Charging System Service Now

[CobraJay]

Glad you found your issue, I coat all battery connections and every ground point I can find with fluid film to prevent corrosion.

 

[ORTrux]

Hope this spares others from wasting time and money on a new battery and alternator.

@fordraptorfun You saved me wasting time on a trip to the dealer at any rate. Appreciated.

Was getting p0563 for high voltage. Watched the voltage meter and never actually saw it out of range. With the high warning the truck didn't do anything like you described, just pinged the message and lit up the battery warning lamp - saw this post so I checked the BMS wire - didnt see any corrosion but figured I'd tighten it. Turns out it was totally loose and the nut was backing itself off. Tightened it up, issue resolved.

Pretty sure it's on the original battery so presumably it's been like that from the factory. Recommend giving it a quick tighten next time anyones under the hood.

Edit: For posterity's sake - This came back two days later, worse than before. So it dawned on me the dealer did for sure disconnect the battery at one point last year - and after going back and spending more than 5 seconds looking - it appears they installed the small BMS wire under the much larger (alternator?) terminal w/ a washer. Since the bigger terminal/washer was hitting the diameter of the BMS terminal crimp, the smaller BMS terminal was kind of floating around under it - and probably contributed to it backing off in the first place. Swapped, no more problem. So long story short, small wire on top, righty tighty.

 

[phlog]

I’m having this same exact problem now as I dropped of my 2018 Raptor off last week for the Cam Phaser fix. Picked it and now having the same problems as the OP had. They changed the battery and still had the same problem. Now they want to change the alternator. I’m going to the dealership tomorrow to check the battery for this loose wire.

 

[Sunchild714]

Great catch. Thanks for sharing

 

[PlainJane]

I had the same problem, but the voltage on the dash was 14-15 volts and voltage at that connection or at the battery was 12.4 when the truck was idling and 12.2 V when it was off.

Clean the same terminal and got 12.8 V when idling, tighten the first terminal on the fuse box and now I have 13.2 V at the battery. DAMN these are sensitive!!!!!

 

[TheTeej]

I checked the terminals, checked the wires - nada all good. When it happens, it’s intermittent - voltage on dash goes down to 12V then when warning goes away back up to 14.5V. Mean anything to anyone? Battery tested fine at auto parts store

 

[TheTeej]

Update. Mine was the alternator itself. 35k miles. Ford quality.

 

[CTK59]

Update #3:

So after replacing the alternator and the battery, these symptoms and Diagnostic Troubleshooting Code (DTCs) returned...

1. Auto Start/Stop wouldn't work and dash in the Trip/Fuel menu would just say "Engine On due to Vehicle Charging" even though the battery should have been fully charged by then.
2. While driving, Sync 3 Infotainment would shut off and display "System off to Save Battery - Shut off Ignition or turn on Engine"
   1. Which doesn't make sense because the Engine is on and vehicle is at speed.
3. Dash would say "Front Camera Temporarily Not Available"
4. Rough Steering at low engine RPM.
5. DTC U3003:17 (Battery Voltage - Circuit Voltage Above Threshold) for both the Front Controls Interface Module (FCIM) and the Image Processing Module A (IPMA).
6. Dash fault "Charging System Service Now" with red battery icon.
7. DTC P0563 - System Voltage High

After further troubleshooting by comparing the battery voltage to the Battery Junction Box (BJB) voltage right by the fuse box, I noticed it differed by as much as 1 V. I thought this should be exactly equal. Chased down some corrosion (very little) at the the nut shown in the picture below. This is the connection between the battery's positive terminal and the BJB. Cleaning that connection solved everything.

It's annoying that corrosion at this location would induce the symptoms and faults above. Maybe it's because the Battery Monitoring Sensor measures at the negative battery terminal, as opposed to sharing the BJB voltage.

Hope this spares others from wasting time and money on a new battery and alternator.

Issue has been intermittent since summer and could not find the problem; neither could dealership. Checked the connection between BJB and positive terminal and it was loose (nut). Tightened it down and no warning message for over a week now.