[flyboy46]

Anyone had this problem..........

Have a 1 litre ECO zetec - blazer blue. If I don't drive the car every day the heated front and rear screen will not work. Have discussed with local supplier and thought is that the smart system in the car won't operate the screen heaters as they may drain the battery. If its driven every day then its ok. I'm retired so don't want to drive the car every day, especially in winter!. If I'd bought a larger engined car then all may be work properly as the battery would be bigger.



Supplier contacting Ford on Monday to see is installing a bigger battery may resolve the problem or fry the electrics!



Anyone else had this issue or have any thoughts.

 

[monty rustbucket]

Hi Flyboy,
On all Fords now - if its not used for more than 3 days it goes into battery saving mode. Although once started everything should once again be awake, so to speak. Not a good idea to fit a bigger battery as it's matched to the car and the type and amount of electrics a certain car has. Also a bigger battery wouldn't fit in the battery box. It is probably a failsafe of making sure the battery is still strong enough to perform essential functions before allowing things like the heated screens to work.

Edited by: monty rustbucket

 

[flyboy46]

When you say everything should come awake - do you mean all systems should work including hated screens? If you drive it for a short distance the hateed screens start working but thats not much good on a freezing morning in Derbyshire.
Suppliers are talking to Ford HQ re the larger battery idea.



I certainly don't use it every day or even every three days - with the snow we had recentlyand given I'm retired it can be parked for up to a week without turning a wheel. If I got one with a larger engine/ battery would that help? Had a CMax before and didn't have this problem.



No one mentioned this to me when I bought the car.

 

[makem]

I would have thought that once you start the engine it will operate everything, except the heated seats, including charging the battery if necessary. Surely the electric output is designed to charge the battery and run everything? If not then your battery would always be discharging in winter.

If my car is iced up after some days of non use I first make sure the wipers are not set to auto, start the engine, turn on the front heated window, shut the door, clear the snow/ice all round the car, get in, turn on the rear window heater and as soon as the front wiper blades are clear of any ice, start them and drive away. Usually takes no more than 5 minutes. I don't use the seat heating until I turn off the window heating as I think this may be asking too much lol.

Edited by: makem

 

[Davis_Zadian]

Makem is right, The manual says "The heated windows operate only when the engine is running",


...and goes on to say (at a different section)

"When your vehicle remains locked
for longer than three days, the system will
enter an energy-saving mode. This is to
prevent your vehicle battery running out of
charge. When your vehicle is unlocked while
in this mode, the reaction time of the system
may be a little longer than normal. To exit
the energy-saving mode, unlock your
vehicle"





I have looked on some other websites about features of ford vehicles not returning to a normal state after inactivity power save mode...


Some have said:
Check the fuse relating to the windows , which in the BMAX case is fuses 1&16 (7.5A), Relay
R9+R10,




Others have said:

Within the menus of SYNC, there is a system check option or vehicle health report option, this is meant to check various aspects of the car (I cannot confirm that window heater is one of them at this time, as I cannot find a list of what is actually checked online - Perhaps Monty could confirm?) but may be worth a go..




Lastly, I found one site for a Fiesta (2013) that had an issue with energy save mode, the fault was it would not come out of it. the car would work ok with key... but any of the gadgets inside failed to operate all together. he had to get it back to the dealer for them to correct.




So there are many directions of thought on this... Which one will work (if at all) though... I do not know...

Edited by: Davis_Zadian

 

[fossil01]

Just a thought flyboy46

, when did you have the CMax year wise? The reason I ask is that your dealer may not have fullyknown about the B-Max energy saving mode in any depth, as it may not have been mentioned in detail in any info they had for the model.

 

[cityfc]

Apparently there is a problem with batteries failing pre-delivery inspections.
Picked this info up on Honest John website,where cars are tested.

 

[Davis_Zadian]

Welcome to the site CityFC

Thanks for the heads up on that information. I have found the site and have linked it below... We will have to keep an eye on that...


http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/ford/b-max-2011/

 

[monty rustbucket]

Don't think the honest John report is 100% reliable. Thousands of cars come through the jetty at Dagenham and we havn't noticed any rise in flat batteries on the b max. I do lots of pdi's and can't remember having to change a battery on one.

 

[Davis_Zadian]

Hi Monty,

Do you know what the vehicle health check covers? when you select it though the menus within sync?

 

[monty rustbucket]

Can't help you on that one. Its not something we check on pdi. I will have a look at one tomorrow. Can't check ours as it hasn't got sync.

 

[Davis_Zadian]

...I will have a look at one tomorrow...

Thanks Monty

 

[flyboy46]

Interesting that your car doesn't have a problem.


What make/ engine size is it. With my 1 litre ECO I open car, turn on the engine( which starts immediately) then try to turn on heated windows. If the car has been parked for more than one day the heated screens won't operate. If I then clear manually ( or via heater which is fine) and drive for a few miles then the heated windscreens will operate. Haven't got seat heating so thats not an issue. Wierd or what!

 

[flyboy46]

Camx belonged to my partner and was over 7 years old. Also a 2 litre diesel so had a bigger capacity battery. When he died I decided to swap to the smaller Bmax. May have been a mistake

 

[Davis_Zadian]

Just saw this on page 88 of the PDF manual, which I guess is relevant here..<div style="text-align: center;">


<div style="text-align: center;">----------------------

You must carry out occasional trips withthe following conditions to assist the
regeneration (of the battery) process:

""¢ Drive your vehicle in more favourableconditions, which you will find at higher
vehicle speeds in normal driving, on a
main road or motorway for a minimum
of 20 minutes. This drive may include
<i style="line-height: 1.4;">short stops that will not affect theregeneration process.
[/i]



""¢ Avoid prolonged idling and alwaysobserve speed limits and road
conditions.




""¢ Do not switch the ignition off.


""¢ Select a suitable gear to ideallymaintain engine speed between 1500
and 3000 RPM.


<div style="text-align: center;">----------------------------

<div style="text-align: left;">


<div style="text-align: left;">I rarely leave my town, and any trips I do are for medical appointments and are only 5 minutes up the road... so I doubt I am giving the battery much back in those trips

. I will now start doing the odd long run every now and then for the purposes stated above, also if I know bad weather is coming.
<div style="text-align: left;">

<div style="text-align: left;">Example, if the weather man has said it's going to snow tomorrow, make sure the car has been driven for a minimum of 20 minutes the day before. I hope this would give the car a fighting chance to
survivethe weather..

 

[flyboy46]

Doesn't work with my BMax. I can drive to Manchester and back over a three day period. This does over 100 miles and takes 1.15 hours each way. I then park up for two days, even in warm weather, and when I go back to the car the heated screens don't work. Think I've got a dud car

.

 

[Hobnob]

I srive a Titanium 1.6 Powershift Automatic and empathise with this issue.

I have similar problems which I've alluded toin the Engine Management Problem post. Essentially, we have all systems 'go' on the cold mornings. We use the Max boost option on the Front/Rear demist (yes, we were told that this function can be used after starting the engine) but when we put the car int gear, the Engine Management Warning light comes on and the system turns off the demist and heating (presumably the heated seats as well). We then have a very cold drive to work, peering through small gaps in the windscreen ice ( The car is 4 months old and has been into the dealers 5 times. Been told the Dealer's Service Dept are waiting on system fix from Ford Technical (who always promise of a fix in the next 2 weeks!). Got so frustrated that I have escalated this problem to Motability through whom I lease the car. They are now escalating a Fault Report at a higher level and they're looking at what they can do to soothe my frustration. Otherwise, it's a great car with all the gadgets I (as a disabled driver) benefit from. Loving the ease of getting in and out of the car into my wheelchair (sad it isn't big enough for my power-wheelchair), So long as the mild weather is around, we don't have any problems (even after the car being idle for 3 days), Can't wait to have an error free software system to run my beloved BMAX.

 

[flyboy46]

Sorryto hear you're having problems as well Hobnob. My car is back in the garage at present whilst they run some more checks as suggested by Ford technical. About to go and find the redults so will tell them of your problem. Perhaps they will find a cure eventually! Agree with you that its a great car - shame about the engine management system.

 

[Hobnob]

I've just been advised that there is a software update which will fix my (and hopefully yours) Engine Management software problem. This update should be with the dealers on 1st May. Fingers crossed on this.

 

[Hockey girl]

I bought my Ford B-max automatic in August. It was an ex garage model with just over 2000 miles on the clock.Since then it has had a flat battery three times, the latest being today.
I am retired and use the car occasionally but no fewer times than when I owned a Vauxhall Astra Elite, which also had heated windscreen, heated mirrors, heated seats but never gave me this problem.
The car had a good long run in December and has been in use at least twice a week since then.
I love the car but can't stand this worry about flat battery.
It is going to be thoroughly tested by the dealer but I feel really let down.
I think every car should be capable of keeping its battery capacity regardless of whether it is used frequently or occasionally. None of our previous cars had this trouble.