Weird Startup Issues - 2019 Ford Transit Connect

[xspeedy]

Evening all. So I posted earlier about a weird fuel gauge issue, but it seems like there is more to it. I can't put my finger on what is going on, but I'm thinking either a weak/bad battery at best or bad PCM at worst. Most of the issues are seen when starting the car. It started with what I thought were two unique issues - traction control being disabled at startup and a weird fuel gauge at startup. But given the additional stuff, I'm thinking these could all be related.



Symptoms:

• Sometimes the fuel gauge shows empty at startup even though there is fuel. 0 miles to empty will be displayed on the screen, fuel light will come on. Needle will slowly crawl up to correct level in anywhere from several seconds to a few minutes
• Sometimes the traction control will be disabled upon startup. It can be turned on via button and will stay enabled the whole drive.
• Now seen regularly at startup, the temperature gauge swings to full hot for a couple of seconds and the display warns of an over-temp before swinging back to cold. This happens on a cold start so there is no heat at all.
• Sometimes also see that hill start assist is disabled
• When I scan for codes, I get a P064F which is permanent? "Unauthorized Software/Calibration Detected". No changes have ever been made to the PCM.

Some Notes:

• The vehicle is a 2019 Ford Transit Connect with the 2.0L gas engine and has about 53K on the clock. No tunes, mods, or hacks.
• The car otherwise fires up and drives normally
• Disconnected the battery for over a half hour to try to reset the PCM to see if that would help, but no improvement
• Cleaned the wheel speed sensors and tested that data is accurate with Forscan and a short drive
• Run several cleaners through the tank thinking a sticky sending unit, but not so sure anymore given the context of the other issues
• I believe the factory battery is an AGM (based on research). The car is getting on seven years old. I haven't tested it yet, but it starts fine and hasn't overtly exhibited an issue. I was going to try putting a charger on it for a while to see if when I start it, I see the same behavior. I may throw my tester on there but I don't know how much I trust mine and the battery is awkward to get to. I have been tempted just to replace it since it may be close to expiration based on time.

Anyone with ideas on where to go with this one? There are no codes to really guide me except that weird one for the PCM.

 

[dishdude]

A lot of weird electrical issues like this usually points to the battery.

 

[ctechbob]

A lot of weird electrical issues like this usually points to the battery.

What he said, if you're still on your OEM battery you need to start by replacing it. Ford doesn't do a great job with battery health, so you're probably on borrowed time.

 

[Hirev]

I would replace that battery before doing anything else. If it is not the cause of your issues you are on borrowed time anyway with that old of battery.

 

[KCJeep]

X3. At that battery age it is the place to start.

 

[xspeedy]

Thank you all! I was leaning that direction of swapping the battery just as prevention (before all this) since it is due. I was going to wait a few months until I did another transmission fluid swap since both jobs require the air box to come out, but it really isn’t that hard. I’ll see if Costco has one and get it swapped. Fingers crossed.

 

[martinq]

If the battery is strong enough for reliable starting then I would look elsewhere. My first thought is towards bad power / ground wiring and corrosion / damage to PCM wiring somewhere.

Suspecting a PCM power or communication issue.

 

[Kurtatron]

With all those electrical problems going on, first thing is to check all the grounds.

Then, if that checks out, next thing would be to physically test the fuel sensor for voltage changes. If it doesn’t change properly, I would guess something more severe going on, like a computer going bad or canbus communication issue.

 

[xspeedy]

Okay, so for the hell of it, I tested the battery with my low dollar Topdon using the accessible positive terminal and a nearby ground. I couldn’t easily read the battery label without removal, so I just entered a conservative 550 CCA in the tester. Result was a bad battery even though charge and voltage seemed fine. Picked up and installed a new and fresh Everstart Platinum AGM from Walmart and after a few days, all seems fine. Thank you all for the suggestions. I’m used to older cars when a bad battery was a slow or no crank on a cold morning. This is the first modern vehicle I have had long enough to need a battery. One would think with all the tech, the car would just self test the battery and alert the driver instead of acting possessed.

 

[t1snwrbrdr12]

Some vehicles start so easily / draw so little that a nearly dead battery still starts the engine. I’ve seen mechanics in my shop mistake dead batteries for starters lately (back in the day you could easily hear a slow crank / dead battery)

 

[ctechbob]

Even my 2003 Accord will do oddball crap when the battery is on its last leg. Seemingly out of the blue you'll get in the car and your last temp settings will be changed, or the Odometer/Temp readout will have switched from Trip A and Temp to just overall mileage, or you'll get some goofy warning light on the dash you've never seen before. First time that happened I thought I was in for a ride at the local dealer. That was 15 years and 5 batteries ago. (Or however many I've replaced. It's been a few)