Dead battery

[fourdayoff]

Yesterday went to use the Bronco and the battery was completely dead. It had set in my shop for 2 weeks with the windows down. Grabbed my spare 12 volt battery that I keep on a maintainer with a set of jumper cables and tried to start but barley cranked. Grabbed my big charger with a 200 amp start boost and connected to the spare battery, started right up and took a few moments to sort itself out, dash gauges etc. Drove 30 min to town and everything back to normal. I thought GM vehicles were hard on batteries while sitting but I think this on may be worse. Jim.

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[Rick Astley]

Depleted batteries while sitting are nothing new in the auto industry.

For fun look at the constant draw on the Bronco, even with the battery maintenance system these things will brick themselves fairly quickly.

FWIW, I would plan on having at least a 3.8 or 4 amp trickle charger if that's the direction you want to go with maintaining the battery.

Our '19 Ranger gets hooked up to a maintainer anytime we go out of town as it has a bad habit of draining the battery within a few weeks. Bronco has proven to be no different.

 

[JediMcMuffin]

Yesterday went to use the Bronco and the battery was completely dead. It had set in my shop for 2 weeks with the windows down. Grabbed my spare 12 volt battery that I keep on a maintainer with a set of jumper cables and tried to start but barley cranked. Grabbed my big charger with a 200 amp start boost and connected to the spare battery, started right up and took a few moments to sort itself out, dash gauges etc. Drove 30 min to town and everything back to normal. I thought GM vehicles were hard on batteries while sitting but I think this on may be worse. Jim.

Umm... its 2023. You should be able to leave a car for a many months without needing to jump. Sounds like you have a drain, or a faulty battery. Is it bone stock? anything plugged in or added?

 

[XCR440]

Umm... its 2023. You should be able to leave a car for a many months without needing to jump. Sounds like you have a drain, or a faulty battery. Is it bone stock? anything plugged in or added?

Actually, I'd say its the other way, I'd leave a 1985 vehicle sit with no issue, all the new ones are battery draining machines. Intelligent access, Fordpass, and all the computers are hard on batteries. Ford doesn't even cover the battery under warranty until its sold, on the dealers lot they are the dealers responsibility to keep charged since they draw so much. Vehicle locator even has a battery status so we know when to charge them.

Now not sure about 2 weeks though. I've seen some SYNC4 vehicles just go randomly dead, one time, with no causes (usually only sitting a day or two), recharge and no issues in the future, I suspect it's something to do with the over the air updates, but haven't been able to confirm. My last Bronco did this, then it never had another issue. Seen a lot of F-150's do it.

 

[JediMcMuffin]

Actually, I'd say its the other way, I'd leave a 1985 vehicle sit with no issue, all the new ones are battery draining machines. Intelligent access, Fordpass, and all the computers are hard on batteries. Ford doesn't even cover the battery under warranty until its sold, on the dealers lot they are the dealers responsibility to keep charged since they draw so much. Vehicle locator even has a battery status so we know when to charge them.

Now not sure about 2 weeks though. I've seen some SYNC4 vehicles just go randomly dead, one time, with no causes (usually only sitting a day or two), recharge and no issues in the future, I suspect it's something to do with the over the air updates, but haven't been able to confirm. My last Bronco did this, then it never had another issue. Seen a lot of F-150's do it.

Might be worth measuring? Disable the connectivity options, wifi, etc, and measure voltage over say a two week period. I know its supposed to disable those functions once you fall below a certain voltage but perhaps that sensor is faulty in this case.

 

[Benzo]

The same thing happened to me.

I was on a two week trip and when I came back, the battery was dead. The doors needed the physical key to open as well.

After this happened, I bought a 6 amp trickle charger and long extension cable. It was mentioned somewhere that there is a constant 5 amp draw with all the electronics. This is why I went with the higher amp trickle charger and I have not had any issues since.

Be careful and think first as you may get stranded at the long term parking lot at the airport if you travel.

 

[MayhemMike]

The 2005-06 Mustangs had an issue with battery draw f the car sat for a bit. It was figured out if the radio was NOT turned off before the car was shut off the battery would draw down after an extended time frame.

 

[thesocalexplorer]

Similar thing happens to mine, except not a full blown battery drain.

Any time I don't drive it for longer than 5-7 days, mine goes into deep sleep mode. No signature lights on unlocking, no interior lights or screens until I hit the power button. All normal afterwards.

 

[prospectfour]

Umm... its 2023. You should be able to leave a car for a many months without needing to jump. Sounds like you have a drain, or a faulty battery. Is it bone stock? anything plugged in or added?

Yeah way too much apologizing for Ford here. Unfortunately, this is normal OP. Mine will fail to start after about 10 days of inactivity. That’s totally unacceptable no matter how many features they add to Sync.

My son was hospitalized for almost two weeks last Fall (fully recovered now). Had mine die in the hospital parking garage. Ford needs to understand people depend on these Broncos as DD’s and not just dedicated off-roaders on trickle chargers.

 

[Rick Astley]

Yeah way too much apologizing for Ford here. Unfortunately, this is normal OP. Mine will fail to start after about 10 days of inactivity. That’s totally unacceptable no matter how many features they add to Sync.

My son was hospitalized for almost two weeks last Fall (fully recovered now). Had mine die in the hospital parking garage. Ford needs to understand people depend on these Broncos as DD’s and not just dedicated off-roaders on trickle chargers.

It's a pretty damn impressive system considering the massive volume of features and functions baked in.

Does that mean a person needs and/or wants those functions is another thing entirely.

All those connected functions and the volume of constant monitoring is going to take a power source. Pretty sure it won't be accepted by the NHTSA if the car were to autonomously start to engage the alternator, imagine how many random injuries or complaints would stem from that!

Instead we can complain about having wayyyyy too many features. Features John Q. Public and Suzie R. Customer clearly want in their vehicles by the volume of high/lux configurations sold. We just have to admit that the "average" customer isn't on here and just wants the perfect unobtanium blend of a bazillion features to work perfectly every time, for 200,000 miles regardless of how poorly they maintain their vehicle.

The other folks will get a reasonable battery maintainer as they know the draw is high and ensure they don't have a bricked car.

 

[prospectfour]

It's a pretty damn impressive system considering the massive volume of features and functions baked in.

Does that mean a person needs and/or wants those functions is another thing entirely.

All those connected functions and the volume of constant monitoring is going to take a power source. Pretty sure it won't be accepted by the NHTSA if the car were to autonomously start to engage the alternator, imagine how many random injuries or complaints would stem from that!

Instead we can complain about having wayyyyy too many features. Features John Q. Public and Suzie R. Customer clearly want in their vehicles by the volume of high/lux configurations sold. We just have to admit that the "average" customer isn't on here and just wants the perfect unobtanium blend of a bazillion features to work perfectly every time, for 200,000 miles regardless of how poorly they maintain their vehicle.

The other folks will get a reasonable battery maintainer as they know the draw is high and ensure they don't have a bricked car.

My wife’s Tiguan has no issues starting reliably with no less infotainment features. For that matter, do any F150 Platinums have this problem? Needing 10 days between starts on occasion is in no way too demanding. Charging system needs another look for any future ICE Broncos (if we get any!)

 

[Rick Astley]

My wife’s Tiguan has no issues starting reliably with no less infotainment features. For that matter, do any F150 Platinums have this problem? Needing 10 days between starts on occasion is in no way too demanding. Charging system needs another look for any future ICE Broncos (if we get any!)

I'm sure they are the same, the Tiguan and Bronco.

VW has an excellent reputation for their electrical systems and infallible reliability.

**full disclosure: I tried not to laugh while typing that**


No vehicle is perfect no manufacturer is perfect. There will always be issues somewhere in as complex of a machine as an automobile until the point at which its financially viable to charge tens of millions of dollars per unit and aerospace engineers change the automotive landscape.

 

[prospectfour]

I'm sure they are the same, the Tiguan and Bronco.

VW has an excellent reputation for their electrical systems and infallible reliability.

**full disclosure: I tried not to laugh while typing that**


No vehicle is perfect no manufacturer is perfect. There will always be issues somewhere in as complex of a machine as an automobile until the point at which its financially viable to charge tens of millions of dollars per unit and aerospace engineers change the automotive landscape.

that’s my point! VW reliability does suck and yet I don’t need to be a slave to a trickle charger. Glad your Bronco is working out for you. I just try to jump in on these posts to let OP know they aren’t crazy.

 

[BAUS67]

Best advice I can give to anyone with a new vehicle. If you are not going to drive it, disconnect the negative battery terminal. When you are ready to drive it, reconnect the terminal and everything will be fine. As the others have said a new vehicle has a tremendous amount of draw. It is not just a Ford thing>>>>>>they all do it. I see it everyday.

 

[Heavy_GD]

Did you try playing calming music in the shop to help it sleep?

Not making excuses here, just remember, if the key is close by, the truck is unlocked, or if the door is opened the truck will not fully rest. The window down may trigger it too, not sure.

I am bad about leaving my key in the vehicles, its not a good practice with proximity keys as the system is constantly drawing current.

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