Help me STW you are my only hope.
We bought a year old Transit Custom a couple of weeks ago from a Ford approved dealer. It has extra lights in the rear, which is fine for us as it's going to be a day van.
When we got it the battery kept giving the low voltage warning on startup. Dealer assured us that this was because it'd been on the forecourt in the cold and that a good drive would sort t out. I'm not an expert, but that seemed logical to me. First couple of drives the warning was still there, but after a long hour plus drive it wasn't. It's full of loads of electronics and we use phones for android auto and then charging them so perhaps that's OK.
This weekend my better half has gone away up to Derby for a dog show. So the van has now had a three hour run, mostly on motorways. Come yesterday morning there was no low voltage warning, hurrah. However, after a 15 minute drive to the show and a morning of opening the doors a few times to put dogs in or get them out the rear internal lights have stopped coming on. This seems a bit off to us. They are Led lights so shouldn't have much power draw at all. But I wanted to see if that was a foolish expectation?
I'm going to ring the garage tomorrow and tell them what's what, but I wanted a to check that this is a legit problem or just a factor in having so many electronics as this is the most new and high spec vehicle we've ever owned. I also don't want to be fobbed off so armed with a bit of knowledge by the clever STW masses would be greatly appreciated.
Not normal, my Vivaro Life Elite is full of gadgets (as it's a passenger car essentially) and we go camping in it, so doors open etc (PS your lights should time out, ours do). We've lights all over, foot wells, boot and a console that runs the length of the roof with aircon ducting and lights, and electric side doors - so when camping the battery gets a hammering, but no problems.
Is the stop start working ?. My van is quite clever in this - when I bought the van, this time last year, the stop start hardly came on, why, it was cold. Come warmer months it worked as expected.
A low charge, then the stop start won't work.
We do carry a backup booster pack, but have only used it on other camper's vehicles or son's car.
I've never had a battery issue, and my van sits unused most of the week as I cycle to work. It's mainly for longer journeys (camping/visiting places).
With a year old vehicle the battery should still be good, however, if at some time the battery has been run flat then unless carefully recovered with a smart charger then they can be ruined. Original spec might be poor or the dealer may well have done an “exchange”! Modern vehicles have so much stuff still running even when parked it doesn’t take long for a battery to run flat.
Try a smart charger or do a deal to get it replaced with the best quality you can get. Good luck!
I have a smart charger - the plan was to hook the van up over winter. I haven't had the need to use it.
The good news here is that it is almost certainly a battery fault and only that. Low voltage causes all kinds of problems. The everyday use you describe should be no issue for a fully functioning battery. I’d be telling the ford dealership to pony up for a new one under warranty.
Thanks folks that's really helpful! The lights do (did!😬) time out and get shut off the moment the van gets locked which my wife was being very proactive doing as we were wary of using up the charge.
The stop start did stop working too. I totally forgot that was the case as it only actually worked on one drive.
In my Internet research I did spot a few notes about needing to reset the battery after it was totally emptied as it needs recalibrating. You had to put some sort of Konami code in using the full beams and brake pedal. 🤷
I suspect it's been sat for ages at the dealer. It was slightly complicated by the fact where we bought it had recently acquired a smaller local dealer and this was from the smaller one via the bigger one.
I'll have a chat on Monday and know that I've definitely got a legit problem to talk about and won't be intimidated by the bigger boys at the garage into "just driving it more to charge it".
The problem with modern batteries is that they're quite difficult to test properly.
Take it back, get them to put it on charge for the day and to check any settings, alternator output, tightness of terminals, etc.
If the fault recurs then take it back again and demand a replacement battery
Let them check it as its a new to you vehicle.
Quite likely the van will be equipped with ford's smart alternator, googling suggests issues. Try getting the dealer to disable it, i believe there is a wire available that reverts the alternator to what we are used (charging all the time)
My t5 went through a phase of killing batteries. It took the garage a day and a half of messing around, but they finally traced it to a faulty indicator stalk. Once that was replaced, the next new battery was fine 🤷♂️
My transit custom had similar. All sorted with a new battery, the stop start, smart charging and interior lights gives them a hammering.
Champion, thanks folks. Glad it's not just me being unfamiliar and overly worried. I'll give them a ring tomorrow and see what I can get arranged.
Very common on transit's for some reason.
They don't have an eco mode. So stelantis vehicles will stop turning the interior lights on regardless of the doors being opened after 30 minutes.
A transit will turn them on every single time you open the door right until the battery is beyond dead.
I had something similar on a new car. It failed to start a couple of times and the auto start stop never came on. After a bit of back and forth with the garage they replaced the battery and it has been good since. Occasionally things don't work as they should. A battery is a relatively simple fix. You can plug them in and test them - however, ours came back ok the first time so it was only when the problem got worse we eventually got it sorted.
I doubt it is anything more complicated.
They agreed it was a problem (huzzah) and its booked in for Monday 9th March (MARCH!) for them to have a look.
As winter is the time that batteries come under most strain and you’ve not had the vehicle long then I’d push for it investigating more promptly than that! Not that I’m assertive enough, still got a new window on our house that won’t shut!
March..... I'd be getting a smart charger and leave it on the "AGM recondition" setting as soon as possible - takes a day or so to complete. CTEK being very good. You don't want to get stranded in the next 7-8 weeks. I'd also recommend a Noco booster, just in case (I've rescued a number of other people in the last year).
9th of march??? Only had it a few weeks? Personally id not be waiting that long. id be nicely asking them to get it in straight away as i dont feel confident travelling any long distance in it and not get stranded. You are well within your rights to just return for a refund in the first 30 days, don't even need to give them a chance to fix it, they should want to fix asap in my opinion.
CTEK being very good. You don't want to get stranded in the next 7-8 weeks. I'd also recommend a Noco booster, just in case
This and this. CTEK charger is brilliant and I bought a Noco booster pack thing after my Transit Custom battery repeatedly died during our summer hol a couple of years ago. Noco was last used to start a neighbouring camper's car on a remote campsite where jump leads had been unsuccessful.
Our original Transit Custom battery was always a bit shit. Replaced at 7yrs and 35k miles with a Yuasa YBX9115 AGM Stop Start 12v 80Ah (mine's a 2017 2.0 euro6 pre-FL, single battery under driver's seat, no coding needed).
Sounds like it's been allowed to get too low at some point and now it loses charge quickly regardless of how long it's charged for.
CTEC may help but frankly you've only just bought the van so the garage owe you a new battery.
If they're so sure it's OK they can swap it fora battery off another vehicle.
Thanks folks. I will take a look at chargers & boosters just in case and keep a close eye on it.
The booster is handy especially if camping or or you have the dogs in and out of the van. Folk forget about the drain from lights and 'oh I'll charge my phone'. My recent examples was where our 'neighbour' when camping for RIAT airshow kept charging phones off the van battery - came to pop to the shops, van dead. He had jump leads so I started our car and drove up to his van. Next time was a new camper that decided to pop out for a takeaway, battery flat - she'd left the doors open and was charging phones. I'd bought the booster by then as I didn't want to be the one stranded.
Recently it got my son's track car going - it had been stood for 2 months in the freezing cold. Took quite a few attempts to start but the pack held up - it was flat by the time he finished.