Towing a 2011 Ford Edge/Lincoln MKX

[gandl]

Is anyone towing a 2011 Ford Edge or Lincoln MKX?

Any issues or things that I should know about towing either of these vehicles?

Should any fuses be removed?

[wolfe10]

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Hopefully someone who has first hand experience with the 2011 model will respond.

The best source of information on whether a vehicle may be towed 4 wheels down and if so what needs to be done is the owners manual.

It gives not just the mechanical/practical information, but also what the vehicle manufacturer recommends from a liability standpoint.

Information from salespersons, service technicians and even the Ford toll free hotline are not as reliable as reading that section of the owners manual.

Brett

[TedBoehm]

We recently purchased a new 2011Edge because we were told that it could be flat towed. The dealer referred us to page 242 of the owners manual and if we followed these instructions, we should have no problem.Traveling to Arizona this winter, on the second day, the battery's vehicle was dead. We got it jumpstarted and again were on our way. We contacted the dealer and advised them of the problem and were told by the service manager to buy a dolly. Next, idle the car while being towed by the motorhome. After a short period of time we were advised against this because of insufficient air flow to the radiator. Then we were told to take to the nearest Ford dealer as they were experiencing problems with the battery. The dealership advised us that the battery was okay and they could find no electrical problem with the car.

On our return trip, not to experience the same problem, we did not drive at night and the after our second day of traveling we once again experienced a dead battery after strictly following the guidelines in the owner's manual. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?

A very disappointed new Ford Edge owner

[wolfe10]

Running a separate "toad battery charge" wire is just not that difficult. Go directly from coach chassis battery for a source of 12 VDC positive (fuse at coach battery end) to a 12 VDC relay. Use any "ignition hot" source as a trigger to close the above relay. Wire to wiring connection and on to toad battery. Fuse at toad battery.

Now, every time the toad is hooked to the coach and the coach engine is running, the toad battery is charged.

Brett

[TedBoehm]

The owners manual says nothing about wiring the coach battery to the tow vehicle battery. The question is why is the tow vehicle battery discharging when the manual is being followed exactly.

[zaferde]

Ted

I tow a 2008 MKX, I had the battery go down once, the DW didn't turn the key back far enoungh after putting the trans in neutral. As long as you have the key type ignition, you should be fine as long as you turn the key as far back toward OFF as you can after putting the trans in neutral. The new Lincoln MKX owners arent so lucky, they have the pushbutton start type of ignition, once the car is turned to ON, the only way to shut off the ignition is to put the car into park, so a fuse pull would be required for the MKX.

Dennis

[pfdretired]

I replaced my 2006 Saturn Ion with a 2010 Ford Edge last August. I have traveled about 8000 Miles with it and have not had any trouble with the Battery or any thing else. I really like the Edge, the only complaint is that it is a little Heavy.

[jep8n@bellsouth.net]

I am towing a 2010 Mercury Milan and from the first tow the battery was dead after 6 hours. Ford would not respone to this problem. They said to use a charger from the motor home when towing. I purchased a charging kit off the internet and installed on MH and tow car. After 6 hours of towing the car would start but another 3 hours the car would not start with out a jump. The charging system off the internet was advertised to charge at 10 amps. Testing showed a 3 amp charge rate with the MH engine running. There is a 6 to 7 amp drain when ignition key in tow position. 6 amps for 6 hours will drain the 37 amp hour battery in the Milan. I started removing fuses while monitoring the current and found that the instrument cluster (fuse 26 on the Milan) was drawing 4 to 5 amps. I made a fused switch jumper and installed in F26 position (laying on my back and removing fuse for each tow was too hard). Now when car is configured to tow I open the switch and for the past year and 8,000 miles no battery problem. The 2010 Ford Focus and Fusion has the same battery problem when towing.

John Pridgen

2004 Cheetah

[bear0033]

Towing a 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid with navigation, there is a 4.2 amp draw from the start battery with everything I can turn off, off including the nav screen, verbally. This drains the battery every day towed, requiring external battery charger over night to restore charge. On my third battery in six weeks. Ford says this is normal and recommends installation of a battery minder. I feel the owners manual is misleading not providing this information to the buyer; stating essentially you only need to put the care in neutral and the key in accessory. Jon Cook

[sokopny]

This may or may not help you. We have flat towed a '07 Escape 4 WD 5 spd manual for 5 years now and not one bit of trouble.

What we did was run separate bulb and socket wiring from the bus, via a 6 pin plug and cable to the Escape and then ran a cable to the rear tail lights. Installed new sockets inside the tail lamp assembly.

To tow, put trans in neutral, turn key to unlock steering wheel and turn key back to off, but leave the key in ignition lock. We had a blank key made, no chip so you can't start the vehicle.

No miles are registered as we tow the Escape.

Your right, the dealer and customer service were no help. They had NO clue. We figured this out by hooking the Escape up behind my F150 and then trial and error.

I would think that with the 2011 push button start, there must be a disconnect somewhere.

I'll do some looking at our end.

**** (retired Ford engineer)

1999 U320 36' Foretravel with '07 Escape 4WD, 5 spd

[Walt2137]

Is anyone towing a 2011 Ford Edge or Lincoln MKX?

Any issues or things that I should know about towing either of these vehicles?

Should any fuses be removed?

I will pass a note from another forum on how to tow the Edge without causing a battery problem.

Walt

When getting ready to tow your car as a toad:

1- Start the engine in Park. If you are not hooked up to the tow bar, maneuver and hook up with the engine running and in Park. You are supposed to run it for 5 minutes anyway.

2. With the tow bar hooked up and locked, put the transmission in neutral and release the brake.

3. Rotate the ignition switch from "RUN" counterclockwise one "click" or "detent" to "ACC" just like the book says. Do it by the feel in your fingers. The dash lights will turn off and you will think you are ready to go. You are not! If you have GPS, the clock will still display in the upper right hand corner of the screen. There are no other visual clues that the car is pulling juice from the battery.

4. Twist the ignition key one more "click" or "detent" counterclockwise. Twist it as far as it will go. You won't be able to lock the steering and you won't be able to remove the key as long as the transmission remains in neutral. The clock will go out and, if you listen very carefully, you will hear a relay click from under the dash. You can move the key between these two ACC positions and see the clock come on and hear the click!

[swentz]

Is anyone towing a 2011 Ford Edge or Lincoln MKX?

Any issues or things that I should know about towing either of these vehicles?

Should any fuses be removed?

If you follow the owners manual you will have excessive current draw and kill the battery.

The only way I found to get around this without running a dedicated charge wire from coach is by installing a momentary switch under the hood that is connected to the park signal from transmission shifter assembly.

This was done on a 2011 Lincoln MKX with push button start.

Tap into the park switch ckt. Located on passenger side of floor console. pull off side trim. The wire you want is Green located in pin 8 of the largest connector on right side of console.

Run this wire to a momentary switch to ground underneath the hood.

When towing place vehicle in neutral and shut off, open hood and close all doors. At this point dash will display "Shift to park" until momentary switch is pressed. press switch and shut hood. dash should go out and draw on battery will be eliminated.

This has to be done with a momentary (push button) style switch. If it is done with a switch that can be left on it will be possible to start the vehicle in gear.

I am not an engineer and except no responsibly for negative effects of this alteration

[BMB2311]

I recently purchased a 2011 Lincoln MKX with the idea of towing it behind our motorhome. The owners manual describes what must be done for RV towing but the description is obviously for a vehicle with a key. There is a description in the owners manual of how to remove a panel in the usb compartment to put the vehicle in neutral without starting it however it again does not apply to a vehicle with the push button start. If you remove the access panel described you can take a small mirror and look back toward the shift assembly under the center console. Put your foot on the brake and push the button to start the vehicle while watching in the mirror. You will see a little plastic plunger pop out that unlocks the shift lever. After you find where this is at you can pull the plastic plunger out with your finger with the car off and shift the lever into neutral without turning anything on. The steering wheel does not lock on the push button start MKX so no need to worry about that. This may apply to other Ford vehicles like the Edge.

[Glencheri]

Yes the extra hot wire does work and keeps the Edge battery charged, on mine I had to run a seperate "ground" wire. However if you do any boondocking be careful about you battery's. I have 6, 6-volts and it can handel the boondocking, but the best thing to do is put the Edge in Parh and turn it off, then in the morning set it for towing again. What ticks me off is the all manuals, shop manuals and sales people don''tknoe about the Battery problem. I had known I would purchased anoth Jeep. I am still considering a law suite.

[Glencheri]

If you have a fully loaded 2011 Edge with push button start, or MLK with the push button start, you can not pull a fuse. There are thoing that can be pulled but you will lose all the memory and he vehicle "may" not run right and "may" have to formatted again at a delership.

[ed1jones]

I am confused with my 2011 push button start Ford Edge.

I just tried running a wire from green wire under console to a momentary switch under hood and light on dash still is yet on SHIFT TO PARK.

Any help would be great. Need to tow soon.

ed1jones@yahoo.com

P S I did extra bulb sockets in edge taillights and ran wire to motor home so power will be from motor home lights. Steering does not lock on this model Edge.

I wonder if I need to run 12 volt from Edge battery to motor home battery and go ahead and tow even with the light on edge dash showing "shift to park " ?

[HarveyWhite]

Very good info, I had the same problem with our MKX before i could tow it to Dallas the battery was dead. Tried your fix. The button wasn't hard to find at all-- very easy to pull the button, and put it in neutral, and never light up the dash.

Sure appreciate the info.

[Garyr]

I had the battery problem on a Honda, I solved the problem by going online and purchasing a charge system that took about one hour. The system is called "Toad Charge" and cost about $100.

Gary

[alexyaz]

I have a 2011 Edge Limited. Pulled the cover as you mentioned. I have a connector to the right maybe 16 pin and a much larger one to the left. Color of wire on smaller connetor is blue on #8, can't really be sure how connector is wired or how pins count.

Any chance of a photo??

[ckarlen]

We have a brand new 2012 Winnebago and a 2011 Ford Edge which we bought specifically because it was towable. As with others we have had battery problems after 6-7 hours of towing. We have disconnected everything we possibly could, IPod, phone, etc. but still have battery problems about half the time. We "think" the problem with the battery drain must be the lights on the Edge. If the weather is bad and you have your lights on in your RV then your Edge lights are also on without the car running. Does anyone think this may be the problem? We think it may be, but not sure.

[hermanmullins]

Ckarlen,

Welcome to the Forum.

To solve your light problem you need to have you Ford wired with a wiring harness you can purchase at Camping World. I have wired several cars/truck/jeeps with tow lights. It wires in just like a trailers lights, with one exception. There are diodes on each bulb. this allows power to the light from the coach but doesn't allow the power to feed back into the cars system where it can do damage to electronic components. And your lights will function just fine when unhooked from the Coach.

If you were close to McKinney, TX I would be more then happy to help you install the harness.

[jbgodfrey]

We tow a 2007, one of the first years AWD was able to be towed 4 down. As several people have commented, having the charge lead to the toad battery eliminates the dead battery issue. The individual that installed your tow package on the vehicle should have hooked that up.

Second, one individual is correct, you have to make sure the key is turned to the off position. For me, I just put in in neutral, then turn the car off. If will not go into the lock position without the transmission being in park. If you have one those fancy push button, refer to your owners manual or dealer.

Third, my Edge is a heavy vehicle, 5,600 lbs! I imaging yours is not much lighter. Do not attempt to tow this vehicle without brakes in the toad. I have a 38' diesel and I could definitely tell the difference until I installed the toad brakes. Also, if you tow in the mountains like I do out here in Colorado, watch your temperature gauge. It will rise, so throttle down, keep you RPMs up at a decent range (2000-2100 for me) and take your time going up hill. Enjoy. Jim G

[curley9946]

Well, it seems that people are being played again. I have a 2010 Ford Fusion automatic. I have a brake buddy also.

3 transmissions 2 batteries,and now ready to go,Ford has a manual for towing the car.

Wire to the chassis for batteries so they will not go dead, lower transmissions fluid, new dip stick and a Ramco lube pump added to the monies already spent.

[jnpmorris]

I guess I am lucky to own a 2010 Ford Edge for I have had no problem with battery discharge.

[jfroche]

I just bought a 2012 MKX and did a lot of research regarding issues with the battery after reading the blog. Found out several things. Blue Ox web site states that you should start the vehicle every 6 hours while towing to cool the transmission. This will also recharge the battery. While visiting a GM dealer, read a part of the GM owners manual where it stated that running the vehicle for 10 minutes when you stop at night before you turn off the ignition will recharge the battery. I also read that there is a fuse (#32) in GM vehicles that can be pulled to eliminate the voltage drain. I am waiting on Lincoln to tell me which fuse you can pull to do the same for the MKX.

Also found out the warning light for "stable trac" or what ever it is called will come on after towing the car. The remedy is to drive the car for 30 to 40 miles as the warning light will reset and "all shall be well". I carry a battery charger in my RV just in case. Last year we towed a Miata and the battery went dead. This is how I learned to start it every night (on the way home) and it worked but the battery charger was a nice alternative. It can be plugged in to the RV while the vehicle is parked and running. Hope this helps.