Posted on 03/26/2011 7:49:43 AM PDT by chickadee
Yesterday, I decided to take my relatively new car out for a spin. Due to a combination of ugly winter weather and health issues, I hadn't driven the car in a couple of months and wanted to give it a spin to keep its "juices" flowing.
I got in the car and tried to start it. Nothing. All the symbols lit up and went nuts, but no sound of cranking.
Fortunately, Ford gives new owners 5 years of Roadside Assistance. Ford's service responded quickly and professionally. The technician came prepared with a "box" to start the car in my garage. It wouldn't start. He had discovered a loose battery connection, which he tightened, but still "no go". He was familiar with the vehicle and tried one or two adjustments before deciding that the car was in lockout mode.
After consulting the manual, he determined that the car's computer was not recognizing the key. He presumed the loss of coding was due to the "dead" battery. He said the dealership would need to repower the battery and reinstall the codes before the car would start.
I contacted the dealership and they said to arrange with Roadside Assistance to have it brought to them and they would reinstall the codes.
Longish story short - it turned out that the battery was not dead - not even low. Ford has a program built into it that if a car is not started in 50 days, it goes into lockdown mode to conserve the battery. To protect the battery from itself and its constant computer analysis.
Once the dealership discovered that the battery was fine, they contacted Ford who explained the above to them (even the techs were unaware of the 50 day thing.) The cure was simple, disconnect the negative lead for 30 seconds, reconnect and all was well.
Meanwhile, two service calls to the house and the car had been loaded on a flatbed and towed across town.
Wow. Ain't technology great?
I wonder if there are new cars out there that do auto updates from the web.
I imagine there are.
Yeah - I have been through a couple of AirBus reboots! One to get the latrines working
al baby gave the short version in post #17!
Who the hell needs a car they don’t crank for over 50 days?
As a geek friend says, it’s like Microsoft is controlling our cars. Software is getting more complex, and it seems the developers are getting less and less technically competent.
yes, quite a fan. you too?
Yes, and one not immune to hilarious replies that can be somewhat ... boneheaded at times. Hence the institutionalization. As much of an institution as failing to grasp satire (we’re a satire-challenged bunch on the whole) or responding in high moral dudgeon as a result of not reading before replying. Or, bashing Prii, for that matter.
i think 3 series is only one i would buy. maybe 5 but never
7 or anything else.
Upside is that I'm sure it will be, now!
LOL - my 80 Mercedes sits all winter, starts every spring, regular as clockwork.
Especially if they would have installed a disconnect switch so that do don't have to physically remove the lead.
My neighbor has one. He uses it for his everyday car.
My hubby, SirKit, finally bought a Ford truck in 2007. We call it a “big-a$$, F250 Turbo Diesel Global Warmer, with the middle finger option”. ;o) Thing is a dang TANK, and it’s fantastic! Found a great deal, used, on eBay, of all places. It’s got a moon-roof, and leather seats, both with seat warmers, and lumbar support. We’ve taken it on at least three long road trips, towing large trailers each time, and we were very comfortable!
I was under the impression it is not a good idea to let a car sit unused for much beyond a week or two. You need to at least turn the engine over. If you cannot do it yourself you need to find a friend or relative who can. I am not expert but perhaps someone here can elaborate why this is so.
We are woosie’s re weather in N California around the bay area and including the wino counties.
We have had what we label as cold miserable weather since basically New Years.
Those, who can afford to go to warm beaches have flocked to those areas.
Often when they get back, their vehicles which are loaded with factory installed electronic gear will not start.
It appears to be equal opportunity from high end luxury cars to lower end and the Piuses in between. Sometimes the time period is only a week of not starting the vehicles.
This happened to our Son and DIl. They were off sunning themselves with their Acadia parked in the driveway for over a week. They couldn’t even get the key into the ignition. My wife had been the last person to drive the Acadia. She did a short shopping run and parked it in their driveway the first day of their trip. We stayed and watched the kids while our son and dil were amongst the palm trees and on warm beaches.
My son checked the battery with a meter from his boat, and it had plenty of charge left.
Fortunately, the neighbor hood, car and computer expert, a mother down the street came down to help. She told our son to disconnect the battery cables and leave it alone for a couple of minutes.
He followed her instructions. Then, he reattached the battery cables. Our Dil got in the Acadia, inserted the car and started the engine.
The neighbor car expert, explained that by removing the battery cables, it was like using control, alt, delete on your computer to unfreeze/start it. If that didn’t work, then unplug it from the wall or the ups system and wait for a minute or two and then try. We had a few mornings with frost on the vehicles outside while our son and dil were sunning themselves.
Since then, we have become “experts” when friends and people we know, return from the sun and their vehicle fails to start.
I owned a 2001 Taurus, with only 63,000 miles on it, and decided to trade it in for a smaller car. Initially, I was looking at Ford Fusions, but a Focus SEl caught my eye, got a good deal, and bought it. I love it, and even enjoy driving it. As much as I liked my Taurus, the Focus, though smaller, rides just as nice.
Kind of gives one the feeling that the snail's on the thorn, God is in His heaven, and all's right with the world, if that's what I meant to say!
You are a good neighbor to have. We need to start thinking of our cars as computers now.
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