[KJay]

I recently had to replace the Battery on my 2014. After looking at the different methods of getting it out, I choose to go through the Air Box. I found this Video useful. Ford Escape Battery Replacement - The Battery Shop by The Battery Shop.

One big tip there is to disconnect the Neg battery cable / stud from the body first. This is great for a couple of reasons, but it will greatly help in sliding the battery out, enabling you to loosing the Negative terminal from the battery post where you have more room to loosen it.

 

[deejjjaaaa]

I recently had to replace the Battery on my 2014.

amazing how so much hassle it is vs what was in Forester which Escape replaced (or Baja)... Ford is so... Ford

 

[td2013]

I had an Audi with the battery under the back seat which you needed to remove to access it. Was real fun asking someone to jump you and pull up to your open back door.

 

[ralph7up]

I had an Audi with the battery under the back seat which you needed to remove to access it. Was real fun asking someone to jump you and pull up to your open back door.

My 1962 VW beetle was the same. Easy seat removal (lift out of the way).... or it was back then <G>.

 

[Ozekuga]

After looking in at the video, I'm intrigued to know what other method there is to remove the battery, without removing the air box.

 

[Melvin]

Remove windshield wipers and cowling.

 

[ralph7up]

Remove windshield wipers and cowling.

I saw that approach on youtube (I think). I sure would not try that approach if I was doping my own. If you change your own. Just make sure you reset the BMS.

 

[Melvin]

I'm not sure if I would try it either. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. .

 

[Vader101]

Please move BMS resetting discussion to the BMS Reset thread. This has all been discussed there.

 

[atlcarl69]

The air box plan seems most reasonable, plus you can always take the opportunity to inspect/replace the air filter.
The cowl plan requires removal of the wiper arms, and realigning the wipers can get a bit finicky...

 

[atlcarl69]

Well my (older than 7/19/2012 build date) battery went bad yesterday. I followed the air box method and it went very smoothly. Put in a factory sized Interstate from my trusted german car mechanic.
Couple of things (I figured out the 1st 2 after I had already undid them!
You don't need to undo the wiring loom from the front facing cover
You don't need to undo the 2 wires/nuts at the bottom of the front facing cover
All the above will just fold down and out of the way with the cover
There are no lower screws on the air box on the 2.0, just the 2 that fix the MAF box to it
The lower box just pushes in/pops out at 2 spots

I did be sure to inspect the negative battery sensor and wiring at the negative terminal, absolutely spotless and none of the battery build up that some reported.

Took me about an hour - hour 1/2 start to finish.

Once I had it all together, I was surprised to see that my phone, radio presets, gps favorites and all that had not been erased.

I was also lucky that the old battery wasn't completely dead, just not enough juice to start or open the power liftgate. There was enough juice for the IA key to unlock the doors, and I was able to pull my tools from the hatch by folding the back seats down.

Found out a bit more about resetting the one touch windows as well. If you run the reset without the climate or radio on, you can hear the modules go to reset mode. Doing it this way you just open the window a bit then pull up the switch all the way to auto up and hold after the window is closed, you'll hear a light click similar to the door locks, then do the same, push and hold until the window is fully open (you'll hear a bit fainter click after the window is open), then pull and hold one more time until the window is closed and you hear the click, repeat on all 4 windows, done!

I'm leaving it overnight (12 hours) and will then check the BLM with my scanner to see if I need to set it through ForScan.

 

[jay1028]

Much appreciated your input on the battery change. The first time I opened the hood on an Escape, I said to myself this is not going to be fun when it comes time to change the battery. It's bad enough when spark plug change comes around, but every four years having to remove the cowl and wipers is not my idea of fun.

 

[ralph7up]

Well my (older than 7/19/2012 build date) battery went bad yesterday. I followed the air box method and it went very smoothly. Put in a factory sized Interstate from my trusted german car mechanic.
Couple of things (I figured out the 1st 2 after I had already undid them!
You don't need to undo the wiring loom from the front facing cover
You don't need to undo the 2 wires/nuts at the bottom of the front facing cover
All the above will just fold down and out of the way with the cover
There are no lower screws on the air box on the 2.0, just the 2 that fix the MAF box to it
The lower box just pushes in/pops out at 2 spots

I did be sure to inspect the negative battery sensor and wiring at the negative terminal, absolutely spotless and none of the battery build up that some reported.

Took me about an hour - hour 1/2 start to finish.

Once I had it all together, I was surprised to see that my phone, radio presets, gps favorites and all that had not been erased.

I was also lucky that the old battery wasn't completely dead, just not enough juice to start or open the power liftgate. There was enough juice for the IA key to unlock the doors, and I was able to pull my tools from the hatch by folding the back seats down.

Found out a bit more about resetting the one touch windows as well. If you run the reset without the climate or radio on, you can hear the modules go to reset mode. Doing it this way you just open the window a bit then pull up the switch all the way to auto up and hold after the window is closed, you'll hear a light click similar to the door locks, then do the same, push and hold until the window is fully open (you'll hear a bit fainter click after the window is open), then pull and hold one more time until the window is closed and you hear the click, repeat on all 4 windows, done!

I'm leaving it overnight (12 hours) and will then check the BLM with my scanner to see if I need to set it through ForScan.

Please report back on the BLM reset. As I understand, you may have to do that with Forscan. I am curious as to the details of the reset. When I took my 2013 Ford Escape to the dealer, he did the reset but it seemed to me that rather than a specific setting "tweak", he did a complete software upgrade which reset the BLM (with a sledge hammer I think). He did not seem to be knowledgeble of the procedure from the materials that Centex sent me.

 

[HayaiKuruma]

Well my (older than 7/19/2012 build date) battery went bad yesterday. I followed the air box method and it went very smoothly. Put in a factory sized Interstate from my trusted german car mechanic.
Couple of things (I figured out the 1st 2 after I had already undid them!
You don't need to undo the wiring loom from the front facing cover
You don't need to undo the 2 wires/nuts at the bottom of the front facing cover
All the above will just fold down and out of the way with the cover
There are no lower screws on the air box on the 2.0, just the 2 that fix the MAF box to it
The lower box just pushes in/pops out at 2 spots

I did be sure to inspect the negative battery sensor and wiring at the negative terminal, absolutely spotless and none of the battery build up that some reported.

Took me about an hour - hour 1/2 start to finish.

Once I had it all together, I was surprised to see that my phone, radio presets, gps favorites and all that had not been erased.

I was also lucky that the old battery wasn't completely dead, just not enough juice to start or open the power liftgate. There was enough juice for the IA key to unlock the doors, and I was able to pull my tools from the hatch by folding the back seats down.

Found out a bit more about resetting the one touch windows as well. If you run the reset without the climate or radio on, you can hear the modules go to reset mode. Doing it this way you just open the window a bit then pull up the switch all the way to auto up and hold after the window is closed, you'll hear a light click similar to the door locks, then do the same, push and hold until the window is fully open (you'll hear a bit fainter click after the window is open), then pull and hold one more time until the window is closed and you hear the click, repeat on all 4 windows, done!

I'm leaving it overnight (12 hours) and will then check the BLM with my scanner to see if I need to set it through ForScan.

Pretty much did exactly what you did, only I did mine a couple months ago. Our build dates are close. I did clean the battery cables very well even though mine were spotless. Put in the exact same Motorcraft battery. Only other thing I did was reset the BMS immediately using ForScan. Havent had a single problem.

 

[otbiker]

Replaced ours last week. After watching the video, easier than I expected with no surprises.

 

[Freddy Ford]

I have tried both methods to replace a battery in the Escape, and the air box method is 10x easier than the ridiculous wiper cowl removal. Whomever thought that method up must have been bored or somehow screwed-up removing the air box. Service manual and technicians remove the air box for good reason, and it's very simple and safe to do.

 

[atlcarl69]

I was able to reset the BMS /Battery Life with my Bluetooth OBDLink MX and Forscan(windows 10) - no Extended License required

 

[ralph7up]

I was able to reset the BMS /Battery Life with my Bluetooth OBDLink MX and Forscan(windows 10) - no Extended License required

Is the reset procedure just one parameter for the many parameters located within the BLM? The reason that I ask is when I took my 2013 to the dealer, they updated the whole module with new code. I do not know if this is the way it is done or the technican did not know what to do despite the fact that I gave him a copy of the appropriate section of the manual given to me by Centex.

 

[atlcarl69]

Is the reset procedure just one parameter for the many parameters located within the BLM? The reason that I ask is when I took my 2013 to the dealer, they updated the whole module with new code. I do not know if this is the way it is done or the technican did not know what to do despite the fact that I gave him a copy of the appropriate section of the manual given to me by Centex.

It my understanding that the 'reset' configures all of the parameters to the starting values for a new battery. This is assuming that the battery is the stock/as built size/group. Not sure if anything else would need to be done if the stock battery is replaced with a different (usually larger) size/group.

Of course, there is always the possibility of new module code, that a dealer should update if appropriate.

 

[ralph7up]

It my understanding that the 'reset' configures all of the parameters to the starting values for a new battery. This is assuming that the battery is the stock/as built size/group. Not sure if anything else would need to be done if the stock battery is replaced with a different (usually larger) size/group.

Of course, there is always the possibility of new module code, that a dealer should update if appropriate.

Actually that is what the guy said. The "flash" took about 30 minute (I think) which is why I am unclear. How long does it take to reset the BLM via Forscan? My sense is that it should be VERY quick. Is that true?

Thanks.