Hello,

I have an 05 F150 Supercrew. I was having a slow/hard start issue around the middle of December. I took my truck into the dealer and they checked it out and replaced the battery. I just came back from a two week vacation and the truck is completely dead. The battery was down to 0.95 Volts. I assume that this means that I have a drain somewhere in the system. I am completely stock, so does anybody have any advice? (No lights were left on in the truck and the headlights were on the auto setting)

Thanks for any advice

 

yea you either have some kid of drain somewhere or its shorting out somewhere. I would take it to the dealer again and tell them your story. They should be able to track it down and find it.

 

I am booked in on Monday at 10 hopefully they can figure it out.

 

Sounds like a draw.Quick way to check.Pull your radio fuse and make sure every switch and everything is off in on the truck.Disconnect the ground cable and hook a test light to it.Then touch the testlight to the negative batterie post.If you have no light then you have no draw.If your light lights up and your radio fuse is out something is either on or you have a draw.Normally they come from starters and alternators.I've seen them from stuck relays and bad switches.Keep pulling fuses until light goes out.If all fuses have been removed and light stays on .Remove leads to starter and check and if its still on remove alternator lead.Remind you if anything is on at all then you'll get the light.AKA light under hood,door lights,Cigarette lighter chargers,radio memory.They can be a pain to locate and I'm not sure if anything else on these newer trucks draws all the time like radio memory.Keep that in mind.

 

Great Advice Bandit I have used this method before and it works well. I found the glove box lite will stick on and drain the battery sometimes.

 

What if you pull out EVERY fuse and EVERY relay and the testlight STILL lights?

 

Man those guys got it good!

 

You have a Alarm system?? I have a two-way system and in 5 days without using the truck the battery will be dead. The antenna is always sending and receiving signal. ??????

 

I had a similar problem... The dealer found a 127mA draw on my battery all the time even when it was parked, therefore the trucks electronics were not going to sleep. They had the truck for a week and found a leak in the cowl and it was shorting out a fusebox or something along those lines. Check for leaks up there. Use a hose and just spray it along there and see if you see anything. Just food for thought... Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Nope, no alarm, all stock on my truck. After my boost I drove around for 1/2 an hour and parked it, it was up to 12.54 Volts, after sitting overnight it was completely dead again. It is winter up here, not all that warm and I don't have a garage so it is a little too cool for trouble shooting electrical systems. I don't see anything obvious like lights radio/electrical staying on so I will just wait till tomorrow and have the dealer try to figure it out.

Thanks for that write up TheBandit, I will keep that in mind for when I am out of warranty and need to troubleshoot.

I will update with the results when I get them.

 

I dropped it off today and they said they wanted to keep it overnight so they gave me a loaner focus wagon. (beats walking). They called me a few hours later saying that it was my cell booster that was plugged into my rear powerpoint. I told them I am pretty sure it isn't because it is turned off and even if it was on it only draws 0.2 amps when in standby and 2 amps in max power. There is no way that could drain a battery overnight. They are now going to check it after it sits for a night. I will see what happens.

 

I would bet thats not it cndcowboy. I've had a Stinger rechargeable flashlight plugged into my rear power point for a year now and no problems. Now that I don't drive it everyday anymore my truck sits for a week at a time. I do have an Optima Red Top battery though. My guess is you got a hold of two bad batteries. We have to replace them in brand new trucks all the time if they sit on the lot more than a couple of weeks or so.

 

here's what you do, and you get to practice ark welding...disconnect the negative and positive cables, put the positive end of the jumper cable to positive post, negative cable to negative post from a safe distance away from the battery, touch the positive and negative cables togethier...this will fry the battery, and Ford will not be able to recharge the battery....I had to do this to solve my issues with a dead battery after far to manny attemts by my ford dealer to resolve my issues.....
I got a new battery!!!!

Booth - and + Cables must be disconected or you blow a fuse.. or toast a coumputer or something....wear a good pair of gloves to protect your hands.....yes this is dumb...

 

WOW you obviously have never seen a battery explode! its kinda like a 105mm howitzer going off! bad advise there......

 

UPDATE:

They called this morning after having my truck for 2 nights and said that the battery isn't draining at all overnight. Go figure, it won't do it when it is at the dealership. Well, I will see what happens when I get it back.