2013 Ford F-150 battery dead

[BartmanMN]

So I came out to my truck yesterday morning and it was completely dead. I had it towed to Ford and they charged the battery and ran a test and it checked out fine. I did some research online today and it appears that this issue happens to many F-150 owners, multiple times.

I got gas and a car wash on Sunday, came home and waxed it. Then it sat in the garage the remainder of Sunday and all of Monday. I have left my truck in the garage for a week before while on vacation without issue, so hopefully it was a fluke.

I was just curious if any HSO members have experienced this issue or if any of the techs have found the root cause of this battery draining issue.

2013 F-150 XLT Ecoboost SuperCrew.

Thanks

[RebelSS]

Yup. Bought a brand new 2010 F-150. Six months later, go out to garage; door wouldn't even open via key fob, batt was so dead. Had Ford come and get it, batt tested out to be toast. New battery. Just replaced THAT one last Fall, everything in truck tested fine. Doesn't get driven much, but I wonder how long /where Ford's batts sit before they get them...and who makes them. Have found out mine does need to be driven more, would sit for a week or two, then go for short hops. (Ya, I know that's bad...)I don't let it sit as much anymore, and make my round trips longer. Been fine ever since.

My buddy the Ford tech says that seems to be the key issue, sitting for periods of time.

[JOHNBIGDOG]

Anything in it that it didnt come with from the factory? Auto start, lights.....

[givetoget]

bartmanMN, i to have a 2013 F150, same problem. warning on dash comes up saying low battery and shuts off radio. its happened several times after sitting for a period (few days to a week) of time. Its far worse if i leave the gps plugged in.

[BartmanMN]

Anything in it that it didnt come with from the factory? Auto start, lights.....

No, nothing extra. Nothing plugged into outlet's either.

[BobT]

No problem with my 2009 F150 but I don't recall letting it sit for more than a week at any given time without driving it. I would suspect the running computer to be the root cause. I wonder how much power the system uses with the ignition turned off.

[BartmanMN]

Truck was dead again today. Before we left for the Fair yesterday morning my wife opened the truck door to quickly grab a car seat and then closed it. (Drove other vehicle) I watched the dome lights go off before we backed out of the garage, but I did not physically get out to look at the gauge cluster or LCD screen.

I had it jumped today and drove my 28 miles into work hoping it charged up, however I plan to go out to the garage early today just in case I need to call roadside assistance again. What a pain in the A$$

[spearchucker]

Be careful or you could take out your alternator with a dead battery all the time. Something has to be drawing quite a bit of current when off. Unhook the battery cable and put an ammeter in series from cable to battery and check the current draw when the truck is off.

[BartmanMN]

I wanted to report back on this. Someone on the F150 forum believes their dealer has found the issue and he had his corrected. I will be working with my service manager.

Here is his post.

Well I am happy to report that my truck has been fixed with the battery mysterious drain issue. since mine would die nearly twice a day compared to a lot of the people on here that would take several days I guess it was easier to diagnose. Took the dealer close to 10 days to pinpoint to cause down to the central timer module turning on by itself intermittently, this is a part of the Body Control Module. They replaced it and the truck has started right up perfectly for the past week and a half. They caught it doing so during the middle of the day and the instrument cluster backlight would come on and the parking lights by itself. When I picked it up they said they had a few with the same issue and 1 had just got towed in with the same concern. I hope this helps you guys out.

[fishing tech]

On the older models, ie pre 2011 the radios were a big problem with draining batteries.

If you do not drive your vehicle a lot or a lot of short trips I would suggest installing a battery tender. It helps save the battery and keeps you from having to deal with a dead battery at home.

[gunner55]

My 99 Chrysler will do the same thing in ~ a weeks time.So when we leave for the lake I plug in one of the cheap HF($6 on sale) float chargers.End of problem

[Jeremy airjer W]

I have run into that on old explorers. The windows would leak and fill the BCM with water. All kinds of funky things would turn on and off with warning!

[gzukoff]

So reviving a dead thread ..


The "park switch" may be the cause of the parasitic draw on some of the console equipped models, 
it's an inexpensive switch that sends a shutdown signal to the BCM. When it goes bad the dash lights do not shut off and it drains the battery. 
Fords fix is to replace the whole shifter assembly at around $650.00, they do not sell just the switch. 
Here is the replacement switch with an more detailed explanation of why it happens.

Its under e bay listing 292931561061

Edited February 22, 2019 by gzukoff

[bobbymalone]

2 hours ago, gzukoff said:

So reviving a dead thread ..


The "park switch" may be the cause of the parasitic draw on some of the console equipped models, 
it's an inexpensive switch that sends a shutdown signal to the BCM. When it goes bad the dash lights do not shut off and it drains the battery. 
Fords fix is to replace the whole shifter assembly at around $650.00, they do not sell just the switch. 
Here is the replacement switch with an more detailed explanation of why it happens.

Its under e bay listing 292931561061