Brand New MKC - Dead Battery twice in less than a month

60679 Views 57 Replies 24 Participants Last post by William W Harter, Mar 6, 2021

Emily Elizabeth

Discussion Starter · Jan 28, 2015

I bought my Lincoln MKC off the showroom floor with less than 100 miles on it. Took it home and about 8 days later went out to start it in the morning and it was stone dead. Had only been sitting for about 8 hours after driving for about 20 minutes. Called Lincoln Roadside, they jumped the car, it started no problem. Took the car to the dealership, they claimed it was a bad battery and switched it out.

Brought the car home and 2 weeks later it happened again. Went to the garage to start the car in the morning and it was dead, wouldn't even unlock the doors. Called roadside again, they jumped it and it started. Took it back to the dealership. They have had the car for 4 days but say there is nothing wrong with the car. The battery tests good, all their diagnostics show nothing. They are bringing it back to me today.

Has anyone else experienced this? What is going on with this thing. Way too expensive of a car to not be able to trust it to start up.

The only common thread is both times it happened, I locked the car with the fob (hit the lock button), left it sit overnight and tried to use the remote start in the morning.

Any ideas? Thanks!

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cjc96

· #2 · Jan 28, 2015

Emily,

I assume the dealer tested the system for any electrical draws on the system? As well is there any aftermarket items such as an alarm, remote starter, etc...?

And how often do you drive the vehicle?

Emily Elizabeth

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 28, 2015 (Edited)

Yes they claim they tested it and found no electrical draws. I drive it daily. Both times it happened, I had been driving it the night before. I do not have anything on it after market - but it is fully loaded from the dealership. All the bells and whistles.

cjc96

· #4 · Jan 28, 2015

My MKC is also fully loaded and no issues.

Hmmm, no draws and nothing aftermarket. I wonder if they checked
for a parasitic draw once the vehicle sits for a long period of time?

As well you stated you locked it with the fob and tried the remote start
the next day. You tried to start with the fob, correct? Does it work
with the phone app? What if you lock it with the button on the
outside door handle, does it do the same thing?

TxTom

· #5 · Jan 28, 2015

Make certain the key fob is not left near the car when the car is not in use. It may be activating the lights that go on when you approach the car...if it is locked. Or could be doing something else to draw down the battery. Some people have had the key fob hanging on something, near the garage door with the car in the garage, and have had battery drain problems.

cjc96

· #6 · Jan 28, 2015

Good point TxTom. I bet this is the issue.

Emily Elizabeth

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 28, 2015

My key fob is in the house at least 20 feet from the garage door. The dealer assured me that it would have to be within 3 feet to activate the car and it should run the fob dead long before the car.

When I get the car back I will try to just lock the doors using the button on the handle and will be turning off the approach lights as recommended on another thread.

They had the car for 4 days but I believe they did start it every single day. But the longest mine was sitting without being run or driven prior to being dead was 9 hours.

They told me "When it happens again, have them tow it to us, don't jump it". So even the dealer expects it to happen again. Makes me sad that they don't seem to care that it's leaving me stranded!

rocmkc

· #8 · Jan 28, 2015

I have not had the battery drain issue that you are describing.

That said, the three foot standard mentioned by your dealer is not accurate. After reading other people's comments in this area, I realized one evening that standing at my kitchen sink with the fob in my pocket was causing the car to light up (on and off) in the driveway outside the kitchen window. It was definitely more than 3 feet away; at least 10, though I don't think as far as 20 feet as in your case. So it may be the fob, maybe not.

Sorry to hear of your issue; it would be unsettling not to know if the car will start every morning. Hope they can isolate the problem and resolve it soon for you.

Reactions: 1

GblancRetiree

· #9 · Jan 28, 2015

My MKC went completely dead after a week of non-use. It would not jump start. I ended up putting a slow charger on the battery. After 15 hours of charging, it worked fine.

I found out the welcome lighting system caused the drain down. Our key fob storage for the car is about 12 feet from the vehicle. The on-going communication between the fob and car caused the problem. Lincoln has a special service message on this.

The cure is to turn off the welcome approach lighting on the dash panel or relocate the key fob farther away from the car. I turned it off. The welcome lighting now only works when I hit the unlock button on the fob or put my hand on the external door handle.

We have not had a battery problem since.

Reactions: 1

Emily Elizabeth

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 28, 2015

GblancRetiree said:
My MKC went completely dead after a week of non-use. It would not jump start. I ended up putting a slow charger on the battery. After 15 hours of charging, it worked fine.

I found out the welcome lighting system caused the drain down. Our key fob storage for the car is about 12 feet from the vehicle. The on-going communication between the fob and car caused the problem. Lincoln has a special service message on this.

The cure is to turn off the welcome approach lighting on the dash panel or relocate the key fob farther away from the car. I turned it off. The welcome lighting now only works when I hit the unlock button on the fob or put my hand on the external door handle.

We have not had a battery problem since.

Thanks GBLANC - how do I turn those welcome lights off?

GblancRetiree

· #11 · Jan 28, 2015

There is a selection of options on your dash panel -- the left dial (tachometer) where you can select lighting options fuel economy etc. Using the left controls on the steering wheel, toggle up/down to Vehicle then Lighting, then Welcome Lighting.

electrotanman

· #12 · Jan 29, 2015

I the same problem my key fob was kept in my kitchen which is very close to my driveway. Found the truck DOA one morning jumped it myself. Turned off the Welcome lighting have not had a problem since.

Reactions: 1

Emily Elizabeth

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 29, 2015

Thank you! I will be finding that and doing that today!

RayoVac

· #14 · Jan 30, 2015

I will be surprised if this does not happen again. See my post:
http://www.mkcforum.com/forum/linco...ope-not-start-bad-relationship.html#post51401

Exact same thing happened to me. No way the key fob being close, had anything to do with it. I was in Portland, OR with the Key Fob, the MKC was in a airport lot in South Bend, IN. 4 Days later, dead as a door nail. After jump... all kinds of stuff did not work in the car. Dealer had it for near a full week. Same claim, "Bad Battery" and umm yeah coincedentally some module under the steering column failed causing all the stuff not to work.

I am very doubtful it's the battery, I think something is sucking down the power as it sits. My clock consistently loses time, 5-10 minutes a day. My dash lights don't save their setting and of course I have the Satellite radio dropping issues lots of others have. Also I am irritated that my speedo and cruise set speed are 2-3 MPH under actual speed. Speed being measured by GPS and more importantly being spit out the OBDII port. Folks blow me off with "why worry about 2-3mph difference, they say things like listen to pandora instead of Satellite etc. We sould not have to make exceptions or have work-arounds.

I have been documenting everything very well as I see this being a long road to get my $50K vehicle working as IT SHOULD! I paid for these advertised features, I expect them to work.

I am in Chicago for 4 days starting this Sunday, where the MKC will be left alone in a garage, in the cold the whole time. I fully expect it to be dead when I return to it Wednesday night to head home.

Rayo

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Mtduncan

· #15 · Feb 25, 2015

We just began having this issue with our MKC, the dealership has replaced the battery and we are still getting the check battery warning through the phone app. Put brand new battery on the charger and it showed 70 % charge. We will turn off welcome lights to see if that helps.

Love the MKC, don't love the stress.

desgnr

· #16 · Feb 25, 2015

I keep my FOB in the car in nice weather & never had any problem.

golferman44

· #17 · Feb 25, 2015

Emily Elizabeth: Did you find out what the problem was? Was it the fob being too close to the car or something else?

We just brought our MKC home last Saturday and I am watching the "problem threads" like a hawk. So far so good for us and I hope it stays that way.

KenZ

· #18 · Feb 26, 2015

My dead battery experience....

When I got my MKC (Aug 2014), I immediately discovered the welcome mat/lighting was kicking on every time I was in the kitchen (directly over the garage) or in a hallway that ran past the garage. I have a security camera in the garage and could watch on my iPhone to see the hot spots as I walked around the house. Assuming this could cause a battery problem somewhere down the road, I just quit locking the car when it was in the garage. I was only locking it in the garage to get the mirrors to fold in. I now use the button that folds the mirrors in.

Sometime in late December, I noticed the low battery warning on the Lincoln iPhone app, which I ignored - as most guys probably do. I just figured it was a bug and how could a new battery have problems already. A couple weeks after the warning started showing up, I went to use the MKC one day and the battery was dead. Guess I should have paid attention.

I called the Lincoln roadside assistance and a guy game and jumped my car to get it started. I asked him if how a new car battery could have a problem so soon and he said sometimes they were just defective. When he got in the car to get the mileage for his form, he called me over and pointed to my iPhone holder. He said that might have caused it.

Backing up the story a bit... I don't drive the MKC daily. I also have a '13 MKZ Hybrid. It sort of depends on which fob is in my pocket and my mood. In the scenario above, I don't think I had driven the MKC in at least a week or maybe two. About a month earlier, I got a iPhone holder that plugs into the 12V socket and has a "bendy" arm that extends up and holds your phone. It fit quite nicely into the MKC and held the phone exactly where I wanted it. It also has a USB plug where you could plug in your phone and a little light that indicated it was on.

I don't know if that holder was actually draining the power, but I removed it and have not had another occurrence (it's been about a 1 1/2 months) of the low battery warning on the app or any starting problem.

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2Geeky4U

· #19 · Oct 22, 2015

I have had the problem twice now. First time around 2 k miles and just today at 15k miles. I highly doubt it is a second defective battery. Will post results after tech checks it out.

lmt123

· #20 · Oct 24, 2015

This happened to me too, I have 2015. I couldnt start it few days ago, I jump it and the next day it struggled but started. I took it to the dealer, they daid bad battery, they changed the battery, will see and hope it wont happen again. I need to figure out where to deactivate the welcome lighting.

Welcome lighting was not an option on the dash settings.

Anybody know if there is any recall about this dead batter issue?? My dealer said they replaced few mkz. Same battery as mkc they said

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