestatee Ford.

We did finally receive notification at 7:57 AM that Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

I did call Chestatee to try to get a courtesy vehicle or Rental and was advised to call Ford at 800-392-3673. I began calling at 9:25 only to be hung up on 3 times after saying 2018 Ford Explorer. And 1 time after selecting 4 then 1 

I then called back again and selected 4 then 2 and spoke with Princess she created a case but could not assist.

I did at 10:50 AM speak with Gwen in SUV support. And have been escalated to a Regional CSM but since that is 24 hours away it is very inconvenient. 

Please Advise, 

Rob Gibbons

 

 

 

 

Hi maverick. As akirby stated, this is most likely a case of a failing/failed battery. What was the outcome with the Dealer's Service Department? It should take about 3-4 hours for the battery test to be completed.

 

Is your Explorer still within the 3 year/36,000 mile Bumper to Bumper Warranty? if it is, the battery will be replaced under warranty. If not, then you can go to the Ford Owners website and print a discount coupon for a new Motorcraft battery.

 

As far as courtesy vehicles: Ford Dealers are not required to provide courtesy vehicles. Some Dealers do. Some don't.. Doing so is at their discretion.

Concerning providing a rental car or rental car reimbursement: Ford does not normally provide rental cars either, unless you have a FordCare/ESP extended warranty with rental car coverage.

You can try to call Ford and ask. Just consider yourself lucky if they do.

 

Let us know how you make out and good luck.

 

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I appreciate the responses. 

It is under warranty. 

Our biggest concern is that there is no incentive for dealers to prioritize repairs or to have enough staff to meet the needs of their customers.

Also that they will do the same thing they did last time and blow off the issue as an "anomaly".  

They have a minimal stake in the game. On warranty issues we have to use a dealership, period. 

They say that it will take them 1.5 days minimum to even look at the vehicle. 

This is the second time it has been in for this issue in 42 Days... 

They stated previously there is nothing wrong with the battery. 

I did contact Ford and they "might" Reimburse us for the rental. But there are ridiculous requirements for that. We can not rent any vehicle other than a Ford and it has to be less than $30 a day.

I could only find 2 Ford Rental Vehicles in the Dawson, Forsyth area. A 15 Passenger van and a Expedition XLT. Both well in excess of $100 per day. 

And Chesatee will not even help with arranging it. This is the epidemy of we do not care about you. But Ford roadside will not tow anywhere but there from my home. (where this has happened 2 times)

I guess I will have to make a decision with my wallet on this and Decide we may have purchased our first and last Fords.

 

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49 minutes ago, maveriick said:

I appreciate the responses. 

It is under warranty. 

Our biggest concern is that there is no incentive for dealers to prioritize repairs or to have enough staff to meet the needs of their customers.

Also that they will do the same thing they did last time and blow off the issue as an "anomaly".  

They have a minimal stake in the game. On warranty issues we have to use a dealership, period. 

They say that it will take them 1.5 days minimum to even look at the vehicle. 

This is the second time it has been in for this issue in 42 Days... 

They stated previously there is nothing wrong with the battery. 

I did contact Ford and they "might" Reimburse us for the rental. But there are ridiculous requirements for that. We can not rent any vehicle other than a Ford and it has to be less than $30 a day.

I could only find 2 Ford Rental Vehicles in the Dawson, Forsyth area. A 15 Passenger van and a Expedition XLT. Both well in excess of $100 per day. 

And Chesatee will not even help with arranging it. This is the epidemy of we do not care about you. But Ford roadside will not tow anywhere but there from my home. (where this has happened 2 times)

I guess I will have to make a decision with my wallet on this and Decide we may have purchased our first and last Fords.

 

 

Hi maverick. I understand it is frustrating. However, this was most likely a failing (now failed) battery the entire time. Perhaps the Dealer missed it the first time. Or perhaps the battery passed the load test. No way for us to figure that out over the Internet at this point.

 

It can not be blown off by your Dealer as "an anomaly' now that it has happened twice and the vehicle had to be towed in due to a completely dead battery (or other issue).

 

As far as the rental, I believe what they told you is that they will only reimburse you for $30. The rental does not have to be less than $30. You can rent a Rolls Royce if you want, but Ford will only reimburse $30.

 

Do you live in a remote area? It just seems unusual that the only vehicles available for rental are a passenger van and an Expedition. And please keep in mind you do not mention what State you live in, so we have no ides where Dawson, Forsyth of your Dealer (Chesatee) are located.

 

If I can give make one recommendation: I know you are angry and it is cathartic to keep saying things like "...we may have purchased our first and last Ford" or "I'll never by a Ford again" etc. However, it is not necessarily the best way to get good service. It's like telling a restaurant "I don't like the way we were seated by the hostess, so I'll never come here again" before you order your food. They may not care about helping you either.

 

To be clear, I am not defending that attitude or saying it is the right way to do things, only, explaining the realities that can sometimes occur. And please understand I am not trying to tell you what to do or say, just offering hopefully helpful advice learned thorough experience.

 

Hopefully it will all be a dead battery and this will all be behind you.

 

Let us know what happens with the Dealership. Good luck.

Edited by bbf2530
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Good grief.  Chestatee is a small dealership and it is a bit remote but you have other options within 30 minutes.  Billy Howell is probably the closest in Cumming.

 

You did not purchase an extended warranty so you don’t get a free rental except for recalls.  That is what you purchased so don’t get mad at the dealer.  Sounds like they are going above and beyond by reimbursing you at all.

 

when a problem like this occurs Ford tells them to try deep charging the battery.  But if that doesn’t work (such as your case) they will replace the battery no questions asked.

 

Here is what you need to do.  Call the service manager not the service writer.  Tell him or her the situation and that you would like the battery replaced and that should only take 30 minutes since it was already diagnosed once and the problem persists.

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8 hours ago, maveriick said:

Our biggest concern is that there is no incentive for dealers to prioritize repairs or to have enough staff to meet the needs of their customers.

Also that they will do the same thing they did last time and blow off the issue as an "anomaly".  

They have a minimal stake in the game. On warranty issues we have to use a dealership, period. 

They say that it will take them 1.5 days minimum to even look at the vehicle. 

This is the second time it has been in for this issue in 42 Days... 

They stated previously there is nothing wrong with the battery. 

 

While I understand your frustration, people already in the queue get priority unless they are travellers. That is the fairest way to schedule. 

There is a nationwide shortage of qualified technicians in the automotive industry in general, and it is far worse in the dealer world. So a small dealer in a 'remote' area has an even bigger issue getting and retaining quality people. 1.5 days out is a actually a pretty reasonable time, we often get a week or more out, depending on the time of the year and type of repair. They would love to have "more staff" so they make more money. But that is often times simply impossible. 

 

It may not be the battery. There are several areas that can cause *intermittent* parasitic draws that will run a battery down. Rear view camera, park detect switch, water intrusion into several connectors, aftermarket equipment installed..there are a whole host of things that can be the culprit. Intermittent draws can be terribly difficult to diagnose as the draw has to occur long enough to figure out where it is. 

 

I gotta disagree, Akirby, Ford ties the hands of the dealership in regards to batteries as they have to fail and generate an ACES code and DTC on the tester. If it passes, it passes. Ford *will not* pay for a warranty battery without those. I've also seen a battery pass, then fail literally 20 minutes later. You might be able to get the manager to get you a battery anyway, but again, it may not be the battery.  

 

If you are fed up with your current dealer, jump start it and take it to another. 

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18 minutes ago, akirby said:

I’ll defer to your experience.  But I know many folks who have had batteries replaced under warranty so it seems common.

 

Could be a parasitic draw too but you know a 3 yr old OEM battery is on borrowed time.

 

I forget you are below the Mason-Dixon. We do batteries under warranty, but not like you see down there. I'd venture to say 5 to 7 year life is not uncommon up here. Its also not uncommon to see 10 year old batteries. 

My concern is that without a smoking gun, it might be back on the hook in a month, like this time. Granted, two deep cycles like this and it is probably boned either way. 

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On 3/3/2020 at 11:21 AM, maveriick said:

Good Morning!

To whom it may concern. 

My wife and I have/had become Ford Owners from Chevy in the past 4 years. Since 2014 until 2020 we have been very happy with our Ford experience.

Our most recent purchase a 2018 Ford Explorer Limited has become this morning something nearing a Lemon. 

On Jan 20th we received the notice Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

On Jan 21st It did not start and we had it towed to Chestatee Ford for not starting, not taking a JumpStart and they stated after having it for 2 days  "They put it on a Deep Charge/Testing machine and it is now working". This was fine we received the car and it had ran ever since. 

But, today March 3 at 6:30 AM my wife went out to start her car and the same thing was happening but no notice had been received. We have once again called roadside assistance to get this towed and as of this writing it is enroute to Chestatee Ford.

We did finally receive notification at 7:57 AM that Remote Features disabled for battery optimization. It let us know remote features where disabled but all should be well when we start it up again.

I did call Chestatee to try to get a courtesy vehicle or Rental and was advised to call Ford at 800-392-3673. I began calling at 9:25 only to be hung up on 3 times after saying 2018 Ford Explorer. And 1 time after selecting 4 then 1 

I then called back again and selected 4 then 2 and spoke with Princess she created a case but could not assist.

I did at 10:50 AM speak with Gwen in SUV support. And have been escalated to a Regional CSM but since that is 24 hours away it is very inconvenient. 

Please Advise, 

Rob Gibbons

 

 

 

My 2018 F150 has been throwing that battery message on and off since mid-January.  They replaced the battery on the first visit. The truck has never not started or left me stranded.

 

In the second visit, they re-tested the replacement battery and did a draw test. Nothing out of the normal. I should say I've known the tech for 20 years. We worked at the same Ford/ FCA dealership years ago. I also got a battery tester off Amazon so I could check it at home.

 

The third time It started I let it go on a few days and then texted Dan that it was doing it again. He asked me to bring it back in. I made an appointment for the earliest time which was this past Monday/ the 2nd. Of course, the last message was on the 27th!

They gave it to a different tech because they suspect the problem is in Sync somehow. Dan just texted me just over an hour ago that they are reprogramming some modules because the radio occasionally switches from satellite to AM. This is a known problem.

 

Still waiting on the battery messages. I'll post when I learn anything.

 

Rocking a 2018 Escape loaner right now.  Tell that dealer to give you a loaner!   Print this out and show it to them.

Edited by MY93SHO
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