Ford F150 battery drain when towing Travel Trailer

[Rivolva]

Hello,

I recently purchased a 2019 F150 to pull our travel trailer (it has the trailer package). When I pull the trailer long distances (3 hours+ driving) I'm finding that my F150 struggles to start when whenever I shut off the vehicle (such as in gas stations etc).

Recently, I did a 5 hour drive, and 30 mins from home I stopped for gas and the vehicle wouldn't start back up again and had to get AAA to jump me. It seems to me that the battery is getting drained by the trailer.

I've had the battery, starter and alternator on the F150 checked by 2 different people and each time they have passed with no issues.

I do have a rear view camera plugged into the 12v charger within the cab, and sometimes the kids or my wife or I will charge their phone in the cab as well.

If I unplug the trailer and unplug the rear view camera, I have found that the vehicle has a better chance of starting.

I had an older F150 (2004) previously which had no issues like this, we would charge items in the cab and use the rear view camera etc and it would start fine.

I'm trying to figure out where the source of the problem may lie, any ideas? Could the battery on the trailer be an issue? Could the wiring harness on the F150 be at fault? Is there an issue with newer F150s being able to handle charging devices as well as the trailer?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

[Gdetrailer]

tsaitken wrote:


I think the heat related comment is spot on here. Not sure what to do about it, but that seems to be what is affecting me as well.

Replace the starter if you suspect heat soak is the problem, wouldn't be the first starter to ever have had heat soak issues and won't be the last.. They are in a bugger of a place right by the exhaust manifold and a hidden bolt on top that you can't see.. Add in steel bolts that seize going into an aluminum engine block for additional fun so having the starter fail while on the road will not be an easy or cheap fix especially when you round off the top bolt head..

[tsaitken]

Gdetrailer wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:

Mnewbill wrote:
Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

I'm wondering if it could be related to higher engine area temperatures due to hauling?

Have the battery load checked - free, new batteries fail. Buy a $20 digital voltmeter and check the battery voltage including while trying to start. Better buy a clamp on ammeter for DC amps and volts and also check the trailer draw.

Won't hurt to have the battery load checked, but I suspect that the battery is most likely OK. But the key info is what I put into bold type..

Heat related..

So unless the battery is failing under high temps, it most likely is the starter..

Guess where the starter is mounted?

Right above/beside the exhaust pipe from the engine exhaust manifold which in some engine configurations may have the cat converter mounted near the starter also (some configurations use a cat on each bank of the engine).

Fair chance the starter is getting heat soaked under heavy towing and may be failing under those conditions.

I think the heat related comment is spot on here. Not sure what to do about it, but that seems to be what is affecting me as well.

[tsaitken]

Mnewbill wrote:
Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

I am having the same issue with my 2018 F-150. Its got the medium duty tow package so I had to add a Curt Blutooth brake controller but other than that can handle my 2021 Highland Ridge Olympia 26BHS just fine. We got to a KoA the other day and shut off the truck to start unhooking. Went to start it back to back up on the leveling blocks and it wouldn't start. It tried but wouldn't turn over. Called State Farm roadside and waited about 15 min for them to get there. When he got there I tried it one more time real quick before he attached his jump box and it started right up. I think it has to do with some sort of heat buildup that when it cools down it can start just fine. If I leave the truck running for 10ish min then turn it off it will start right back up but its also been cooling off at that same time.

[Gdetrailer]

nickthehunter wrote:
As the initial post is 2 years old, I'm guessing his problem was resolved long ago.

Yeah, I thought the same thing, the OP most likely resolved the issue and never reported back the fix and Mnewbill (the one that brought the thread back from the dead) was inquiring as to what the "fix" was as they have encountered the same issue with their truck..

Often spammers bring old threads back to life with unrelated gibberish but Mnewbill at least did not post unrelated gibberish or broken English.

I am going to give Mnewbill sort of the benefit of a doubt and at least offer some help of what possibly is the problem without condemning them.

[nickthehunter]

As the initial post is 2 years old, I'm guessing his problem was resolved long ago.

[Gdetrailer]

CA Traveler wrote:

Mnewbill wrote:
Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

I'm wondering if it could be related to higher engine area temperatures due to hauling?

Have the battery load checked - free, new batteries fail. Buy a $20 digital voltmeter and check the battery voltage including while trying to start. Better buy a clamp on ammeter for DC amps and volts and also check the trailer draw.

Won't hurt to have the battery load checked, but I suspect that the battery is most likely OK. But the key info is what I put into bold type..

Heat related..

So unless the battery is failing under high temps, it most likely is the starter..

Guess where the starter is mounted?

Right above/beside the exhaust pipe from the engine exhaust manifold which in some engine configurations may have the cat converter mounted near the starter also (some configurations use a cat on each bank of the engine).

Fair chance the starter is getting heat soaked under heavy towing and may be failing under those conditions.

[time2roll]

Mnewbill wrote:
Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

What is the voltage on the battery terminals just before you shut it down?
Otherwise I would assume the battery needs replaced.

[CA_Traveler]

Mnewbill wrote:
Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

I'm wondering if it could be related to higher engine area temperatures due to hauling?

Have the battery load checked - free, new batteries fail. Buy a $20 digital voltmeter and check the battery voltage including while trying to start. Better buy a clamp on ammeter for DC amps and volts and also check the trailer draw.

[Grit_dog]

^Doubt you'll get a response from someone who posted 2 years ago, didn't even own jumper cables and never returned to the thread...

[Mnewbill]

Hi I have a 2019 f150 5.0 with the same symptoms. It struggles to crank after hauling the travel trailer. I dont know if the battery is low as it will start fine after it cools off. It may be bad battery but it's fairly new in terms of years and low miles. It should have at least 2 more good years. Any luck finding your issue?

[theoldwizard1]

Mike134 wrote:
I also have a '19 F150. Has the dealer found any trouble codes? I'd suggest using the Ford roadside service that comes with the truck next time so you can better document your troubles.

All they will do is provide a jump start. No diagnosis.

[MrWizard]

No dead shorts !

A dead short will blow the fuse, unless it is too big for that wire or non-existent,
In which case the wire will heat up and burn

He has a charging problem

[Terryallan]

I'm believing you have either a alternator, or battery problem. Ford electrical systems are disconnected from the trailer when the truck is not running, and if you didn't install the battery charger relay under the hood, it isn't connected at all. I'm guessing you did that.
you have other charging problems. You may even have a dead short.

[dougrainer]

You may have to take both the Truck and attached trailer to Ford for the check out. My co worker had a 2019 fully loaded 450 Ford(diesel) that had issues ONLY when towing. After 45 minutes to 2 hours of towing his NEW 2018 Jayco 36 ft 5th wheel the interior Ford dash Display would go bananas and the truck would go into derate operation phase. It was so bad that even with Ford towing the truck/trailer combo for up to an hour(no fail), they had a Ford team completely deprogram and reprogram the complete Ford computer systems. Did not fix it. Ford bought him out of it before he could Lemon Law it. He purchased another almost identical 450 and has had no problems. There can be Program glitches that cause electrical problems. Doug