05 XLT Scab.

Few months ago, the battery was dead after the truck sat for two days without running. Jumped it, took it to the dealer who tested the battery and the power draw, no problems found.

Today, same thing... didn't run it yesterday, so today it's dead.

WTF??? The battery is about the size of what you'd find in a bus... and I don't leave lights on. Only things plugged into the power sockets are a radar detector and a cell phone charger.

Thoughts? Could a phone charger possibly be discharging a battery without having the phone on the other end?

 

i have the exact same problem- i think having any accessory on the 12v plug drains it- (my radar detector) ive got the 650 cca battery in my 05fx4... only thing i can think of is that a cell could be going out in the battery? or its just one &^%&*y battery.

edit to add: planning on going to an optima yellow top in the near future- not worth arguing with ford over.

 

Men, search this site and you will find a plethora of information on the junk Ford OEM batteries. or..go get a new battery, which you will end up doing anyway.

 

Everytime I start my truck, I feel the battery getting worse... specially with this cold weather setting in.

I hope it makes it through at least until after Christmas....

'04 Battery 650CCA

 

I had a similar problem with the new Motorcraft battery I put in my 97 F-150 this year. It would work with a jump, work all day, but be dead in the morning. I pulled it out of the truck and ran a maint-cycle with my battery charger. Then I charged it on full power for 12 hours. Worked just fine after that.

A few years ago, I had a problem with my battery going dead if the truck sat unused over the weekend. It ended up being a combination of my cell phone charger and my dome light. Seems my kids had played with the dome and left it on. Never could tell it was on until I saw a glow from the cab one night.

 

In less than a year, that little sensor on the batter turned red. Took it back to the dealer, they tested it and stated it was ok, and the sensor doesnt mean anyting they also stated batteries with the green sensor have sometimes gone bad. They also said Ford doesnt like replacing batteries without conclusive documentation from the dealer. Well, after some fast talking, a new battery was being installed in my truck. My point was,
the red sensor indicates battery trouble and recharging is not going to help.
It will just continue to happen, the dealer agreed.

 

the dealer here close to me said the light is SUPPOSED to be red... I thought good ones were green, but they said no, they should be red if the battery is good- otherwise not lit up at all.

They have a record of the dealership testing it, and today I called the 24hr roadside assistance, so they should not have any problem replacing the battery. I did unplug my cell charger and turned off the radar detector and ham radio, so we'll see.

 

I have had 2 batteries in my truck this year. The dealer replaced them both no problem. They claim that they had a bad cell in both and that no problems with the charging system. I figure I will let them keep doing that until it goes out of warranty and then go with either an Interstate Megatron or I might try an Optima. I dont drive the truck everyday and I have gotten to where I unplug anything in the outlets.

 

are the battery lights in your batteries?

 

The light is actually an eye in the top of the battery that changes color to show what condition it's in. It gets covered by dust and various grunge so take a rag and clean the top to find it.

Bright green=good

Dark green or no color=discharged

Red=discharged

The best way to determine the condition of a battery is to put a voltmeter on it or do a voltage drop test.

 

That indicator doesn't mean jack. A load test is the only way to accurately test a battery, which is kinda funny, since the Ford tester doesn't exactly load the battery up like a carbon pile machine would. Ford can be pretty hard on batteries under warranty as well; for instance, if the battery tests as bad, they want you to slow charge it for 30 minutes before retesting one more time unless it says "Bad cell" on the first test. Ford's tester displays specific codes required to get warranty claims for batteries paid, so they can kinda tell whether or not you really charged the battery before retesting. In any case, dead batteries happen, ain't nothing unusual. Max allowed parasitic draw in these trucks nowadays is 30-40 mA after all the modules have gone into sleep mode.

 

That's roughly what the PCM draws to maintain memory when you turn off the ignition. People can't understand why that radar detector left plugged into the 12 volt ON ALL THE TIME outlet drains the battery dead.

 

Every business that warranties batteries learned their lesson from the JC Penny's life time battery debacle.
That pretty much ended Penny’s move into the automotive repair market.


Running parts stores, I sold a lot of batteries over the decades, and most warranty claims were bogus. I sold most major labels.

During the 80's-90's there were only three major makers, no matter what label you had them put on.

Every brand has bad ones; every brand has ones that far exceed the specs.

80% of our defective batteries were just fine. About half were just run down, the others were fully charged when brought in.

50-60 percent of the cores we took in were just fine.

Employees were allowed to buy the cores for core cost, so most of the clerks, cashiers and techs would just go back in to the core room with a load tester when they needed a battery for themselves.

So Ford insisting on charging a battery before believing a load test makes a lot of sense.
Chris

 

Advances in automotive technology have blown past battery tech by leaps and bounds. Vehicles get more and more complex with more electronics, and battery design has remained the same as it was 40 years ago. With the exeption of Optima, no one really has attempted to redesign batteries to work in a modern vehicle. When my factory battery finally croaks, there will be an Optima red or yellow top taking it's place.

 

You think that the P.I.E. unit, over a week long period, can drain a battery?