[bmaddock]

I have a 2020 High Roof AWD van and the heater is acting really weird. I set it to full blast, it starts going, but then the whole board will either turn off completely (no lights) and then turn back on again, OR it will barely blow air out even though its on full blast. It will randomly just start working again (normally not for very long) and then resume doing its odd cycle. Anyone else have this problem? any ideas? it certainly seems like an electrical problem of sorts because when it is working it works at full blast and the blower seems to work well.
Van only has 2,500miles

 

[ultane]

Welcome to the forum.

Hopefully your dealer can help.

But they may say there’s nothing wrong with your van.

If your getting a lot of rain water drainage onto the cpu where the wiring harness plugs into it, I’d unplug it, spray with electrical contact cleaner, blow dry, and then add dielectric grease to the plug and carefully reconnect.

 

[surly Bill]

Is the 2020 climate control system changed to be like a lot of modern vehicles, a THERMOSTAT instead of direct control over the mixing of hot and cold air? If they changed it to a thermostat style temp control, there may be something whacky with the thermocouple, and it thinks it's hotter inside than it actually is and shuts itself down.

 

[gregoryx]

Unless @bmaddock has a different climate system than our 2020, no thermostat. Can't believe they have done thermostat yet. 🙄

 

[USMC Vet]

Check your fluids, mine had a leak from a clamp under the turbo boost. Did not show up as leaking, on the ground because the heat was buring it off. Only figured it out because they had to fill 3 times in a week.

Good Luck

Semper Fi

 

[ZiggityZags]

I have a 2020 High Roof AWD van and the heater is acting really weird. I set it to full blast, it starts going, but then the whole board will either turn off completely (no lights) and then turn back on again, OR it will barely blow air out even though its on full blast. It will randomly just start working again (normally not for very long) and then resume doing its odd cycle. Anyone else have this problem? any ideas? it certainly seems like an electrical problem of sorts because when it is working it works at full blast and the blower seems to work well.
Van only has 2,500miles

We just had our 2020 HR AWD (1 year of ownership from new, 4500 miles total) out for a weekend trip and we had something similar happen. We had been driving for a couple of hours and then stopped for dinner. When we got back in and started the van it had a warning on the dash saying "Drive Mode Not available" and then I noticed that drive mode buttons on the dash would not do anything, the external temperature on screen in between speedometer and tachometer was blank, and that the climate control would not turn on at all (no lights, no response to button pushes). We drove like this for another hour and then stopped for the night. When we woke up and started up, all of the problems remained. Then while driving for another couple hours everything (including the climate control) started working again all at the same time with no warning. It did this on/off 3 times in two days. It definitely seems like an intermittent electrical issue.

I am wondering about the water on the fuse box under the hood like @ultane mentioned. We only had a few hours of rain over the entire trip but the weather was somewhat humid (Olympic Peninsula). By the time we got home everything had dried out thoroughly and it was tough to tell if water had gotten anywhere it shouldn't have.

If it does it again I'm going to try to read any codes with Forscan and maybe take it into Ford. It's super hard to diagnose a problem like this when it's intermittent.

 

[Dcarrier]

We just had our 2020 HR AWD (1 year of ownership from new, 4500 miles total) out for a weekend trip and we had something similar happen. We had been driving for a couple of hours and then stopped for dinner. When we got back in and started the van it had a warning on the dash saying "Drive Mode Not available" and then I noticed that drive mode buttons on the dash would not do anything, the external temperature on screen in between speedometer and tachometer was blank, and that the climate control would not turn on at all (no lights, no response to button pushes). We drove like this for another hour and then stopped for the night. When we woke up and started up, all of the problems remained. Then while driving for another couple hours everything (including the climate control) started working again all at the same time with no warning. It did this on/off 3 times in two days. It definitely seems like an intermittent electrical issue.

I am wondering about the water on the fuse box under the hood like @ultane mentioned. We only had a few hours of rain over the entire trip but the weather was somewhat humid (Olympic Peninsula). By the time we got home everything had dried out thoroughly and it was tough to tell if water had gotten anywhere it shouldn't have.

If it does it again I'm going to try to read any codes with Forscan and maybe take it into Ford. It's super hard to diagnose a problem like this when it's intermittent.

HELP
I have 4 month old 2021 250 cargo which out of the blue has Climate Control, Park assist, electronic park brake, drive mode, hill assist all not working. I disconnected and reconnected battery....no help. Checked body control module fuse box.....all fuses ok. I’ve read about rain water leaking into engine compartment....clearly I have an electrical issue... wonder if that is it?

 

[ranxerox]

Without the fault code it will be hard to say, Everything is computer controlled and you need to find out what the computer has to say. Hook a scanner to it and get the fault codes.

 

[Zoeyvan]

We just had our 2020 HR AWD (1 year of ownership from new, 4500 miles total) out for a weekend trip and we had something similar happen. We had been driving for a couple of hours and then stopped for dinner. When we got back in and started the van it had a warning on the dash saying "Drive Mode Not available" and then I noticed that drive mode buttons on the dash would not do anything, the external temperature on screen in between speedometer and tachometer was blank, and that the climate control would not turn on at all (no lights, no response to button pushes). We drove like this for another hour and then stopped for the night. When we woke up and started up, all of the problems remained. Then while driving for another couple hours everything (including the climate control) started working again all at the same time with no warning. It did this on/off 3 times in two days. It definitely seems like an intermittent electrical issue.

I am wondering about the water on the fuse box under the hood like @ultane mentioned. We only had a few hours of rain over the entire trip but the weather was somewhat humid (Olympic Peninsula). By the time we got home everything had dried out thoroughly and it was tough to tell if water had gotten anywhere it shouldn't have.

If it does it again I'm going to try to read any codes with Forscan and maybe take it into Ford. It's super hard to diagnose a problem like this when it's intermittent.

Did this ever come back? Did you get to a root cause?
We just got our van back from our campercan build and are having the exact same problems tonight, but have not had the van long enough to see if it is intermittent or not.

 

[ColinD]

Is it similar to the issues that I have with my 2018? Dashboard Issues, 30 months later and still going... I have found that if I run the heat at all the dash will fail within a couple of minutes, but if I run defrost at its coldest setting (AC on) I don't have any issues, although if I park the van for 10 -15 minutes and then re-start the dash will fail, not sure if heat from the drivetrain is rising up through the dash to cause this to happen. My dealership was absolutely clueless in how to diagnose/fix this issue.

 

[Zoeyvan]

No, ours is exactly like ZiggityZags: "a warning on the dash saying "Drive Mode Not available" and then I noticed that drive mode buttons on the dash would not do anything, the external temperature on screen in between speedometer and tachometer was blank, and that the climate control would not turn on at all (no lights, no response to button pushes)"
I have seen several comments elsewhere about low battery, which did happen to our van while it was having it's build done, but the battery is fully charged now. I disconnected the battery for 15 minutes to reset the computer and it did not help. We are 2 weeks out to get it into the dealership and have a trip planned in cold weather - at least our Webasto heater works.

Is it similar to the issues that I have with my 2018? Dashboard Issues, 30 months later and still going... I have found that if I run the heat at all the dash will fail within a couple of minutes, but if I run defrost at its coldest setting (AC on) I don't have any issues, although if I park the van for 10 -15 minutes and then re-start the dash will fail, not sure if heat from the drivetrain is rising up through the dash to cause this to happen. My dealership was absolutely clueless in how to diagnose/fix this issue.

 

[Scalf77]

The HVAC module would be a good choice for causing some of these problems. The mode switch input goes thru HVAC module, More importantly the HVAC module is also one of the modules that is a terminating point for the MS-Can Bus.

Because almost all these things have to go multiple modules to complete the task, the other major component would be the Gateway Module or Diag Link Connector. This module is the transfer station between Can Messages that are different Can Busses. There are four major busses, HS1,2,3 (High Speed) and of course the MS (Medium Speed) bus. The termination of Can busses is usually 120 ohm between + and - on each end of the bus, The Gateway Module has a termination point for all the main busses.

The IPC instrument Panel Cluster only has three hard wired inputs

• Fuel pump and sender unit
• Park detect switch
• Low washer fluid level switch

So every thing else goes across the communication network. Any module on the bus can cause issues with communication, so any connections are a key point for failure. Modules intermittently powering up or down could disrupt traffic.

A simple check one could make with simple skills (using a ohm meter) is check the termination value of all the major busses. Because, they all go to DLC you can use that as a point to back probe the connector for the correct values.

You will need needle probes to back probe the connector, take care not to damage the connector in any way (don't use a lot of force). All the busses should measure 60 ohms(54 - 66) between the + and - can lines, That would value for the two 120 ohm terminations in parallel. If one of these values is off, it may aid your local Ford team.

I get much of my diagnostic reference from alldatadiy.com . It is a subscription manual service, a little bit pricey, but can sometimes be easier to navigate then just the written documentation for me.

-greg

 

[surly Bill]

I think the 2021 climate control was acting weird, too.
Massive fires, multiple tornados traveling in a line, yet another year of record temps (now it's normal to have a new record set every year...), etc etc. Whoever is running the weather masheen, HAARP, needs to get it fixed. Maybe it was hit with a solar flare, and that fried some circuits?

 

[Zoeyvan]

The HVAC module would be a good choice for causing some of these problems. The mode switch input goes thru HVAC module, More importantly the HVAC module is also one of the modules that is a terminating point for the MS-Can Bus.

Because almost all these things have to go multiple modules to complete the task, the other major component would be the Gateway Module or Diag Link Connector. This module is the transfer station between Can Messages that are different Can Busses. There are four major busses, HS1,2,3 (High Speed) and of course the MS (Medium Speed) bus. The termination of Can busses is usually 120 ohm between + and - on each end of the bus, The Gateway Module has a termination point for all the main busses.
View attachment 164973
The IPC instrument Panel Cluster only has three hard wired inputs

• Fuel pump and sender unit
• Park detect switch
• Low washer fluid level switch

So every thing else goes across the communication network. Any module on the bus can cause issues with communication, so any connections are a key point for failure. Modules intermittently powering up or down could disrupt traffic.

A simple check one could make with simple skills (using a ohm meter) is check the termination value of all the major busses. Because, they all go to DLC you can use that as a point to back probe the connector for the correct values.
View attachment 164974


You will need needle probes to back probe the connector, take care not to damage the connector in any way (don't use a lot of force). All the busses should measure 60 ohms(54 - 66) between the + and - can lines, That would value for the two 120 ohm terminations in parallel. If one of these values is off, it may aid your local Ford team.

I get much of my diagnostic reference from alldatadiy.com . It is a subscription manual service, a little bit pricey, but can sometimes be easier to navigate then just the written documentation for me.

-greg

This is incredibly useful information, thanks Greg!

We ended up taking our road trip in freezing/snowy weather without climate control. Luckily our Webasto is working great and the inverter can power my wife's hair dryer to defrost the windshield 😁

Dealer appointments were our 2 weeks and we have an appointment the day after we get back.

 

[pbethel]

DoD turned HAARP over to the kids at the University of Alaska. Blame the kids.

I think the 2021 climate control was acting weird, too.
Massive fires, multiple tornados traveling in a line, yet another year of record temps (now it's normal to have a new record set every year...), etc etc. Whoever is running the weather masheen, HAARP, needs to get it fixed. Maybe it was hit with a solar flare, and that fried some circuits?
View attachment 164980

 

[lisaq]

Did this ever come back? Did you get to a root cause?
We just got our van back from our campercan build and are having the exact same problems tonight, but have not had the van long enough to see if it is intermittent or not.

Hi. Did either of you find out a cause? We took our newly-converted 2021 HR transit on its maiden voyage. At just about 500 miles on the odometer all the above systems you mentioned failed (we'd only had 170 miles on the van prior to the conversion). We were also having trouble with our inverter and noticed our lithium battery bank was not charging off of our second (Nations) alternator. We took the van back to the converter. They replaced the inverter (it had been recalled, but the manufacturer had let this one slip through), and they hypothesized that whatever odd was going on with the Ford system was causing the 2nd alternator to not kick in so our batteries were not being charged. Knowing that we were going to take the van to back to Ford, they disconnected the Nations alternator to avoid possible problems with the warranty. When we left the shop we noticed that all the Ford systems started working properly again. We will drive the van around with the 2nd alternator disconnected and see how it fares, then test it by reconnecting it. Will update this post to see if the 2nd alternator was the culprit.

 

[Zoeyvan]

Hi. Did either of you find out a cause? ...

Our saga continued, but we may finally have it resolved fingers crossed
We finally got into Kirkland Ford, and after a week they claimed that there was "probably" a wiring problem in the back behind the cabinets and told us they refused to work on it anymore, even after we told them we would pay for the work outside of warranty. We went and picked it up and found another local shop who was willing to debug the problem.
Side note - we will NEVER go back to Kirkland Ford after the way they treated us.
Small shop took it as a challenge and brought in their electrical specialist ... $2k later he found two random wires that had been cut during the build. One was the antenna in the ceiling so they just bypassed, one was under the floor mats on the driver side - where the builder never should have been doing anything.
Worked for two days until we went on another trip - stopped working again.
Back to the shop - $400 later the re-fixed one of the fixes and we are functional again. We are hoping it stays "fixed" this time.

 

[Winston O.]

i have had this issue in my 2020 T350 AWD DIY build. Seemed like humidity related. Hot and humid had the issue vs cool and dry. Rattles and bumps seemed unrelated.

Dealer swapped climate control unit twice, no help. Then the pulled the same line that they would not touch it till I got it back to factory. They seemed to believe I did something to a wire ... this made no sense as I would expect a wire short to be evident with rattles and bumps. I pulled everything

interesting that when I pulled my isotherm spa that is connected to the heater prep package I could not repeat the issue. So back together with everything for now. My thinking is a software or sensor issue related to something related to coolant circulation. If the issue recurs my next step is either call Ford, take to different dealer, or install an aux water pump.

love the hair dryer idea, I was thinking exactly that, but never had the issue when cold out...I just miss the AC when it’s 90 degrees and humid!

 

[Code5r5150]

I have a 2020 High Roof AWD van and the heater is acting really weird. I set it to full blast, it starts going, but then the whole board will either turn off completely (no lights) and then turn back on again, OR it will barely blow air out even though its on full blast. It will randomly just start working again (normally not for very long) and then resume doing its odd cycle. Anyone else have this problem? any ideas? it certainly seems like an electrical problem of sorts because when it is working it works at full blast and the blower seems to work well.
Van only has 2,500miles

I know this is an older post but this is happening to me presently and I can't figure this one out . Ford can't see my van for almost a week out so I'm screwed til then. Did you get it fixed ?

 

[GrimeTime]

I know this is an older post but this is happening to me presently and I can't figure this one out . Ford can't see my van for almost a week out so I'm screwed til then. Did you get it fixed ?

I just went through this as well (NOT WORKING...Climate Control- ac/ heat, Drive Modes, Thermometer/ ambient air temp, auto start/ stop, heated seats) After a bunch of research and not finding a solve as well as recently fixing another electrical fuse issue I did the following.
My fix-I check all the fuses associated with the issues....ultimately I swapped the Climate Control fuse 7.5amp #15 on the Body Control Module...that fuse did not appear to be bad BUT solved those issues for me. I also unplugged the Body Control Module main connection (bottom of unit closest to driver) and plugged back in when I checked and swapped the fuses. The fuse swap could be the fix OR disconnecting the Body Control Module main connection could have been the fix...try disconnecting and leaving disconnected for 30 min the reconnect...that may reset the system issues.
note* The Body Control Module is difficult to access without pulling the dash apart...BUT it can be done. Pulling the cup/ change holder to help light and see the Module as well as using a small fuse puller was a great help.

*fuses I checked all listed in manual
CHECK Vehicle power fuses under hood (see chart in manual)

Body Control
#3 fine
#12 -7.5a (avail 17,18) swapped/ fix
#21 -5a (avail 19) fine

Driver Compartment Fuse Box
#10 -5a fine
21 -20a 22 -20a fine
23/24 aux power point 20a works at unit fine
71/72 heated seats 10a fine