Serious electrical, battery charging issue...

[pelotonracer2]

I bought a new (to me) 2017 Fiesta ST back in late May. Car had been wrecked in the rear and repaired. Car repair "looks" good.

However, shortly after taking it home, I noticed the trunk would not open using the button on the back or the key fob...

I figured out (through emperimentation) that if I turn the ignition to "off", get out, lock the doors, then unlock the doors, get in push the start button but not start the engine, I can get out, walk around and push the hatch button and the hatch will release. A PITA, but at least I figured out how to get it open. 😅

If I leave any of the above steps out and try to push the hatch release, I can hear it making a clicking noise, but the hatch wont release.

Also, if I drive the car at night and turn the lights "on". The "door ajar" light comes on and there is a loud buzzing noise coming from the hatch area. I had to remove all the interior light bulbs because they stay on or flicker when driving with the headlights on. If I turn the headlights off, the "door ajar" light goes off, the interior lights go off and the loud buzzing stops. The loud buzzing will come from the hatch area sometimes when I open the rear doors for a few seconds but its only sometimes, EVEN IF THE IGNITION/POWER IS OFF.

Fast forward to now, same issues but if I let the car sit overnight after driving at night, my battery loses its charge by morning. In fact, connected to a battery charger with maintenance, the draw on the battery is more than what the battery charger can supply to the battery. I've had to resort to disconnecting the negative ground that is connected to the negative battery terminal and keep it on the the charger. It does just fine when not grounded, the charger can charge the battery and keep it on maintenance indefinitely.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm sure it has to be due to the rear end accident and the "repair" that was done. A short or bad grounding, crossed wires, etc. The place I bought the car from couldn't figure out anything for me. I thought maybe it was the hatch latch assembly and they replaced with a new one, no charge but that isn't it.

TIA.

 

[Intuit]

Sounds like there's a hatch, latch and door jamb switch are misaligned. If there's too much pressure against the latch, it's going to have issues releasing. I don't know about this specifically but with many vehicles that door jamb switch is embedded in the latch assembly.

The alignment procedure listed in the manual seems flawed because the rear lift gate is going to shift around after you reopen it, to tighten the previously loosened nuts.

Anyway, you can shift the lift gate and latch around until the issue is sufficiently impacted.

The only requirement for opening the lift gate is the remote being nearby, but outside the vehicle. Whether it's locked, or the state of the ignition, doesn't matter.