dangerous battery problem 2023 Transit Trail

[masalser]

I have a 2023 Transit Trail with only about 6500 miles on it. I have had a charge system fault come up a number of times. The van was in for factory recall repairs and I asked them to look at the battery problem. They told me something about not being able to reproduce the problem and that I should bring it back in if it occurred again. The van had been sitting for about a month until today. I had to jump start it because the battery was dead, which was no big deal, but as I was driving out of my driveway I started to smell burning plastic. I stopped and turned it off and looked around outside to see if it was coming from there. That's when I saw the wisps of smoke coming out from under the drivers seat where the batteries are located. I unbolted the seat to make sure nothing was smoldering as these photos show what I found. It looks like the main terminal to the battery got hot enough to melt through the plastic cover. It also looks like the main negative cable may have gotten hot enough to distort the insulation, and I'm guessing that the rose color of the terminal metal is not normal but instead due to heat. It's a weekend so I haven't had a chance to call the dealer about it, but I wanted to find out if others have had this problem. It looks like if I had kept driving I could have ended up with a fire. The first photo shows the hole melted through the plastic cover and the second shows what it looked like underneath.

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[metalworker0]

HEAVY CURRENT DRAW .
It's anyone's guess as to what

I would start off by turning stop/start off ... as that is one of the highest current drawers

this vehicle has ..a high current fuse box ..of which non of us know anything about

in fact not much info here o this vehicle.
..i see the transit trail is a 3.5 v6 ..so ..is USA ?????

That's as much as i can guess, your van is still under warranty, so let them deal with it .
if you have no confidence -- suggest you make them pick it up from your home.

Have a look at google and put in; transit battery recall see if anything comes up.

NOTE : the connectors to the battery look rather feeble and not up to the job .

really ...no knowledge here ..go to USA transit forum

all the best ..mark

[bortaf]

You either have a loose earth terminal which is/was a common problem on the ford style battery post clamps or the battery was so flat the inrush current exceeded the post/clamps rating ? check the bolts for tightnedd and you can't turn the terminal on the battery post after it's tightended if you can then replace it, 2 don't let the battery go flat, fit a small solar panel to the dash, thats what i do

[masalser]

bortaf, you were correct. I figured out that it was an extremely loose negative battery cable nut. The nut that had burned through the plastic cover was about 6 complete turns loose. I went down and talked to the dealer who had worked on the van, and they said that they simply did a diagnostic check on the battery system. They did not remove the seat and actually look at the battery, so that means the nut was loose from the factory. Obviously an easy fix, but also a situation that could have caused a fire.

[Altransit]

A lack of proper mechanics is the problem, they set all of their "expertise" upon electronic diagnosis, and don't bother to simply "have a look and see"
Sometimes, wiggling a few wires, plugs and sockets (and indeed, fuses) is what's needed to diagnose a problem, as many old school mechanics will tell you