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2021 Ranger dead

BBTremor

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So we were driving the Ranger around most of the day and stopped at Walmart. Came out and the truck was completely dead the remote did not work to unlock the truck. Used the door key to unlock truck but key would not start truck. Everything dead no int lights or anything. Would not turn over with the key. So checked battey connections, seemed fine So I tried start it with the remote start on the ford app. It set off the panic alarm and then the remote was able to shut the alarm off and was able to start the truck as normal… Anyone have this issue?? If I didn’t have the app this was going to have to be towed to the dealership.
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Trigganometry

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So we were driving the Ranger around most of the day and stopped at Walmart. Came out and the truck was completely dead the remote did not work to unlock the truck. Used the door key to unlock truck but key would not start truck. Everything dead no int lights or anything. Would not turn over with the key. So checked battey connections, seemed fine So I tried start it with the remote start on the ford app. It set off the panic alarm and then the remote was able to shut the alarm off and was able to start the truck as normal… Anyone have this issue?? If I didn’t have the app this was going to have to be towed to the dealership.
Wow, that’s a first. But extra points for thinking out of the box. Wonder what caused that?
 

Rebel Ranger

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If you take it to the dealership to have it checked out, let us know what they tell you.
 

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Had the same thing happen with the wife's GM mini van a few years back, had it towed to the dealer, the next they called us and said what was the matter as everything is fine....never got to the bottom of it, never happened again
 

Delirious

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When I had just about 7000 miles on my truck, I went out to start it and the battery was dead and the "OK" message was up on the menu, but the OK button would not reset it.
Message on the infotainment screen said, System off to save battery. Please turn the ignition off or start the engine. Too late. Dead battery The buttons on the steering wheel all got extremely warm, but I shook that off thinking it was because the sun was shining down through the driver side window. (That turned out to not be the case) I got roadside service give me a jump and I went to the dealership and after an hour or so while they were testing the battery they decided that I had a dead cell in the battery and gave me a new battery. Fine and dandy except a few days later it happened again and called Roadside Assist for another jumpstart. None of the buttons on the steering wheel would work. Same message on the infotainment center every time the battery was dead. Kind of like the idiot gauges for the oil. And the oil light comes on, too late.
Another trip to the dealership and three or four hours later they tell me that the switches on the right hand side was bad. I tell them that would not have made the left side bad nor would it have made the battery dead, but they insisted they had to go by a specific protocol or Ford would not pay them and I insisted they were not going by that protocol because they were not testing the vehicle out correctly, but, who am I.
10 days later and, the right hand side controls in and still the same issue after I had another dead battery and called for another jumpstart. This time I'm realizing when the truck sits for two days the battery drains. Ding ding ding ding ding. Helloooooooo. Check the clock spring. That is thanks to my Google degree in automotive engineering. I told them it was the Clock Spring but they said they had to follow Ford's protocol. Don't tell me you're not allowed to check that clock spring until after you received a new part and find out it doesn't work!!!!
I can't tell you the stress of dealing with ___ like this. Maybe they changed the air in the tires to eliminate that also.
Same issues - none of the controls would work. This time they changed the left-hand side switches. Like, really?! The switches don't make the battery bad the battery made the switch is bad. Another three or four or five hours in the dealership and two days later it happens again. I tested the battery voltage this time waiting for the jumpstart guy again and had I think it was 11.9 V. So another long trip down to the dealership and they finally decided it was the Clock Spring.
Now I've got me a NOCO GB40 jump starter but I didn't need it because I was driving the truck every day now and the battery did not die within that 24 hours but the voltage dropped down to about 12.1 volts in 24 hours of not using it.
It took over six weeks to get this thing corrected because of the way they tested out that steering wheel until they decided that the Clock Spring was indeed bad and having to wait on parts and get back in to the dealership. I left the truck with them overnight so they could test it out which gave them time to find out it was a parasitic drain. The truck only went dead if it sat for two days at a time which was the case because I was using my wife's car more often. I had no lemon law to act on because I bought the truck used with a little over 6000 miles on it.
PARASITIC DRAIN!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I would love to hear member P. A. Schilke's take on this.
AMEN
 
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Delirious

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That sounds like a huge headache :(



Linking here, just in case you haven't seen this thread from Phil, on leaving the forum.
Thanks. I did see that and I forgot. Maybe a Ford techs out there will be familiar with this.
 

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Are you running factory remote start or aftermarket? I have the Start-X, which is plugged in on the backside of the OBD2 Port. Had my truck pop up tons of error messages on the highway, pull off, can't restart it. Checked and the connection wasn't full seated. Snapped it into place and all was fine.
 

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Next time try the key fob in the cup holder to start (Lariat has it my wife's focus does ) its for dead fobs, might save a tow?
So we were driving the Ranger around most of the day and stopped at Walmart. Came out and the truck was completely dead the remote did not work to unlock the truck. Used the door key to unlock truck but key would not start truck. Everything dead no int lights or anything. Would not turn over with the key. So checked battey connections, seemed fine So I tried start it with the remote start on the ford app. It set off the panic alarm and then the remote was able to shut the alarm off and was able to start the truck as normal… Anyone have this issue?? If I didn’t have the app this was going to have to be towed to the dealership.
 

AzScorpion

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When I had just about 7000 miles on my truck, I went out to start it and the battery was dead and the "OK" message was up on the menu, but the OK button would not reset it.
Message on the infotainment screen said, System off to save battery. Please turn the ignition off or start the engine. Too late. Dead battery The buttons on the steering wheel all got extremely warm, but I shook that off thinking it was because the sun was shining down through the driver side window. (That turned out to not be the case) I got roadside service give me a jump and I went to the dealership and after an hour or so while they were testing the battery they decided that I had a dead cell in the battery and gave me a new battery. Fine and dandy except a few days later it happened again and called Roadside Assist for another jumpstart. None of the buttons on the steering wheel would work. Same message on the infotainment center every time the battery was dead. Kind of like the idiot gauges for the oil. And the oil light comes on, too late.
Another trip to the dealership and three or four hours later they tell me that the switches on the right hand side was bad. I tell them that would not have made the left side bad nor would it have made the battery dead, but they insisted they had to go by a specific protocol or Ford would not pay them and I insisted they were not going by that protocol because they were not testing the vehicle out correctly, but, who am I.
10 days later and, the right hand side controls in and still the same issue after I had another dead battery and called for another jumpstart. This time I'm realizing when the truck sits for two days the battery drains. Ding ding ding ding ding. Helloooooooo. Check the clock spring. That is thanks to my Google degree in automotive engineering. I told them it was the Clock Spring but they said they had to follow Ford's protocol. Don't tell me you're not allowed to check that clock spring until after you received a new part and find out it doesn't work!!!!
I can't tell you the stress of dealing with ___ like this. Maybe they changed the air in the tires to eliminate that also.
Same issues - none of the controls would work. This time they changed the left-hand side switches. Like, really?! The switches don't make the battery bad the battery made the switch is bad. Another three or four or five hours in the dealership and two days later it happens again. I tested the battery voltage this time waiting for the jumpstart guy again and had I think it was 11.9 V. So another long trip down to the dealership and they finally decided it was the Clock Spring.
Now I've got me a NOCO GB40 jump starter but I didn't need it because I was driving the truck every day now and the battery did not die within that 24 hours but the voltage dropped down to about 12.1 volts in 24 hours of not using it.
It took over six weeks to get this thing corrected because of the way they tested out that steering wheel until they decided that the Clock Spring was indeed bad and having to wait on parts and get back in to the dealership. I left the truck with them overnight so they could test it out which gave them time to find out it was a parasitic drain. The truck only went dead if it sat for two days at a time which was the case because I was using my wife's car more often. I had no lemon law to act on because I bought the truck used with a little over 6000 miles on it.
PARASITIC DRAIN!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I would love to hear member P. A. Schilke's take on this.
AMEN

Holy smokes that's a lot of BS to go through just to find out you were right all along! I just had my battery replaced back in April for a dead cell too which is no surprise because the heat here kills batteries fast. I do keep a battery maintainer on mine because of this and there are times where I don't drive mine for several days too. If you don't already have one it's a good idea to get one because parasite drain is real. I got this one through Ford using my points but Amazon has the exact one a little cheaper.

https://accessories.ford.com/ford-performance-5-0-smart-battery-charger-maintainer.html#2019/Ranger


https://www.amazon.com/CTEK-40-206-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9QM0Q8EWDKZGZWNG65AF
 
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BBTremor

BBTremor

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Are you running factory remote start or aftermarket? I have the Start-X, which is plugged in on the backside of the OBD2 Port. Had my truck pop up tons of error messages on the highway, pull off, can't restart it. Checked and the connection wasn't full seated. Snapped it into place and all was fine.
Factory and i never start it that way but the key didn’t work so used the ford pass app
 

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That sounds like a huge headache :(



Linking here, just in case you haven't seen this thread from Phil, on leaving the forum.
Phil is trying something to maintain limited participation in the forum when and where he can.

@P. A. Schilke I think this one is one you might be able to help with.
 
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BBTremor

BBTremor

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If you take it to the dealership to have it checked out, let us know what they tell you.
If it does it again i will but it if doesn’t send a code the dealer will do nothing. Battery was not dead it’s something else electrical???
 

Joeiconic

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If it does it again i will but it if doesn’t send a code the dealer will do nothing. Battery was not dead it’s something else electrical???
Sounds like it just needed a directive from the mother ship.?
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