Hey guys,
This is going to be a little lengthy, however, I hope that it brings some resolution for a handful of trucks out there.
I bought this truck new off the lot with 3 miles on it Feb of 2017. It's a 2017 F150 eco 3.5L XLT 4x4 10 speed. It's been a great truck, runs good, has the power during tow and torque application along with fuel conservation. About a year ago 2/2019, I had noticed that my back up camera started to glitch, I thought that it was a one time event and didn't happen again for quite some time. Over the last several months, August 2019 it started to get worse, happening more frequently. I took my truck in to Rich Ford, they said it was an update and didn't log it into their system. I then took my truck in to Don Chamlers on 4 different occasions and they told me. "Everything checked out ok and we can't duplicate the problem." Pretty typical. They also told me the battery tested fine, the charging system and was and all other electrical components were fine. EVEN THO I had video evidence this was occurring at 22,000 miles.

Everything seemed to be ok while I was using the truck, so I just went on dealing with the problem. I took my truck into Power Ford and they reported a problem with APIM and Camera module. They replaced it and updated it under warranty. My truck worked great with the reverse camera for about 1 week. It's been getting progressively worse as time has gone on. Truck starts fine, there's no other issues. However, looking back if I didn't drive my truck for a few days, I noticed on the screen that it was going into power reserve mode. I didn't think anything of it. I know and understand that it will do that to conserve power along with a "deep sleep" I think after 14 days nothing being used.

This week I got a message on my phone that I should start my truck after sitting for 1.5 days. I figured, i'll check out the voltage when I get off work in the morning and see what it is at. I hadn't started my truck for 2 days and when getting off of work, I placed my multimeter on my battery. Interestingly enough it was reading 11.8 volts. I opened my door to engage the lights which normally come on and it dropped down to 11.6 volts. I started my truck and it started fine, no hesitation. It was reading normal charging voltage 13.8 / 14.0 volts etc. I drove home and waited 2 hours to let the battery rest. I checked voltage and it read 12.5. I have a pro-logix charger which can charge AGM, Gel and Lead Acid. I decided to charge the battery with AGM cycle, which charged fairly quickly than it should have, roughly 6 hours on a 20 amp charge. I took it off and went to Home Depot to see how it would respond. I noticed my auto start / stop was working again and I didn't thus far have an issue with my reverse camera.

I came home for the night and checked the voltage in the morning. It read 12.3 volts, however a 39% capacity. I engaged the ignition to the on position with vehicle in off state. Turned on the AC blower and headlights - my idea is a good enough amount of amp draw but shouldn't be to much to tax a battery. When I did that my charger registered 11.6 volts with a 7% charge. Truck starts fine without a problem at this load value. Here's my theory. Something I didn't know which I read about was - the computer will tell the alternator to charge or not charge depending on it's level of charge state on the battery. If the computer senses low capacity, it won't let the truck go into start / stop when reaching operating temp. Also what I read is this was designed for fuel efficiency allowing less HP to be pulled off the alternator when the power isn't needed. However, a battery after 2 years slowly deteriorating will shows other signs of electrical problems then just a bad battery.

Every time I took my truck in I was told the battery was fine and charging system was fine. However, that test is completed shortly after a vehicle has been or is running. The battery may have current capacity to deal with the load but not while at rest for several hours or if it does the battery will still output power needed and come back in a "good" state.

Here's what I saw over the last year.
1) Reverse camera would glitch from time to time
2) Auto start/stop function slowly diminished
3) Intermittent Bluetooth connection issues before start with phone

Other than that nothing has been giving me warning about a deteriorated battery.


My plan: I'm going to take this battery out and buy a new AGM battery from Costco. I will bring it home and put it on my charger before installing it on my truck. I usually charge cycle and condition all my batteries before use. I feel it's the right thing to do since they may have been sitting on the shelf for a little while. I believe this is going to fix the issue, since the caps and electrical components should have a nice 12 volts at the ready and not creating a shock value or backwards draw to keep the PCM at 12 volts. The PCM and MBC I believe will take power elsewhere to preserve itself. I've also been told that these trucks have signal sensing wire voltage, which if there's a drop in voltage or not in a nominal value it will harvest power elsewhere to bring it to a "homeostatic" state to run.
I hope this helps a few of you folks out there having a similar issue.
-Rob J