2023 Expy Ltd. Driver side door power buttons stop working intermittently

[Stsysar]

Driver side controls for the front passenger and driver side windows, power mirror adjustment and folding function don't work (basically all buttons above the rear window power buttons). The blacklighting on the buttons also doesn't work. The power buttons for the rear windows work fine. I can operate the passenger side window using passage side controls with no problems.

This issue occurs intermittently. So far, I had it happen to me 3 or 4 times. It seems to go away on it's own and the buttons stsrt working again after the vehicle is parked for a day or so. It happened again today and I hope it resolves on its own, but I have had happen twice already in a week.

I see this as a safety issues as I am not able to open the windows or adjust side mirrors. I just need to time it to take it to Ford, but in the meantime, I want to see if this something that I can resolve my self, perhaps a loose connection somewhere...

I would appreciate you thought or feedback on this issue to hopefully help me resolve it.

Cheers.

 

[Fizzy]

Have you checked all the fuses are seated correctly? There's 2 fuse boxes. One under the hood, and one under the dash.

The passenger compartment fuse box, fuse 23, controls:

- Power window switch.
- Power mirror switch.
- Left-hand front door zone module.

Sure sounds like all the things that aren't working for you. I'd replace it anyway whether it looks good or not.

 

[Stsysar]

Thanks. I will give it a try. The strange thing that it is intermittent and then the issue resoves on its own.

 

[Fizzy]

Thanks. I will give it a try. The strange thing that it is intermittent and then the issue resoves on its own.

Maybe the fuse is loose and wiggling into and out of contact?

Or maybe the fuse burnt out partially, and there's a small contact still happening?

Best change it and see if that resolves the issue. It's certainly the cheapest thing to try first!

 

[Stsysar]

Maybe the fuse is loose and wiggling into and out of contact?

Or maybe the fuse burnt out partially, and there's a small contact still happening?

Best change it and see if that resolves the issue. It's certainly the cheapest thing to try first!

Yes, I will check it and will report back.

 

[5280tunage]

check the fuse but this is a '23. get that thing into a dealership service bay while it's not working, and show them, also take videos of the issues. Things like this have a habit of correcting themselves right as you pull into the drive at the dealer and then you'll get the "sorry, we couldn't replicate the issue". That's frustrating, my thing is that if you can operate the windows with their own switches, but not the main switch panel on the drivers door I don't think it's a fuse, I'm wondering for example if the wiring harness on the back of the switches is loose or something. Could they have broken one of the harness tabs and it's loose? Something like that feels more realistic to me.

 

[Stsysar]

Yes, I suspect it is something more than just a fuse. I have take a video of it and have gone to the dealship but couldn't leave the vehicle there. Have to followup with them again.

 

[rd618]

Yes, I suspect it is something more than just a fuse. I have take a video of it and have gone to the dealship but couldn't leave the vehicle there. Have to followup with them again.

You may have a loose ground on the door, the dealer will be able to take a closer look. Example of this is the backlighting not working.

 

[Stsysar]

Yes, I had some issues with trailer lighting. So, I am not sure if it is related......

 

[Borked]

I also have a 2023 expedition and had this same thing happen to me last week for the first time at the Dunkin’ drive thru. Lasted about a day and resolved itself.

 

[The Swagonmaster]

While I haven't worked on a '23 model I have turned wrenches for 40 years so I do have a suggestion. Any time I see an intermittent in the electrical parts of the drivers door the first thing I think of is a broken wire in the loom between the door post and the door itself. The next time the problem shows up try holding the effected button down while slowly opening and closing the door, that flexes the harness and often will cause the broken wire to get to a point where it will touch and the switch will start operating again (temporarily at least).
To the new member Borked, my name is H Robert Bork, look it up, I still get a grin out of having almost the same name as Robert H Bork and a lot of people don't know where the term "Borked" came from.

 

[Stsysar]

I also have a 2023 expedition and had this same thing happen to me last week for the first time at the Dunkin’ drive thru. Lasted about a day and resolved itself.

It happened to me about 3 time now. Ssme thing, it seams to resolve itself after a day. Took it to a dealer and they weren't able to find anything wrong.

 

[Stsysar]

While I haven't worked on a '23 model I have turned wrenches for 40 years so I do have a suggestion. Any time I see an intermittent in the electrical parts of the drivers door the first thing I think of is a broken wire in the loom between the door post and the door itself. The next time the problem shows up try holding the effected button down while slowly opening and closing the door, that flexes the harness and often will cause the broken wire to get to a point where it will touch and the switch will start operating again (temporarily at least).
To the new member Borked, my name is H Robert Bork, look it up, I still get a grin out of having almost the same name as Robert H Bork and a lot of people don't know where the term "Borked" came from.

Thanks for the tip, I will try to troubleshoot the problem if it stop working again. Although, if the issue is with the broken/damaged wire, how come the issue resolves itself after a day or so? Unless a short in the circuit trips the module causing temporary power outage...

 

[apex96]

Resurrecting this thread. Have a 2024 SSV (XL trim level) for work that the driver side window and mirror controls have stopped working. Took it into service and they started working. Tech couldn’t replicate. Now same day I picked it up, they’ve stopped again. My first thought was water intrusion but I’m not sure. Was there ever a final solution found, by those who experienced this issue?

 

[SVThound]

I had this happen to my 2023 today. Disconnected battery for 30 seconds and it reset. 22000 miles on the car now. It’s been in the garage with windows down for past week.

 

[bigwilly]

I had this happen on my 23. Took jt to the dealer a couple of times with "could not replicate". Finally it annoyed me enough that it did it one morning and I just drove straight to the dealer and had a service advisor come take a look before I turned the truck off. They replaced the switches, and it did it again a week later. They ended up replacing the driver side window motor. Has not done it since, it's been about a year.

 

[Skylais]

Have a 23 KR 22k miles and same issue. Been the 5th - 6th time it’s happened. Probably started around 16-7k miles or so and been intermittent. I’ve taken some videos and going to take it in and see what is done. I do remember early on I did see in FDRS my doors had “updates” available so I may probe the dealer about that. Will report back here but ain’t taking it in for a bit.

 

[apex96]

I have an update to the failing driver side door controls, it took a lot of electrical diagnostic work to find the issue.

Quick rundown, it had been in multiple times (3) for the driver side door controls and overhead interior lights failing intermittently although more often than not they were offline than they were online.

Second to last visit the drivers side door controls were replaced. The controls and interior lights worked for about two weeks before again becoming inoperative.

Last visit we actually got to the root of the issue... The morning of drop-off I came out to the controls being inoperative and confirmed on my drive over to the dealership that they remained inoperative. I pulled into the service breezeway and left it running, grabbed my service advisor and brought them over to show them and have them confirm the door controls and interior lights were inoperative. Advisor noted the issues and had me pull it around to the main bay area while the grabbed the master tech to have them plug into it while it was running and check the CANBUS network. Tech was able to confirm loss of communication on the medium speed CANBUS network. Tech also noted the vanity mirror lights were also not working (full disclosure I don't use the vanity mirror and never checked it).

Tech pulled up the wiring diagram and noted that all three items (mirror lights, interior lights/overhead controls, driver side door controls) all branch off from one main power wire coming of the BCM. If there is a break in any of the three wires that branches off it will not complete the circuit and will cut power. With that known they dug into the wiring harnesses and uncovered a short to ground at the overhead console. the wiring loom was pinched against the roof and had rubbed through. Techs had never seen this before, photos were taken and all information was pushed to Ford engineers for further analysis. This was an issue with the assembly of the vehicle and the wire loom routing that allowed for a pinch point to happen.

Wiring loom was repaired and properly routed and secured in the headliner. Vehicle has been working great since.

Sorry I do not have photos from the advisor to share. Issue was in the headliner at the location of the overhead console.

 

[DieselMonk]

Intermittent power windows are hard to diagnose, since you have to have it in a non working condition in order to troubleshoot. The grounded out canbus can happen, but more on the rare occasion, but with a good OBD2 scanner easy to find no coms there and then go through the wiring harness.

Other than that, is to take the interior from the door off, then check the window regulator power wire from the plug to the BCM while operating the window switch. And then check the window regulator itself by powering it directly.
Last time I dealt with an intermittent that ended up non operative. Problem was a broken power wire in the loom between the door and chassis right where it goes through the rubber part. The wire was electrically apart, but the insulation full intact. Found it by pulling the wire.
By the time you diagnose, take everything apart, diag some more, fix it, put it all back together, 2 hrs are easily down the drain.