Check charging system

[Sam66]

Hello,
Curious if anyone has had this issue.
2014 sho
I was driving last night down the interstate at 70 mph, my check charging system came on and the ac condenser stopped blowing cold air. It will still blow Luke warm air but that’s it. I had a new battery put in last year and will gladly do it again. I went out this morning and it started up with no issues. I did some quick research and found that people reset their sync to see if that would work. It didn’t. I took it for a cruise to see if driving it would help but it still blew warm air. It also was acting weird and the power steering wouldn’t work at a stop, it needed to be under power. I turned the car off and then on again and the power steering issue went away. It’s still blowing warm and the charging system lights still on. Any idea on what to do or where to look?

 

[Jeff2017]

I put an Interstate battery in my wifes XC90 and it died after 2 months. So a 1 year old battery can go bad. Don't rule it out.

 

[krewat]

If a cell in the battery shorts out, the car will still crank, but the voltage will drop to around 10 volts.

Get a volt meter, put the car into "accessory mode" (hit the start button but without putting your foot on the brake, and then hit it again until everything turns off). This will bleed off any "surface charge" and then check the voltage at the battery.

It should be 12.6 for a fully charged battery. Write down what it is.

Then, start the engine, let it idle, and then check the voltage at the battery again. Should be 13.5-14.5 or so. Write THAT down, and then come back here and report the results

 

[krewat]

Oh, and have someone rev the engine to like 2K RPM, and check the voltage again, and report back.

Sounds like you might have an alternator problem if while "driving" the light goes off, but comes on at idle.

 

[Sam66]

The light doesn’t go off. It only goes off if I turn the car off. It’ll come back after a minute or so. It stays on while driving. The light came on while driving as well

 

[Sam66]

Upon further inspection, I’ve been playing around as it’s Sunday and nothings open, the ac works fine and so does the power steering until the check charging system light comes back on (about a minute after start)..... it then turns the compressor off so it’s only blowing vent air and the power steering will only work while the cars in motion.

It’s almost like it’s cutting power to those 2 parts to save power. Thoughts??!

 

[Johnbigdog]

Ford's smart charging system is self exciting. Meaning if the RPMs get over x (usually 2k) rpm, the alternator will charge at 13.5 v. Steady. The system should be able to control voltage above and below this as needed.

The car is smart enough to shut stuff off to keep your batter up. But at the same time can shut stuff off if overcharging.

If the battery is bad, I would think you would have starting issues and my experience you won't get a charging system light coming on. The battery is not part of the "charging" system. Although if bad can affect the starting system and power operation.

Where you should start is to see what D.T.C.s are set and go from there.

 

[Sam66]

I checked battery and it’s fine, even though it’s a 750 so on the small side.... we checked alternator and it’s only putting out 11 volts so we believe we have found the culprit. The issue is that the location of it is atrocious. I won’t be doing this fix on my own..... hopefully I can get it in to be fixed in the morning

 

[Sam66]

Belt had one rib left. Found the culprit.

 

[SHOdded]

short life!

 

[Jeff2017]

That is a short life. Don't those normally go 120k at least?

 

[Sam66]

The car has 103k... I use it for work because I love it so much. I’m a sales rep

 

[shaker281]

Anyone done a write up on changing that belt? I should do mine and it looks like a bitch. Have not looked from underneath though.

 

[SHOdded]

Would be worse if you had to deal with the stretchy power steering belt LOL. One reason to be thankful for EPAS.

 

[glockcoma]

Anyone done a write up on changing that belt? I should do mine and it looks like a bitch. Have not looked from underneath though.

Belt is very easy to do from the passenger side wheel well.

I changed mine when I was replacing my PTU. I think I have some pictures on my phone.

 

[glockcoma]

This is the only pic I have unfortunately. Just use the 3/8 ratchet inside the tensioner arm and pull clockwise to release the tension on the belt.
it only goes over three different pulleys since we don’t have a power steering pump.

 

[Johnbigdog]

Would be worse if you had to deal with the stretchy power steering belt LOL. One reason to be thankful for EPAS.

Stretchy belts are easy once you know the "trick."

To derail the belt, shove just the strap end of a ratchet strap under the belt on one of the pulleys. Rotate the engine to trap the strap (flat under the belt). Wrap the strap under the belt then over the top. Pull on the strap to flip the belt off of the pully.

To put the belt back on, put it on the crank, place it on the p/s pulley. Use the wide h.d. zip tie to hold the belt flat to the pulley. Rotate the engine and guide the belt so it stays railed on the p.s. pulley and rotate the pulley if needed.

 

[Sherryshiner]

Hello,
Curious if anyone has had this issue.
2014 sho
I was driving last night down the interstate at 70 mph, my check charging system came on and the ac condenser stopped blowing cold air. It will still **** Luke warm air but that’s it. I had a new battery put in last year and will gladly do it again. I went out this morning and it started up with no issues. I did some quick research and found that people reset their sync to see if that would work. It didn’t. I took it for a cruise to see if driving it would help but it still blew warm air. It also was acting weird and the power steering wouldn’t work at a stop, it needed to be under power. I turned the car off and then on again and the power steering issue went away. It’s still blowing warm and the charging system lights still on. Any idea on what to do or where to look?

Don't know of this will help anyone but.... had a 16 taurus that kept showing a check charging system message. Took a while to figure out but after some digging and trial and error here it goes. If the alternator and battery were both replaced and charging system still shows high voltage (between 15 and 17 volts), there are 2 voltage sensors which go around some wires. One about 6 inches down the negative terminal and one by the passenger side of the valve cover. The one by the valve cover runs to the single wire on the alternator. Replaced both those sensors and things straightened right out. They are circular and encompass the whole wire harness but they're very easy to replace