Naw, it turned out exactly how they wanted. Cold morning, miss work, tow it to the dealership, be without a car for a week, spend $400 and a week on a $75, 15 min battery swap
Wait tell you need to change the Lo Beam Headlight bulb on the passenger side. I think it was designed by the same engineer. Never seem such stupidity. There's a few people at Ford who should look for new job.
Excellent video. NOTE: Auto parts stores refuse to install batteries on the Ford Escape due to having to remove so many components to get to the battery. I changed my sons battery out last Saturday by following these instructions except I took off the bolt from the firewall going to the negative cable and it was much easier. Twenty minutes to remove the battery and 10 minutes to re-install.
It aint the 70's anymore when you changed your battery every two years OR needed a jump after leaving your huge incandescent headlights on for just a bit sucking the battery dry OR ran your battery down because you did not choke it right in the cold with thick straight weight oil in the crank. Now we turn the lights off for you and we can always get your cold engine started (well to -30 anyway) PLUS modern batteries last 5 or 6 years now. So why worry about easy access to something that has to be done every 5 years? Ponder on that a bit. That IS good engineering. :)
@@mattapoisettmobil1981 Oh, OK. So as an engineer, what would you have traded off? Engineering is always about tradeoffs. There is only so much space so to work with so what you have made more difficult to access in order to make the battery easier to access? Is 4 bolts, 2 screws and 12 clips really so awful for you to do once every 4-6 years? I would like to know *exactly* how you would have done it better.
I tried this method and it was so difficult I couldn’t finish. And it was super difficult to put the air box back together. I tried the method of removing the windshield wipers and the big plastic trays underneath the wipers and it was easy. I have a 2014 model.
It's far easier to remove the whole airbox in one piece. You just take out the two 8mm screws holding the intake hose into the airbox, pull the hose out of the airbox then you can pull it out .
Something that wasn't mentioned in this video is that the BMS (Battery Monitor System) needs to be reset in order for the alternator to re-learn how to charge the new battery correctly. If this reset isn't done, the alternator will essentially charge the new battery like it charged your old one, and you'll end up overcharging your new battery really quickly. On some the older Escapes of this generation, it can be done in the car with a combination of button presses in the interior, but with my 2018 (2017 and newer escapes, I believe) it requires an OBD2 tool that can run service procedures. Thanks for the video.
Great point! Reset BMS on 2017 Ford Escape: Ignition on but not started Flash high beams 5 times Hit brake 3 times Wait for battery light to flash 3 times (could take up to 30 seconds)
Ford was thinking this is too much work for most customers so they’ll bring it to their shops for the repair, I’m pretty sure. I just got quoted $280 for a new battery from the dealer so instead I’ll follow this helpful gentleman’s video!
It could be worse. They could have put the battery under the front fender like Mopar did on a lot of their cars. Tons of fun swapping out a dead battery during the winter. Love removing the front tire, working with all the brittle plastic inner fender parts and getting up to your elbows in cold melting snow.
The Ford shop manual says to remove the ground cable from the firewall FIRST. Much safer to do it the correct way. It requires a deep well 13mm socket. Otherwise, your video was informative without a bunch of crappy music, like so many other RUclipsrs put in their posts. THANKS!
Definitely a much easier and faster way to change this battery. Remove the wiper blades, Pop off the clips across the front of the large plastic cover that spans the width of the car which allows removal of the rubber top, then remove 4 small bolts holding the entire plastic cover. This give wide open access to disconnect and remove the battery. About 5 to 10 minutes tops and no struggling to access battery or terminals.
@@717atend I believe I did mention that in the video but to recap you just pop the cosmetic covers off at the base then remove the nut and while pulling up on the wiper arm you wrap gently on the shaft. That should work fine unless they are corroded. If that is the case they do make a wiper blade puller which looks like a small light duty wheel puller. You can of course use a wheelpolar if you have one. But that really should not be necessary. I used a small rubber mallet to rap on the shaft while I tugged up on the wiper arm and it popped right off easily.
Do this method. Each stage has it's own intricacies, but there are separate videos of you're struggling. You need a 10mm wrench, US sockets aren't the right size. So much easier to access battery this way, so any corrosion or stuck bolts will be easier to deal with. Simpler to reconstruct components, less chance of breaking plastic components.
You are removing the whole arm. After you loosen (dont remove yet) the nut, you push the hingeside of the wiper arm down towards the windshield, the leverage will loosen the arm off of the pivot. Then remove the nut and arm. Just make sure when you put it all back together that you put the wipers back in the same spot.
So when my Escape died in traffic at a major exit, that sucked. Getti g to a safe place sucked.... but looking at where this mf'n battery was REALLY sucked! Your vid walked me through all the hard stuff. Had the old one out, new one in and fully functuonal in an hour. Thanks SO much!
Thank you so much for this video. I’m at Walmart tech and they didn’t want us taking off the wipers and all that stuff this video helped out so much. Finally I can get this car up out of here after one hour of struggling with this battery until I found your video
Appreciate the vid thanks! 2015 Escape. Don’t know what the Ford engineers were thinking with this design but your vid definitely helped. Much appreciated.
They were thinking, "How do we get as much passenger space as possible in a vehicle of a given length? Since people will be in it everyday and thier comfort is important lets squeeze the engine space down as small as possible." OR they could make the battery really easy to get to at the expense of making the usuable cabin shorter. Since you only need to change the battery once every 5 years maybe we make people and thier *daily* comfort more important than something you do every 5 years? That strikes me as pretty good thinking, if you think about it. :)
This is a perfect example of why mechanics hate "engineers" put the bong down ford you build the vehicle first then install the battery.....not build the vehicle around the flipping battery.
Have you ever noticed how much interior space one of these have? The 2017 Escape is the exact same length as the 2005 Escape. Yet the passenger space is a couple of feet longer? The 2017 is FAR more comfortable. Same size outside but WAY bigger inside. Wow! Pretty cool huh? Ah but once every 5 years you have to remove, 2 nuts, 2 screws, 4 bolts and 11 metal clips to change the battery. That seems pretty smart to me. Just saying.
I did it the cowl way too, and was crucified on Reddit for it. They fail to note that if you dont have an electric ratchet like the poster here did, getting those battery clamp bolts takes forever. They also don't note that the wiring harness he moved to get the battery out? That's connected to fragile MIDI fuses that if they break give a no start condition with no fault codes. There are countless examples of this online.
@@cardiffgiant9406 wrong you take off the battery hold down 2x 10mm nuts and posive cable then the battery pulls forward then remove the neg. too 20 mins
What an idiotic design. Ford across the board has just gotten so much worse. These escapes have horrible reliability. All 4 of our family fords, all new, have had terrible mechanical issues. Stuff like this is a sign of what’s going on over there lol.
***Not mentioned in video*** You will also need to disconnect and reposition the brake fluid reservoir and the wiring harness to cabin air filter to properly access the top mounting bracket on your battery. Spent 30 minutes learning this step the hard way
Becareful when removing the battery that way. That piece in front of the battery that you remove with the battery terminal. There's a megafuse panel there, and sometimes there's wires break. Or put stress on those fuses, and they break. Those feed your computers for your car.
FYI to everyone, the video doesn’t mention the third pop fitting for the air filter housing that is near the front of the vehicle. I broke the plastic mounting prong connected to the air filter housing because I didn’t think there was a third connection for it.
Mr. Dowdy is referring to a rubber grommet that needs to be pushed to front of vehicle to release it. It's "tab A in slot B" type. I just replaced my battery using this method because I already started and didn't want to deal with wiper arm removal. If you're reading this, DON'T go this route. Luke, remove the cowl. Use the Force to use the Cowl Method. (If you think about it, wouldn't you rather work from above looking down at the battery than from the side and trying to get socket wrench under cowl? You can get at the terminal connectors and the bar holding the battery SO MUCH EASIER. Lesson learned.)
@@michaelwest7649 Yep, I got criucified on Reddit for doing the cowl method, but I also learned that there have been multiple cases of moving the wiring harness in front of the battery causing MIDI fuse failure, which causes a no start condition.
This method does not work unless you have an electric ratchet wrench. A normal socket wrench won't work to get the bolts off the battery strap. There isn't enough room between the battery and cowling above the battery to fit a deep socket, as a result the back of a normal socket wrench jams against the cowling when you are trying to remove the bolts on the strap.
Took me close to 45minutes but of course I just had a harbor freight ratchet with 8+10mm sockets and a 8mm combo wrench. I figured out you don't need to remove the whole intake pipe, there are two more 8mm screws on the left side of the intake box which allows you to just pull the box off without even opening it in theory, didn't figure it out until I already started.
Thanks good to the point video. I appreciate that. Since they put in all that safety equipment upfront, which saves a lot of people’s lives, the trade-off was put in the battery back out of the way - I don’t like it either
OE battery is a weak 96R. If you're willing to modify the hold down bracket there are 2 bump stops in in the battery tray. They are just clipped into place so if you pop them both off, you'll have and additional 3" for battery length. You can squeeze in up to an H7/94R. Theses are ~1/2 taller which is why the bracket will need to be modified. Don't necessary need the cranking amps but the extra reserve capacity will allow you to keep the radio on for more than 5 min without having to jump it.
It takes about 10 minutes. The airbox can come out in one piece, you just unscrew the air intake hose from it. Two 8mm screws. Certainly old cars were easier, but to be fair, 10 minutes to do something you'll only need to do every 5 years or so isn't a big deal, IMO.
Thanks for the video. I used the info to swap the battery in my '15 Escape. I improvised on the clip tool by using a small screwdriver to pop them. It worked, but I'll acquire the correct tool, for next time.
Ford: I know we have a battery that takes 5 minutes to install on most of our vehicles but I was thinking 1 to 3 hours service time. Ford escape designer: not a problem.
If you use this method, it works. Rather than fighting to get at the hose clamp, just remove the two 8 mm screws that connect the MAF to the air box. They are much easier to get at.
I am not a professional mechanic. Nor am I a beginner. I have always maintained everything I own. From ski boats with inboard engines to outboard engines. Trucks, cars, motorcycles and everything in between. I have never been afraid to tackle anything. I have all kinds of tools including specialty tools. I have definitely jobs that required more time and tools. But to just replace the battery on something..... This was absolutely ridiculous!!! I had to use all kinds of tools. There are no give me's on this job. Every single bolt you will fight. Mostly because of space.
I needed a new battery in my 2013 Ford Escape nobody would change it at the parts store and the dealership charged me 250 for just the labor now I see what they meant by having to dam near take the engine apart 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Worst thing about this car. My 2008 g6 is pretty easy to replace the battery. My wife’s 2007 Hyundai Elantra takes like 5 minutes to replace the battery. Ford Escape? Ridiculous. It was designed this way to make you come into the dealer to get your battery replaced.
Thank you for this video. I watched one where they removed the top, wipers, etc. Screw that. This was a lot easier. One thing I did was remove the main wire in the fuse box. VERY easy. small clip on the side of the blue lift handle and pulled out easily. That way the front battery plate stays together. Thanks again and would someone slap the person that put the battery in that spot for me?
I did this this way and it take twice as long to do this way, much faster and easier to remove the wiper arms and the plastic trim piece and the support under it (4 bolts ) and the whole battery is wide open to remove.
I did it that way the first time and this way just now. Honestly, they’re both a pain in the ass. One of my wiper arms was jammed and I needed to use a puller to get it off. And have fun getting them indexed if you didn’t mark them before hand. Such a shit design. Luckily, with just shy of 140k on my 2016, this will probably be the last battery swap I’ll need to do.
I changed mine this way. 100% the best and most efficient way to switch out the battery. Would love to know the engineer who designed it this way so I can toss the old battery thru his living room window.
I just changed one in a 2017 SE. Had they just put 2 access holes for the battery strap , and the negative terminal, it would have made it much easier. I liked engineers designs much better when they were doing LSD.
Disconnect the negative cable from the firewall. Cable is only 12 inches from battery. Once you do this pull battery forward and you have complete access to negative terminal
Tip: the negative terminal might get stuck, use a flathead from the inside to pop it off. Your video is 3 minutes. It took me 4 hours and I gave you at least 6 more views. Thanks tho
I wish we charged like 6 10ths. I did this yesterday on a vehicle, it wasn't too difficult but it's definitely time consuming. I was hoping to see someone else replace this battery with a easier approach to this but was denied lol 😆.
The video shows the harder way to do the job, the comments show the right way. Go in through the top guy, it takes a few minutes to remove wipers and and tray piece after that you have a straight shot down
Aren't you supposed to disconnect the negative battery terminal first, and then disconnect the positive battery terminal 2nd, to prevent an electrical short? Then when reconnecting the cables to the battery, aren't you supposed to go in reverse order, the positive first and then reconnect the negative second?
only problem with removing wiper blades is they're electronic wipers if you don't line them up exactly the way they came off you will have issues with the wipers
There is a negative post on the firewall. If you couldn't see it and immediately recognize it, you really have no place being under that hood. Even my 66 year old mother knows what the negative post is. I really do mean that in the nicest way possible as well.
Ed Austin, you're full of shit. Just ground it on the firewall beside the negative wire. I've jumped other vehicles multiple times. If you couldn't figure that out you might want to learn how to use jumper cables.
This right here is why my 2017 Ford Escape is my first and last one. This is stupid. I should be able to go to an auto parts store, buy a battery, and put it in.
It may be easier for you to remove the negative cable nut from the firewall, then slide the battery out to remove cable from the negative post. Then reverse the process to reinstall the negative cable.
Nope, There's something clipped in to the negative connection and you can't get your hands in there undo it. Whoever designed this deserves to be waterboarded
@@chrisstackhouse7749 That's where you take a long panel clip remover, pry bar, or screwdriver and pop that clip holding the negative cable to the firewall. For a battery install, the tooling to do this job is insane. I did one yesterday, and whoever made the last install removed the wipers to get at the battery. They screwed up the timing on the wiper motors. Other than a few deficiencies in design, I really like the Escape overall. It's a good vehicle. Anyway.... I was cringing when you pulled the positive first, and reefed on the battery to expose the terminal. Sparky, sparky. Yowsa.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
The Engineer who designed this needs to turn in their degree.
Could not agree more. Unbelievable.
Naw, it turned out exactly how they wanted. Cold morning, miss work, tow it to the dealership, be without a car for a week, spend $400 and a week on a $75, 15 min battery swap
All part of the plan. They want to make it harder to self repair so dealers make money
This was designed by committee.
Wait tell you need to change the Lo Beam Headlight bulb on the passenger side. I think it was designed by the same engineer. Never seem such stupidity. There's a few people at Ford who should look for new job.
I’ve done it both ways, and taking the cowl off is a lot easier than going through the process of removing the air filter housing and everything.
Excellent video. NOTE: Auto parts stores refuse to install batteries on the Ford Escape due to having to remove so many components to get to the battery. I changed my sons battery out last Saturday by following these instructions except I took off the bolt from the firewall going to the negative cable and it was much easier. Twenty minutes to remove the battery and 10 minutes to re-install.
Maybe is better to cut a hole on the under the dash to reach the battery faster?
Who engineered this? Is there a way we can deport him/her?
No, it's an european-designed vehicle. Send your "special thanks" to Ford of Europe (Ford Kuga).
They should have their "engineer" license revoked!
It aint the 70's anymore when you changed your battery every two years OR needed a jump after leaving your huge incandescent headlights on for just a bit sucking the battery dry OR ran your battery down because you did not choke it right in the cold with thick straight weight oil in the crank. Now we turn the lights off for you and we can always get your cold engine started (well to -30 anyway) PLUS modern batteries last 5 or 6 years now. So why worry about easy access to something that has to be done every 5 years? Ponder on that a bit.
That IS good engineering. :)
@@robjohnson8522 I find the complete opposite to be true.
@@mattapoisettmobil1981 Oh, OK. So as an engineer, what would you have traded off? Engineering is always about tradeoffs. There is only so much space so to work with so what you have made more difficult to access in order to make the battery easier to access?
Is 4 bolts, 2 screws and 12 clips really so awful for you to do once every 4-6 years?
I would like to know *exactly* how you would have done it better.
I tried this method and it was so difficult I couldn’t finish. And it was super difficult to put the air box back together. I tried the method of removing the windshield wipers and the big plastic trays underneath the wipers and it was easy. I have a 2014 model.
It's far easier to remove the whole airbox in one piece. You just take out the two 8mm screws holding the intake hose into the airbox, pull the hose out of the airbox then you can pull it out .
Something that wasn't mentioned in this video is that the BMS (Battery Monitor System) needs to be reset in order for the alternator to re-learn how to charge the new battery correctly. If this reset isn't done, the alternator will essentially charge the new battery like it charged your old one, and you'll end up overcharging your new battery really quickly. On some the older Escapes of this generation, it can be done in the car with a combination of button presses in the interior, but with my 2018 (2017 and newer escapes, I believe) it requires an OBD2 tool that can run service procedures.
Thanks for the video.
Great point! Reset BMS on 2017 Ford Escape:
Ignition on but not started
Flash high beams 5 times
Hit brake 3 times
Wait for battery light to flash 3 times (could take up to 30 seconds)
@@robjohnson8522 just did it but the check engine flashed
Hopefully it works
A lot easier to take off the air plenum and lift the battery out
Says in manual, if you change the battery, let it sit locked for 8 hours engine off and it resets.
@@michaelhineman8860for a 2017?
The battery should be the one thing that is never difficult to get to, the engineer Ned’s a hard kick to the groin.
What was Ford thinking? thanks for the "manual" way.
Ford was thinking this is too much work for most customers so they’ll bring it to their shops for the repair, I’m pretty sure. I just got quoted $280 for a new battery from the dealer so instead I’ll follow this helpful gentleman’s video!
Ford is evil for this. I will NEVER buy anything associated with Ford EVER again in my life. And I will warn every person I come across not to either.
It could be worse. They could have put the battery under the front fender like Mopar did on a lot of their cars. Tons of fun swapping out a dead battery during the winter. Love removing the front tire, working with all the brittle plastic inner fender parts and getting up to your elbows in cold melting snow.
@@provenperseverance4113 you’re letting one flawed design ruin Fords other works, lmao nice.
Exactly I agree 100% I’m going through the same problem
The Ford shop manual says to remove the ground cable from the firewall FIRST. Much safer to do it the correct way. It requires a deep well 13mm socket. Otherwise, your video was informative without a bunch of crappy music, like so many other RUclipsrs put in their posts. THANKS!
Definitely a much easier and faster way to change this battery. Remove the wiper blades, Pop off the clips across the front of the large plastic cover that spans the width of the car which allows removal of the rubber top, then remove 4 small bolts holding the entire plastic cover. This give wide open access to disconnect and remove the battery. About 5 to 10 minutes tops and no struggling to access battery or terminals.
How do you remove the wiper blades tho?
@@717atend I believe I did mention that in the video but to recap you just pop the cosmetic covers off at the base then remove the nut and while pulling up on the wiper arm you wrap gently on the shaft. That should work fine unless they are corroded. If that is the case they do make a wiper blade puller which looks like a small light duty wheel puller. You can of course use a wheelpolar if you have one. But that really should not be necessary. I used a small rubber mallet to rap on the shaft while I tugged up on the wiper arm and it popped right off easily.
Do this method. Each stage has it's own intricacies, but there are separate videos of you're struggling. You need a 10mm wrench, US sockets aren't the right size. So much easier to access battery this way, so any corrosion or stuck bolts will be easier to deal with. Simpler to reconstruct components, less chance of breaking plastic components.
You are removing the whole arm. After you loosen (dont remove yet) the nut, you push the hingeside of the wiper arm down towards the windshield, the leverage will loosen the arm off of the pivot. Then remove the nut and arm. Just make sure when you put it all back together that you put the wipers back in the same spot.
Agree,if I need to replace battery,taking it from top👍
So when my Escape died in traffic at a major exit, that sucked. Getti g to a safe place sucked.... but looking at where this mf'n battery was REALLY sucked!
Your vid walked me through all the hard stuff. Had the old one out, new one in and fully functuonal in an hour. Thanks SO much!
Why on earth did they put the battery so close to the windshield like that? It makes it difficult to jump start the car when the battery dies!!!
Thanks guy. That wasn't bad at all. Way better than removing everything else that everyone does.
Thank you so much for this video. I’m at Walmart tech and they didn’t want us taking off the wipers and all that stuff this video helped out so much. Finally I can get this car up out of here after one hour of struggling with this battery until I found your video
Ford really knows how to ruin a weekend
Thanks for the video. Really helped me out. By the way, the Ford engineer who designed the placement of this battery ought to be publicly flogged.
Whoa. You saved my ass. I was just about to go buy a used one, and if its that complicated to change a battery; no thank you.
Appreciate the vid thanks! 2015 Escape. Don’t know what the Ford engineers were thinking with this design but your vid definitely helped. Much appreciated.
💰💰💰
They were thinking, "let's make this difficult so people bring it into the shop."
They were thinking, "How do we get as much passenger space as possible in a vehicle of a given length? Since people will be in it everyday and thier comfort is important lets squeeze the engine space down as small as possible."
OR they could make the battery really easy to get to at the expense of making the usuable cabin shorter. Since you only need to change the battery once every 5 years maybe we make people and thier *daily* comfort more important than something you do every 5 years?
That strikes me as pretty good thinking, if you think about it. :)
They are making automobiles now to where you have to go to the dealership to even change a battery
Sad
Took me about 30 min to remove and replace. Thanks for the tip!
Whoever designed this should be fired.
Manual calls for relearning of fuel and idle systems and uto windows relearn. Did you have to do any of these things? 2017 1.5 ecoboost
This is a perfect example of why mechanics hate "engineers" put the bong down ford you build the vehicle first then install the battery.....not build the vehicle around the flipping battery.
Have you ever noticed how much interior space one of these have? The 2017 Escape is the exact same length as the 2005 Escape. Yet the passenger space is a couple of feet longer? The 2017 is FAR more comfortable.
Same size outside but WAY bigger inside. Wow! Pretty cool huh?
Ah but once every 5 years you have to remove, 2 nuts, 2 screws, 4 bolts and 11 metal clips to change the battery.
That seems pretty smart to me. Just saying.
Do you need to use the memory keeper that plugs into the cigarette lighter/ power point? And/ or does that work on this vehicle?
Just did it !! Thanks!!
I had a lot of corrosion and spent some time cleaning it up. 8 yr old motor craft battery
It takes me a half hour to remove the cowling replace the battery and re assemble! Much easier than removing the air box! Easier access to everything!
I did it the cowl way too, and was crucified on Reddit for it. They fail to note that if you dont have an electric ratchet like the poster here did, getting those battery clamp bolts takes forever.
They also don't note that the wiring harness he moved to get the battery out? That's connected to fragile MIDI fuses that if they break give a no start condition with no fault codes. There are countless examples of this online.
How long does it take to put the battery in a 2019 ford escape
@@cardiffgiant9406 wrong you take off the battery hold down 2x 10mm nuts and posive cable then the battery pulls forward then remove the neg. too 20 mins
@@mronemanband1 Guessing you didn't read my post fully
I just changed my battery this way. Took a half-hour. Simple.
I did it the other way before, I find this much easier. I’m not a fan of whoever designed this, but thanks for the video.
What an idiotic design. Ford across the board has just gotten so much worse. These escapes have horrible reliability. All 4 of our family fords, all new, have had terrible mechanical issues. Stuff like this is a sign of what’s going on over there lol.
Question, what manufacturer is doing any better?
***Not mentioned in video***
You will also need to disconnect and reposition the brake fluid reservoir and the wiring harness to cabin air filter to properly access the top mounting bracket on your battery. Spent 30 minutes learning this step the hard way
Becareful when removing the battery that way. That piece in front of the battery that you remove with the battery terminal. There's a megafuse panel there, and sometimes there's wires break. Or put stress on those fuses, and they break. Those feed your computers for your car.
Great video, of the 3 I watched, yours was by far simplified and I can tell you that's a real nut slapper by Ford.....
This is neither quick, nor easy... But thanks for the how-to. I can hopefully get the current battery charged enough to drive it to a mechanic.
I found a family of dead mice in my Air Box 😂
@@Giovanni13n YEah! Mine was full of eaten nutshells!
Thanks for the video. Just changed mine, and I definitely prefer this method over the wiper cowl removal.
FYI to everyone, the video doesn’t mention the third pop fitting for the air filter housing that is near the front of the vehicle. I broke the plastic mounting prong connected to the air filter housing because I didn’t think there was a third connection for it.
Mr. Dowdy is referring to a rubber grommet that needs to be pushed to front of vehicle to release it. It's "tab A in slot B" type. I just replaced my battery using this method because I already started and didn't want to deal with wiper arm removal. If you're reading this, DON'T go this route. Luke, remove the cowl. Use the Force to use the Cowl Method. (If you think about it, wouldn't you rather work from above looking down at the battery than from the side and trying to get socket wrench under cowl? You can get at the terminal connectors and the bar holding the battery SO MUCH EASIER. Lesson learned.)
@@michaelwest7649 agreed
@@michaelwest7649 Yep, I got criucified on Reddit for doing the cowl method, but I also learned that there have been multiple cases of moving the wiring harness in front of the battery causing MIDI fuse failure, which causes a no start condition.
This where I’m stuck!!! How do I get it off???
And, this is one of the reasons why I don't work in a car dealership anymore.
Thanks 🙏
I found this method very easy. 👍👍
This method does not work unless you have an electric ratchet wrench. A normal socket wrench won't work to get the bolts off the battery strap. There isn't enough room between the battery and cowling above the battery to fit a deep socket, as a result the back of a normal socket wrench jams against the cowling when you are trying to remove the bolts on the strap.
Took me close to 45minutes but of course I just had a harbor freight ratchet with 8+10mm sockets and a 8mm combo wrench. I figured out you don't need to remove the whole intake pipe, there are two more 8mm screws on the left side of the intake box which allows you to just pull the box off without even opening it in theory, didn't figure it out until I already started.
Thanks for this how to. There is also a sensor wire to disconnect on that left side.
Thanks good to the point video. I appreciate that.
Since they put in all that safety equipment upfront, which saves a lot of people’s lives, the trade-off was put in the battery back out of the way - I don’t like it either
OE battery is a weak 96R. If you're willing to modify the hold down bracket there are 2 bump stops in in the battery tray. They are just clipped into place so if you pop them both off, you'll have and additional 3" for battery length. You can squeeze in up to an H7/94R. Theses are ~1/2 taller which is why the bracket will need to be modified. Don't necessary need the cranking amps but the extra reserve capacity will allow you to keep the radio on for more than 5 min without having to jump it.
How did you get that hose clamp off. It doesn't look like the one that has a screw that loosens it
I see the screw now. I'm going blind. Nice video though
What us that piece called that's missing on the hose
What kind of camera are you using?
How to turn a five minute job into a two hour project. Of course, Ford mechanics charge $120 per hour. This was dumb.
It takes about 10 minutes. The airbox can come out in one piece, you just unscrew the air intake hose from it. Two 8mm screws.
Certainly old cars were easier, but to be fair, 10 minutes to do something you'll only need to do every 5 years or so isn't a big deal, IMO.
I did it pretty easy this way. Thanks alot for making video
I think it's easier if you take off the wipers and plastic cover instead if the filter block.
Thanks for the video. I used the info to swap the battery in my '15 Escape. I improvised on the clip tool by using a small screwdriver to pop them. It worked, but I'll acquire the correct tool, for next time.
2015 Ford Escape for sale. Seriously, I’ll just give it to you.
Ford: I know we have a battery that takes 5 minutes to install on most of our vehicles but I was thinking 1 to 3 hours service time.
Ford escape designer: not a problem.
If you use this method, it works. Rather than fighting to get at the hose clamp, just remove the two 8 mm screws that connect the MAF to the air box. They are much easier to get at.
I am not a professional mechanic. Nor am I a beginner. I have always maintained everything I own. From ski boats with inboard engines to outboard engines. Trucks, cars, motorcycles and everything in between. I have never been afraid to tackle anything. I have all kinds of tools including specialty tools. I have definitely jobs that required more time and tools. But to just replace the battery on something..... This was absolutely ridiculous!!! I had to use all kinds of tools. There are no give me's on this job. Every single bolt you will fight. Mostly because of space.
I needed a new battery in my 2013 Ford Escape nobody would change it at the parts store and the dealership charged me 250 for just the labor now I see what they meant by having to dam near take the engine apart 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Amen. This recently happened to me and I had to get my mechanic to change it out as no one else would touch it.
Yep this is much easier. Thanks I'm working on a city of dallas fleet escape and this video came in handy.
Worst thing about this car. My 2008 g6 is pretty easy to replace the battery. My wife’s 2007 Hyundai Elantra takes like 5 minutes to replace the battery. Ford Escape? Ridiculous. It was designed this way to make you come into the dealer to get your battery replaced.
Thanks. 2015 Escape. Took a total of 45 minutes much shorter than I was really expecting it to be.
Just what I needed to know. I was thinking the worst and that was taking the cowl panel off.
Quick and easy......ooooook. This is completely asinine. Thanks for helping me decide not to buy this car 🤣😂🤣😂🤣
I was just looking at these and saw this. So I'm most definitely not getting a MKC
At least he didn't have to take off the driver's side front tire and wheel well like a Dodge.
Thank you for this video. I watched one where they removed the top, wipers, etc. Screw that. This was a lot easier. One thing I did was remove the main wire in the fuse box. VERY easy. small clip on the side of the blue lift handle and pulled out easily. That way the front battery plate stays together.
Thanks again and would someone slap the person that put the battery in that spot for me?
I did this this way and it take twice as long to do this way, much faster and easier to remove the wiper arms and the plastic trim piece and the support under it (4 bolts ) and the whole battery is wide open to remove.
I did it that way the first time and this way just now. Honestly, they’re both a pain in the ass. One of my wiper arms was jammed and I needed to use a puller to get it off. And have fun getting them indexed if you didn’t mark them before hand.
Such a shit design. Luckily, with just shy of 140k on my 2016, this will probably be the last battery swap I’ll need to do.
I changed mine this way. 100% the best and most efficient way to switch out the battery. Would love to know the engineer who designed it this way so I can toss the old battery thru his living room window.
Were the engineers doing meth to think this was a great idea?
Had to remove air filter box to fix transmission cable. Thanks for the info.
I just changed one in a 2017 SE. Had they just put 2 access holes for the battery strap , and the negative terminal, it would have made it much easier. I liked engineers designs much better when they were doing LSD.
seriously why making hard to have access to the battery from ford!
Full bag for sure. Thanks for the video. Cheers!
Disconnect the negative cable from the firewall. Cable is only 12 inches from battery. Once you do this pull battery forward and you have complete access to negative terminal
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Awesome video 🎉
All this for a battery? Who the H*** designed this? Thank you for showing.
Tip: the negative terminal might get stuck, use a flathead from the inside to pop it off. Your video is 3 minutes. It took me 4 hours and I gave you at least 6 more views. Thanks tho
You’re amazing for this video! Thank you!
ok so we got through that LOL...........now how do we reset the screen above the radio?? thanks
Leave the car running
Remove the battery!!!!
I wish we charged like 6 10ths. I did this yesterday on a vehicle, it wasn't too difficult but it's definitely time consuming. I was hoping to see someone else replace this battery with a easier approach to this but was denied lol 😆.
The video shows the harder way to do the job, the comments show the right way. Go in through the top guy, it takes a few minutes to remove wipers and and tray piece after that you have a straight shot down
Aren't you supposed to disconnect the negative battery terminal first, and then disconnect the positive battery terminal 2nd, to prevent an electrical short? Then when reconnecting the cables to the battery, aren't you supposed to go in reverse order, the positive first and then reconnect the negative second?
I have a question. On minute 3:37 he said "Not to big of a deal". Was that sarcasm?
This is better then taking louver off because the windshield wipers are a pain to remove
Thank you
Remove wiper bezel and cowl, so much easier. Other videso show this, do research before watching just 1 vid first
only problem with removing wiper blades is they're electronic wipers if you don't line them up exactly the way they came off you will have issues with the wipers
@@williamdavis3128 right... so thats as easy as making a mark with a paint marker or something that you can line it back up.
bs it took me 20 min like this guy did no need to remove wiper cowl etc.....
@@Boaters_hub they have markings on the windshield I believe for 2018 models and up
Best video advice for this job. Thanks.
It just shows you how so-called engineers aren’t mechanically inclined.
My kind of fix it video,straight,to the point.
This is the dumbest design of battery placement I’ve ever seen in my life. Trying to change my mom car battery is a chore right now!!!
You can unhook the chassis ground/remote negative on the right (vehicle left) and not have to unhook the negative on the battery until you get it out.
I have a 2018 that I bought back in june.. dead battery took to dealership. A day later my car wouldn't start 😮
Why did you do it that way? You didn't have to take the air filter off
Isn’t it easier to come at it from above by taking the wipers off?
FrankieFIGGS way easier
Absolutely 😉
Not really.
Yes.
@@fatmonet Too many other nuts and clips, and wipers to remove!
Thank you for the video. I was successful.
😮very good goodn and easy
An absolute joke, I opened my hood today to see the battery lodged underneath, where the hell am I supposed to put the jumper cables.
You can get the positive on the positive easily then there is a little post just above the right of the top / front of the battery for negative.
There is a negative post on the firewall.
If you couldn't see it and immediately recognize it, you really have no place being under that hood. Even my 66 year old mother knows what the negative post is.
I really do mean that in the nicest way possible as well.
Answer! YOU CAN'T PUT THEM ANYWHERE! Absolutely no room to use jumpers!
Ed Austin, you're full of shit. Just ground it on the firewall beside the negative wire. I've jumped other vehicles multiple times. If you couldn't figure that out you might want to learn how to use jumper cables.
I have a dead battery in my '14 Escape. I may lower my deductible and set it on fire instead... 🥺
Another fine job by Ford.. What a calamity just to get to the battery.
Man god send me to your channel because a fake mechanic tried to get over on me so I pulled up your channel and told him to give me my money back
This right here is why my 2017 Ford Escape is my first and last one. This is stupid. I should be able to go to an auto parts store, buy a battery, and put it in.
Absolutely💯💯💯
Unbelievable! Good video but I'm not attempting this. I changed the battery in my 2006 Nissan Armada quick and clean. What was Ford thinking?!$$$$
the uphill, both-ways, approach
It may be easier for you to remove the negative cable nut from the firewall, then slide the battery out to remove cable from the negative post.
Then reverse the process to reinstall the negative cable.
Nope, There's something clipped in to the negative connection and you can't get your hands in there undo it. Whoever designed this deserves to be waterboarded
@@chrisstackhouse7749 That's where you take a long panel clip remover, pry bar, or screwdriver and pop that clip holding the negative cable to the firewall.
For a battery install, the tooling to do this job is insane.
I did one yesterday, and whoever made the last install removed the wipers to get at the battery. They screwed up the timing on the wiper motors.
Other than a few deficiencies in design, I really like the Escape overall. It's a good vehicle.
Anyway....
I was cringing when you pulled the positive first, and reefed on the battery to expose the terminal. Sparky, sparky. Yowsa.
When removing or installing a vehicle battery you always disconnect the negative first and reinstall last as the negative can create and arc. Fyi
Good video but there will never be another Ford in my house again.