Dangerous issue, lost all internal power, got shift to park warning, then could not move vehicle out of street

[greggmh123]

My wife had driven our 2014 Edge SE less than 1/3 of a mile from home this Sunday morning when I noticed the AC went off, then she said that the dash display went out, and I noticed that we had no interior lights anywhere on the whole dash or SYNC display. As we pulled to a stop at the traffic light, "Shift to Park" come up on the dash, so my wife did so before I could tell her to pull over first, just in case. Sure enough, shifting to park screwed us. Once in Park, it could not be taken out of park, we had no door lock control, no power windows, and we couldn't even turn on the warning flashers. She said that the heat was on, and I noticed that the engine was still running, and in spite of it being 62 degrees F outside and the temp control on cold, we had a low-blower-speed heat. I had her turn off the key, thinking we could just try to restart, but even with the key off and then REMOVED, the engine still ran. WTH? The key did nothing when turned to crank position or any other. I had to pull the fuel pump relay to get the engine to shut off.

We called AAA for a tow. At the dealer's off-hours drop-off, I was unloading the truck when the dash lights suddenly started to come on for about five seconds, go off for a few seconds, then keep doing that cycle. I knew the dealer would think I am nuts (to be honest, they know I am nuts because I used to work there as a tune-up tech!), so I got a video of it. I figured if I left it cycling like that, it might kill the battery, so I disconnected the battery.

 

I got the wild idea to see what would happen if I reconnected the battery. Well, even with the key out of the ignition, ALL dash lights came on, even warning lights I had never seen before. I got a video of that behavior as well. At that point, I could start it and shift into gear, but I was not about to try anything else and left it there for Monday morning.

Has anyone else seen such whacky behavior? It was dangerous because we were left stranded in the middle of the street. Fortunately, we were not on the freeway at the time. It seemed like some kind of fail-safe behavior, but if that’s what it was, it’s a HORRIBLE and dangerous design, having killed our ability to turn on the hazard flashers, not able to open a window, no internal power at all.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Glad to hear no one got hurt!

 

Having the battery checked first (CCAs) is a good idea with any electrical glitches.

 

Next up is checking and possibly replacing the throttle body, a problem child in primarily the 2011MY.  But I think battery is far more likely.

 

And there is a small chance the park detect switch needs to be replaced.  Ford has a TSB on it, and there is an independent DIY HOWTO on this forum as well.

 

Do you have warranty at all?  Did the vehicle go through heavy rain/flooded areas/high pressure car washes prior to this event?  Thinking of the possibility of wet wiring or even possibly water intrusion into the bcm/sjb (passenger compartment fuse panel area).

[greggmh123]

WWWPerfA_ZN0W,

 

I'll mention this for background, not to toot my own horn. I was a Ford tune-up tech for 18 years, retiring from the business in 1999 after turning down Ford's request (twice) to be an instructor at the La Mirada, California, training center, so I know my way around electronics very well. This event was the freakiest thing I have ever seen a vehicle do. I don't know if the whole thing was a fail-safe mode, or just borked electronics, bad grounds (I've seen some really weird symptoms from those over the years!), but if that's Ford's idea of a fail-safe, it's horrible.

 

This is not an issue with a weak battery or bad throttle body Neither a weak battery nor a bad throttle body is capable of shutting down all interior power while leaving exterior power working fine with the engine still running. Also, weather was not an issue..."it never rains in California" comes to mind! It was sunny, dry, about 62 degrees F outside.

This issue, or at least the kill-interior-power behavior around it, goes way beyond a basic electrical issue. Something I forgot to note here is that once I had removed the fuel pump relay to shut it down and we got towed to the dealer, I noticed that my daytime running lights were still on (from www.DAYTIMEBrightLites.com, installed in 2014), even without the key in the ignition, so I pulled that fuse. It was probably about ten minutes later while unloading the truck that the dash lights started coming on and off, cycling continuously like that a few seconds on then off, then on/off over and over again. That's when I disconnected the battery.

After disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it, all the dash lights lit up, with the addition of "Service AdvanceTrac" warning. Plus, the "Shift to Park" warning came back. At least then, I could start the engine and use the hazard flashers. After starting the engine, all the dash lights stayed on, including all the warning indicators. Every light on the dash was lit.

Very strange!

Gregg

 

[Chipster]

Greg; "Very strange", seems like a massive understatement! Will you be able to YouTube your video or at least put some of it up here? Be sure to update us on what is / was going on with your vehicle. Best of luck to you and your electron frenzied Edge!

[David Young]

Our 2014 Edge Limited did almost the same thing your Edge is doing. Replaced the battery and all is fine......

[greggmh123]

David Young,

 

Did your Edge lose all internal power but still have the engine running, even with the key out of ignition switch?

 

Did you see any messages about Shift To Park, and then not be able to get it out of park?

The dealership has not been able to duplicate it and they have a call into the tech hotline in Dearborn.

I am hoping to get some hint of what could make it wig out so much.

 

Gregg

[greggmh123]

Chipster,

 

Yes, definitely an understatement! I don't have a YouTube account, and the videos are 90MB each, too big to post here. Basically, after disconnecting/reconnecting the battery, I could start it and move the shifter, but all the dash lights were on and stayed on, and it cycled through "Engine On", "Service AdvanceTrac", "Shift to Park", over and over again. All of those warning lights would not shut off as they normally do once the engine is running.

 

The second image, where one can see that the key is out, shows the lights as they would cycle every 3-4 seconds on and off, with the key in my hand.

 

Gregg

[David Young]

It happened with my wife. We have the push button start on our edge. She told me when she pushed the button to start the engine, 'all' the dash light came on with some flashing and all kind of clicking sounds started. She had to get a jump start and dove the Edge to our local Ford dealer. They told her it was the battery and we let them replace it for $140 something dollars. Your problem could be something else but newer Fords have strange things happen to them when the battery starts going bad. My 2011 Mustang battery started going bad. It would start but had the dash lights coming on and flashing the same warnings your Edge is.

[akirby]

Yes, very strange, seemingly unrelated things can happen with a flaky battery.  If the battery is even close to 3 years old or older just replace it first.

 

The other possibility in this type of situation is that one of the components is flooding the CAN bus with garbage and the modules can't communicate.

[greggmh123]

Mine would crank just fine, which only means that it still had plenty of power in it. However, that does not mean the battery has no internal defects, such as high internal resistance. I suppose that is a possibility, but just doesn't logically make sense that it could keep the engine running and exterior lights bright, but kill all internal power, including lighting, windows, door locks, hazard flashers, and the entire dash. It almost seems like there is a module that controls internal power, and it vomited on itself.

 

Then again, I have learned that logic can be a finicky little bugger. I'll get their response Thursday AM.

 

Gregg