Electric motor said ‘bye’

[go8soccer]

I wish my first post was “I just got this truck, and I absolutely LOVE it!!!”
In part, that is 100% true… I just got my truck (‘23 Lariat ER Avalanche grey) 13 days ago… and I do love it… went on a road trip this past Saturday and couldn’t be happier with my decision to pull the trigger on purchasing the Lightning.

However…. A few days ago.. Sunday, the day after the road trip (day #10 of ownership) I was driving up a hill on the interstate, blue cruise enabled, going the speed limit (70), minding my own business.
All of a sudden, I hear a sound similar to that of shoving a pencil into an electric pencil sharpener coming from the back end of the truck… followed by a beautiful display of Christmas lights on my dash.. Loss of power, service vehicle soon, and most importantly a “power train malfunction / reduced power”. This last one was obvious, since my truck lost power immediately, forcing me to pull over to the side of the interstate.

Due to the grinding sound, I already ruled out that this was NOT just a dead/dying 12v battery (so please don’t chime in and say “you should just disconnect/reconnect the 12v.. that’ll fix anything”). I ended up just calling a towtruck, which got me to the dealership after dragging my truck onto the flatbed after we were unable to get the truck into neutral (tried the towtruck mode at the bottom of settings -> vehicle.. tried hitting the neutral button twice, tried putting the shifter into neutral… all of this resulted in the parking brake coming back on no matter what.. keep reading).

We made it to the dealership.. and ironically I WAS able to get the truck into neutral to roll it off the back of the towtruck.. However, as soon as I put it back into Park… it stayed there… physically could not shift it out of park again. Same with the parking brake.. wouldn’t disengage.. I thought okay, we got it here, we’ll take care of that tomorrow… service Techs will know the fix for that..

The following day, I went back out to the dealership to explain the case and tell them exactly what I heard and experienced, and also to express my displeasure at the fact that my brand new truck with less than 1k miles on it is experiencing a catastrophic failure.
The service guy I was working with was extremely understanding, and assured me they would get the truck fixed and get me back on the road….
Long story short, that same day, they were able to get the truck towed up from their driveway to the service department. They weren’t able to look at it, because they weren’t able to get the truck out of Park to get it onto a lift to start the investigation.

The next day, they got that issue resolved, got the truck in the air and diagnosed the issue to be a faulty part/module related to the parking brake within the driver’s side electric motor. They checked with Ford, and the replacement parts don’t even exist yet, so they would have to replace the entire motor. They already spoke to the regional Ford service person about the issue and to get approval to replace the whole motor. Once they get the okay, should be ~1 week to receive the part, another 2-3 days to install the part.. so I’m looking at 2 weeks without my Lightning

After all of this… I still love the truck, and hope this is the only issue I’ll have with this vehicle (not sure if this expectation is realistic or not at this point).
Quite disappointed in @Ford Motor Company that this is even an issue… BUT.. at the same time, I’m relieved that this is not a common issue, and my case is the only one that I’ve seen regarding such a catastrophic failure.

So far…. I AM impressed with the dealership overall… Their ability to get my vehicle in and diagnosed so quickly, and their customer service overall. I know this story isn’t complete yet, so I’ll do my best to provide updates as more information is known.

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[The Weatherman]

Sorry to hear your having such significant issues, but nice to hear a positive response regarding your dealership. I sometimes feel like I’m the only one out here with a 1st Rate Dealership.

Good luck.

 

[mattskr]

Welcome! It's a real killjoy when it happens so close to taking ownership but it sounds like your dealership's service department knows what they are doing and 1 week and change isn't too bad. Can't do anything about parts delivery but if your dealership can get to it and get it back to you in 2-3 days that's a win. It's really hard to find good competent dealers for EVs.

I wrecked a brand new car on the way home from the dealership (ran into a deer). Imagine rerouting from home to body shop. Took them 6 weeks to fix it but then forgot about it and it was a very good car for the time that I had it!

Keep up posted!

 

[Dinozero]

I've heard horror stories of vehicles on these types of message boards before. People buying a brand new car or truck and the transmission taking a massive crap on the car ride home from the dealer.

There's really nothing to say other than I'm sorry you're experiencing this. It truly is the worse of type of lottery winner.

 

[RickLightning]

Truck's been out for 2 years. "It's not a part yet" should not be uttered, ever.

 

[Grumpy2]

Maybe a year ago there was a total failure of the front motor, where the internals came apart that resulted in a visible hole in the case. This is the only other posting I recall of an internal failure to a motor. I hope your dealer can come thru as they said.

 

[mags]

My truck is at the dealer for a dead heater, which required them to drop the battery. I bought it about 9 weeks ago. I'm not that upset, except I have to drive my 2003 VW camper van which feels like the Flintstones car after driving the Lightning.

 

[Maxx]

The next day, they got that issue resolved, got the truck in the air and diagnosed the issue to be a faulty part/module related to the parking brake within the driver’s side electric motor.

Since this is not a quad, I assume he meant driver's side wheel?

Please share what part is not available if you can.

Regardless, I wish you have a quick resolution. I know after this, will be hard to Trust The Truck but don't let it get to you and try to enjoying it.

Truck's been out for 2 years. "It's not a part yet" should not be uttered, ever.

I agree, but replacing the motor instead of a module under warranty is not that painful but out of warranty, a tech telling me they need to replace the powertrain because a fuse is not available will not sit well with me.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Rear or front transaxle??

The parking pawl if that happens to be the culprit is only in the rear transaxle.

 

[Tundra]

Never good when your vehicle is in the shop and it is a huge bummer it is at the beginning of your ownership but alteast 2-3 weeks is not too bad.

I had to wait 6+ months last year for 3x $2 bolts for my previous diesel truck...

 

[go8soccer]

Since this is not a quad, I assume he meant driver's side wheel?

Please share what part is not available if you can.

I think it's safe to leave it as the rear motor.. they aren't going to open it up to investigate at the dealership. As soon as they pull it out, they're sending it right to Dearborn for the engineers to investigate.

 

[go8soccer]

Rear or front transaxle??

The parking pawl if that happens to be the culprit is only in the rear transaxle.

It's definitely the rear end, not the front.

 

[GDN]

Unless Ford put some real magical engineering into the motor mounts, replacing a motor on an EV should be one of the simplest things they can do. Repairing what is inside, well that is a different conversation.

 

[Grumpy2]

The "motor" is certainly magic, it is wise of the dealer to send it back.

 

[tubby]

This will be an interesting thread to follow. I do not think a prediction can be made on the exact repair and timing. There have been lots of threads where repairs are months, so I'm hoping for you that less than a month will complete the full resolution. FYI, that was very sad, but a nice and complete description in the thread start @go8soccer from SC, which happens to be one of my favorite states in the country.

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