Hi everyone......

I've got a 2005 XLT 5.4 that seems to have trouble charging the battery fully. It never has gone dead but I notice that the engine turns over slower about once a week until I put the Battery tender on it, then it takes about 3 hrs or so to get back up to float charge status(green light). Then it spins over fine until about a week goes by. This has been going on about 3 months now.


I've had the truck since new and never had this problem before. I do mainly just drive around town but my trip length has been the same the entire time owning the vehicle so that would seem to rule out the problem of too short of a trip to pull battery back up to charge.

Had the system checked at Advance and they say everything checks good on the charging system and the battery. In fact the guy said the alternator was perfect, 14+ volts at idle no load and same with lights and heater fan on high, etc. No parasitic drain with key off either. The battery is a 3yo Everstart, had WalMart check it last Dec just before it went out of warranty(3 yrs) and they said it was fine. All connections are clean and tight, no corrosion seen anywhere.

Any ideas

 

Did Advance do a full load test on the battery?

 

Well, I was on the phone for 5 mins with Advance a few minutes ago after reading your reply, with the test report paper in front of me asking if it was a "full load test" and the short answer is ......I still don't know. I could hardly get a word in edgewise with the associate on the phone. He kept talking about how their tester does not check all the accessory draw in the electrical system and that it might be something left on when key turned off. I know I don't leave anything on that I haven;t always left on such as the radio or possibly the heater fan.

It looks like the test was 4 parts, 1) EXP Decision is "Good Battery" showing 639cca on a 700cca rated battery, 12.79v, 2) Starter test shows "Low cranking amps" 10.65v, starter amp draw is low with ok starter voltage(I asked if that was a "normal" indication and he said yes. 3) Charging System Test "No Problems", 14.52v no load and 14.38v on load, 4)Drain Test "0.00A Pass"

Does any of this answer your question? Thanks for the help by the way.

 

Yeah, the battery looks okay.

 

I had Advance check the system on this truck again and the results were pretty much the same as before except the battery was 550 amps. So once again I charged the battery and it charged again for 3 hrs on Battery tender. Spins over nice and strong again right now.

I'm going to change the serp belt and adjuster since I have the parts on hand and the truck has 81k on it and see if that makes any difference. If not, next will be a new battery to replace the 4yo (N)Everstart.

Anyone else have any ideas??