Charging system fault

Msell71

Couple of weeks after I got the Bronco home (June 1-2), the battery light came on and I got a charging system fault on FP. Had the local dealer look into it and everything checked out, but kept throwing the code. They had it a week and had Ford engineers give them a few things to test that came up empty. They sent the Bronco home with me while they waited on more ideas from Ford. Two weeks ago I took it back in and they have run multitudes of tests, all coming back ok. They thought they had it figured out with a bad BCM and just finished that instal this morning. Fault code still there! Waiting on more ideas from the engineers next week now. Next Thursday will be 4 weeks it's been in the shop since June.
Not blaming the local guys here in Ames. They seem to have tried everything and now it's on the engineers at Ford. Weird thing is you'd never know there's a problem. Everything runs fine. Battery stays charged. Alt is charging properly. All the electronics work fine.

Anyone else out there had this happen?

Mikey Smith

This is all basic stuff you can do yourself. https://www.wheelsjoint.com/ford-bronco-battery-light-is-on-causes-and-how-to-reset/

Msell71

All of that and much more has been checked.

Bschurr

Perhaps the way to fix it is via a Lemon Law claim?

Mikey Smith

What were the 4-digit fault codes stored in the PCM?

NiceBronco

I had a battery code(don’t remember which) when I did some Forscan changes. Does your auto/start/stop work?

NiceBronco

I had a battery code(don’t remember which) when I did some Forscan changes. Does your auto/start/stop work?

Msell71

Latest is they are replacing the alternator and the battery management sensor. The engineers think they have it nailed down. Just waiting on the BMS to arrive. After replacing the BCM, they started it up and there was no battery light. They test drove it and after a couple of minutes the battery light came back on. Not throwing any DTC’s either.

Msell71

Bronco is home. Nothing so far has solved the battery light being on. The Ford engineers are supposed to be writing new software to load into vehicle. I’ll take it back in for that when the dealer receives it. Still, nothing actually wrong with the Bronco. Just the damn light.

Mikey Smith

When I was program manager and lead engineer for the Ford/Harley-Davidson truck program, I had the opportunity to engage the instrument panel supplier Visteon, as the cluster would be unique to the series each year. While that was long ago, I can offer that most often, a light goes on when it's circuit gets grounded, meaning the power is there, but doesn't work till grounded. Technically it is just a switch. Same with oil or coolant, which used to be actual pressure or resistance gauges, but now just switches. in summary, I share the above, as you could have a defective cluster, with the circuit board cracked or badly printed. What are the engineers names you are interfacing with, I may know them.

JP Ottaway

Pot smelling odor in the interior. I have a brand new 2023 Bronco and I just got this weird pot smell in the interior. I can't figure out where its coming from
anybody else have this

Msell71

To wrap this up...I brought the Bronco home Tuesday afternoon and the light was still on. The dealer was waiting on the new software, so no need to keep it there. I get up Wednesday morning and head to town and the light is no longer on. Thursday still no light. Still no light today (Saturday). Maybe it needed time or miles to reset? Talked to service adviser yesterday and if it's still off Tuesday, we're calling it fixed. They replaced so many things we may never know what the fix was, but I'm happy to have it back.
The people at Ames Ford deserve 5 stars for effort and determination to get it solved even though they didn't sell me the Bronco. Normally not knowing the cause and fix would drive me nuts, but after 5 weeks, I'm willing to let that go and enjoy it.