2017 Ford Expedition Electrical Problem

[Charles M]

I have a 2017 Ford Expedition Limited with 84,000 miles on it. I purchased it used 1 year ago.

It runs good although I had to have transmissions lines replaced a couple of months ago and I just replaced the front rotors and brakes.

This morning I started it up and turned it around in the drive and it ran fine. A couple of hours later I tried to remote start it and it started then stopped. When I got in and started it was a slow crank but started. The speedometer kept bouncing up and down and the left and right digital dash screens were coming on than going off and all the warnings lights came on and off. The Sync screen said "Network Communications Error". The truck ran fine, I drove it around the block but it was blowing hot air now, the AC didn't work but all the gauges where working. Decided to take our other care to the store.

Came back about an hour or so later and started up the truck and everything came on just fine. I went to look at the batter and cables and there was a bit of corrosion. Figured it was time for a new battery. As I was driving the truck to Auto Zone, the digital readouts started come on and off again. The Sync screen went off and the Air Was blowing hot air and would turn off when I turned of with the button.

I replaced the battery at the auto parts store cleaned the positive terminal cable attachment and installed the new battery. When I started the truck again, same thing. Runs fine, gauge are sporadic, Hot Air blowing full blast and sync screen is off.

Not sure what to do at this point. Not sure even how to approach troubleshooting this. Currently I have the negative cable off the battery while I search around for some guidance.

Haven't found any issues like this on the internet for reference.

Any advise or wisdom would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Charles M]

I have thoroughly cleaned all battery cables, both positive and negative to the copper and reinstalled. Same issues are occuring. I also checked the fuses in the passenger dash underneath, they are all good.

 

[Yupster Dog]

I have thoroughly cleaned all battery cables, both positive and negative to the copper and reinstalled. Same issues are occuring. I also checked the fuses in the passenger dash underneath, they are all good.

Do a voltage drop test your ground is lifting somewhere.

 

[Charles M]

I have never done one. Is there an article or thread that explains how to do a VD test and where I would do this for this specific problem? I have Mulitmeters.

 

[Charles M]

@Yupster Dog Ok I have watched some video's and understand how to do a drop down test.

When you say the ground is lifting, would you think it is somewhere of the negative terminal where it attached to the fender, frame or other areas? So just do the VD test starting at the negative terminal to the wire and then keep testing each connection point where there ground is connected ?

 

[Yupster Dog]

Ok I have watched some video's and understand how to do a drop down test.

"VOLTAGE DROP TEST" and yes there are videos on how to on youtube.

starting at the negative terminal to the wire and then keep testing each connection point where there ground is connected ?

Yes also try starting vehicle and/or using whatever was messing up at each connection as well.

Best to start on positive side first then move to negative side.

 

[Charles M]

Ok here is the update and where I am at right now.

This morning while it was cooler out I went outside and started the truck. All the gauges came on and the Sync come on. I sat there and waited. Everything kept working. Except for the radio and the navigation which said no GPS.

I shut off the truck and used a multimeter to check the battery, and drop tested all the positive and negative cables I could find. Everything came out fine. So I started the truck up again and the gauges are fine and the Sync comes on except for the radio and navigation, no GPS, again.

I go out to the battery and remove the negative and positive cable and wait 10 minutes. I put the cables back on and restarted the truck. This time everything came on and the radio and GPS navigation worked. All gauges and climate control working as before. So I figure I am going to run it on the freeway and back and then over some rough road. Passed with flying colors. No issues. Then I took it through the JAX car wash, and brought it home, everything works fine.

Yesterday it was close to 100 degrees with 80% humidity and the truck was sitting in the bright sun. Maybe something overheated or condensation, etc.

I am not convinced things are good, as things in my life don't magically FIX themselves ever. I would have rather found out or seen the problem.

So I think I may just call the dealer tomorrow morning and get an appointment for them to run diagnostics and drive it till then. I have the full extended premium warranty so hopefully if they find something, it will be covered. If not I can determine what I want to do, depending on what it is. Although I will probably just end up paying the diagnostic fee and they will tell me that everything is working fine. We will see.

 

[Fastcar]

Yeah, but.... You reboot your computer and all is well. That's what you did. I'd bet your dealer will say "it all checked out fine". If it happens again take it in as there have been a bunch of TSB's and downloads out that will do everything but wash your truck.

 

[jeff kushner]

Charles,

Sounds like you suffered an error in the network and as noted above, rebooted it. There is one person here I'd reach out to if you are wondering why. Lokiwolf knows these things pretty well and while he can't fix it for you, he does know the networks paths & connections. It sounds like one of the control modules, but he can let you know what you look at.

My '17 has "blinked" once of twice in 122K miles but never to the extent you describe....there has been some net chatter about the Sirius antenna doing a connected/disconnected thing which can cause everything else to get a little sketchy but I'd reach out to Loki.

good luck

 

[Charles M]

This morning on the way to the office everything started happening again. Found a Ford Dealer to look at it. Drove it straight over there. They got it right in for and where charging me a $125 diagnosis fee. Unfortunately on the way to the dealer it resolved itself again and everything worked except for the GPS and Radio, but everything else on the Sync display worked as well as the dashboard display and climate control.

I got a call from the dealer a couple of hours later and he indicated that the Tech did a hard reset, which I think is just unhooking the negative cable for 20 minutes, which is what I did on Sunday morning. Everything was working. I let him know that I did this before and it worked, yet the problem came up again this morning and I was concerned that the situation may not be resolved. He went back to the technician and he looked at everything again and said it was OK, and there are no trouble codes. So I picked up SUV.

Brought it home, drove it around for a bit and everything seemed OK. I am concerned that it isn't and this will reoccur.

As a precaution, on the Sync I stopped Automatic Updates.

So I guess it is a waiting game.