Charging System Warning Light

[Manny R]

Last Saturday I drove 166 miles from GA to TN and when I backed up to park at the destination in TN the Charging System Warning come on, I parked and idled for a few minutes and stepped on the Accelerator a couple of times and the warning system light extinguished.
After being parked With the engine off for an hour I departed and within ca couple of minutes the warning light came on. I turned off everything but the ignition and the light remained on a while the went on and off 4 more times until it finally extinguished.

I took it to the dealer and they kept it for two day to tell me they couldn’t replicate the problem, I asked the tech Shouldn’t you have seen a code and he said that unless the battery goes below 10 volts they can’t see a specific code.
I asked about the circuit breaker, fuses and the alternator and the tech said it all checked out good. He said that it could be a fluke, really?

I am thinking to take to a electromechanic for troubleshooting.

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[P. A. Schilke]

Last Saturday I drove 166 miles from GA to TN and when I backed up to park at the destination in TN the Charging System Warning come on, I parked and idled for a few minutes and stepped on the Accelerator a couple of times and the warning system light extinguished.
After being parked With the engine off for an hour I departed and within ca couple of minutes the warning light came on. I turned off everything but the ignition and the light remained on a while the went on and off 4 more times until it finally extinguished.

I took it to the dealer and they kept it for two day to tell me they couldn’t replicate the problem, I asked the tech Shouldn’t you have seen a code and he said that unless the battery goes below 10 volts they can’t see a specific code.
I asked about the circuit breaker, fuses and the alternator and the tech said it all checked out good. He said that it could be a fluke, really?

I am thinking to take to a electromechanic for troubleshooting.

Hi Manny,

Since the Ranger has an AGM battery, the tech is right that AGM batteries can drop voltage below the old flooded cell lead acid batteries 11.75 V, which is considered "dead". However, it sounds like the AGM battery in your Ranger has an intermittent shorting of one of the cells and hopefully the dealer will replace it for you. If the AGM battery is below 10V it is likely indicating a shorted cell..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Manny R]

Hi Manny,

Since the Ranger has an AGM battery, the tech is right that AGM batteries can drop voltage below the old flooded cell lead acid batteries 11.75 V, which is considered "dead". However, it sounds like the AGM battery in your Ranger has an intermittent shorting of one of the cells and hopefully the dealer will replace it for you. If the AGM battery is below 10V it is likely indicating a shorted cell..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Phil,

Thanks for the info, I guess the Ford dealers are just waiting until we owners get stranded in the middle of nowhere to maybe correct the problem. I might start carrying a spare battery in case my truck dies.

Best regards

 

[geophb]

@Manny R
Typically, If there is a light there is a code because the code causes the light. No code = No light. But No light does NOT equal no code.
Whether or not the code was stored is a different story, so what I said is kind of irrelevant.

Either way code would have probably said something along the lines of insufficient voltage or charging system inadequate. Which wouldn't help all that much.

Are the posts clean? The cables tight? Does anything look out of place such as grounds, electrical plugs etc? I would check the easy stuff before buying a new batt.

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