2024 big bend dead battery

[boatnikloew]

My new Bronco was sitting in my pole barn for 2 weeks and the battery was completly dead. Average temp was about 35 degrees. Dealer said this is normal because of all the electronics. My 2016 ram diesel can sit for months with no issues. any help would be great.

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[Vern]

Have a 2023. Right now only have 25000 miles on it. Last year during big cold snap the battery died. Took the battery out and brought it to dealer told them to test it. Didn't take long service department manager said it's definitely bad. He gave me a new one but warned me Ford will only replace the battery once under warranty. I laughed and told him if he had two batteries fail in the first 3 years / 36,0000 miles I wouldn't want another one of his batteries I would buy a good one.

 

[Lifeliberty]

Yeah, I use a battery tender, and have a jump pack just in case, and I daily drive

I also carry jumper cables, and have AAA

people who have been stranded will understand

If I have something important to do in a day, I throw the tender on the night before just in case.

 

[crzyhawk]

My new Bronco was sitting in my pole barn for 2 weeks and the battery was completly dead. Average temp was about 35 degrees. Dealer said this is normal because of all the electronics. My 2016 ram diesel can sit for months with no issues. any help would be great.

The dealer told you the truth. my 2008 Mustang can sit for weeks too, but it is running fewer computer checks when powered down. The Bronco's computer is always running, checking for keyfob proximity, etc. It's just the nature of modern vehicles. I'm not a fan of it, but I accept it for what it is.

 

[Brian_B]

Normal for it to go to deep sleep if you don’t drive it for a while. It should still start though.

Not normal for the battery to be totally dead.

Once it hits deep sleep it shuts all the computers and everything down, supposed to save enough juice in the battery to start it back up.


That said - yeah, battery tender. These AGM batteries suck

 

[Valhalla]

Brian is not wrong... but also as stated new cars "wake" when they "sense" someone is nearby. To prepare to fire up. They click chirp and whir all the time. Till they are near dead.. If this happens enough (deep sleep) and cold and time... recipe for dead battery. Consider a tender and a disconnect on anything after '17-'19 dependent on mfg.

 

[michelle227]

FWIW, MotorCraft OEM batteries have a long history of lasting just a few years. Our '72 Mercury was like that as was my '77 T-Bird and even my '90 LX5.0. It's not new...

 

[VirginiaHeritage]

Any recent software updates? I have mine set to do auto updates at 2am. I wonder how much juice they use to check that on a regular basis.

Side note: I spent a good 5 minutes walking and crawling around my garage last night at about 9:30 pm to isolate where an electric motor/compressor sound was coming from. The sound was going the whole time. After ruling out the refrigerator and the Bronco, I realized it was coming from the Subaru undercarriage. Then I remembered something I hadn’t thought about in years. The car will do an EVAP system self test when it’s been shut off for about 5 hours.

The Bronco has a lot more electronics and sensors than the Subie so theres no telling how much is going on when I’m away.

 

[Squirrel13]

For those of you that use tenders do you notice under hood noises while being charged. Both my ‘20 F350 and ‘24 Bronco have 10A NOCO tenders.
The F350 lives on a tender in the shop no where near a key and sits for weeks between uses. I frequently hear both headlight fans and clicking cycling on and off. It has Odyssey Extreme batteries and spent most of its life on a tender.
24 Bronco is my daily but not driven everyday. It has the OEM battery and has started similar clicking and fans.

Both vehicles on tenders will send the battery save message to ford pass after about 2 weeks of inactivity.

Curious what others experience.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

My new Bronco was sitting in my pole barn for 2 weeks and the battery was completly dead. Average temp was about 35 degrees. Dealer said this is normal because of all the electronics. My 2016 ram diesel can sit for months with no issues. any help would be great.

There are so many modules and computers on these vehicles, and each of them has Keep Alive Memory (KAM) that is constantly drawing power until it enters 'deep sleep.' But even in 'deep sleep,' if you approach it and happen to have a key, it will ping said key to see if it's the right one, which will somewhat wake it up.

It is absolutely normal for these things to drain the battery down quickly, and even more so if you have something aftermarket that draws a little power. It isn't the old days where there was only one or two computers on them that didn't draw much power.

If you're going to let a newer vehicle sit today, you'd better get a battery tender for it, or unhook the battery when not in use.

 

[UncleBrad]

Yeah, I use a battery tender, and have a jump pack just in case, and I daily drive

I also carry jumper cables, and have AAA

people who have been stranded will understand

If I have something important to do in a day, I throw the tender on the night before just in case.

Exactly! We gain wisdom through trial.

One thing this dummy found out the hard way: the "jump packs" do not work if the battery is completely, utterly drained. Which is of course the state of the battery when you really need to get the vehicle started.

 

[DALOLA]

Definitely NOT normal for a healthy 12v battery. Now that winter is here, my Bronco also sits for weeks at a time, out in the cold, no problems.

As mentioned above, Ford has notoriously used garbage batteries (countless battery recalls..), and I suspect yours is failing. Replace it with a quality AGM, problem solved.

 

[Valhalla]

Definitely NOT normal for a healthy 12v battery. Now that winter is here, my Bronco also sits for weeks at a time, out in the cold, no problems.

As mentioned above, Ford has notoriously used garbage batteries (countless battery recalls..), and I suspect yours is failing. Replace it with a quality AGM, problem solved.

Which ones are (currently) QUALITY AGMs? I know Odessey was a few years back and now the Optima are not good. (Dependent on which one??)

 

[DALOLA]

Which ones are (currently) QUALITY AGMs? I know Odessey was a few years back and now the Optima are not good. (Dependent on which one??)

Yeah, I don't really know who's making good batteries right now....I haven't had to buy one for years. My Maverick got a freebie courtesy of a Ford recall. I think generally, you get what you pay for. I would probably go to NAPA, and take a look at their best AGM. I've had good luck with NAPA batteries in other vehicles & equipment. Don't know who the actual battery mfg'r is....

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