It happened to me before my preventive maintenance could be done! I had read on here how the battery can just go totally dead, instantly, on these trucks. I was not a believer that this was the norm. I am now. Got in my truck at 5:00 cranked fine, headed to West Fort Worth on some errands. Came out of a store and hit the starter---nothing. No click, no dash lights, no buzzer, absolutely nothing. Adjusted shfter, got out and wiggled battery connections, still nothing. Except, a ticking from behind the rear seat.

A guy attempted to give me a boost, lights blinked, starter made one revoultion, then nothing. I decided, small compact, his battery was too small. I called my wife, gave her a list of tools I needed and she drove the 18 miles to where I was. Removed the battery, and went shopping. At the second store, found an Interstate, bought it, headed back to install. Fired up like it was ready for a race! Still hard for me to accept that a battery can go so dead without even a hint that it is weak. I'm very thankful that I was not stranded where I could not deal with it or at a time that would have created an emergency.

My truck was built 11/2004, so the battery was near 4 years old. My plan was to replace it with another Motorcraft, next month. I think they are supposed to be 6 year or maybe 5 year batteries and I know some last a lot longer, so I thought I would be wasting by changing it at 4 years. Hope the Interstate is better than the Motorcraft! JUST BE PREPARED! IT WILL DIE, INSTANTLY!

 

My truck was built 1/12/04 and im still running the original battery. Thanks for the heads up, i may want to yank it before it screws me over.

 

My truck rolled off the line March 1999.

Nine years, six months. I'm going for the Cal Ripkin record for batteries.

 

Same thing happened to me back in Febuary, going fine and went to crank up after work and it was dead. Got it jumped and went to a shop close to my house and put in a Interstate. Make sure all terminal connections are clean and tightened real good. Also had to reset my Edge. Had no warning that the battery was going bad. Worked great for 4 yrs.

 

Yep, when I say no warning, I mean no warning. It cranked fine when I left work, drove 10 miles or so. In the store about 5-10 minutes, hit the key and nothing. It was like a fuse had blown instead of a dead battery.

 

If you had tried to drive your truck in the last 5 years, you would know it is dead. You've been letting the goats pull your cart!

 

Back in the day, Ford had a Towing package and an Electrical/Cooling Package.

You could get the Electrical/Cooling package as stand alone.
If you got the Towing package it included the Elect/Cool.
So, my Towing included HD 72 amp battery and HD 130 amp alternator.
The trucks without the options got 58 amp battery.

What do the new trucks have, 58 or 72?

 

Mine has the heavy duty altenator, 130. The battery had 650 cranking amps. The replacement has 750.

 

I replaced my 04 battery with a good ole optima. With all my audio and stuff, the yellow top was for me. I am now looking into a bigger alt.

 

My truck has the towing package with the 130 amp alt, maint free battery but does not say what amp, I'd guess 72. Got this off the window sticker that I kept.

 

I considered an Optima, last night, but was not sure how they fit in the tray. Did not know if the stock battery cover would fit over it or what, so went with the Interstate.

 

I have had great luck with Optimas and Interstate batteries.

 

After two cold winters, & what sounded like a weak start one cold morning, I was not going to let the stock battery screw me on a cold morning start! This past spring I installed an Optima Red Top, they install easy with the provided adapter, & you don't use the stock plastic battery top. It has way more cranking amps than the stocker & looks way cooler in the engine bay!......

 

I may get the Optima when this one goes out in about 4 years.

 

My truck has the same 11/04 build date from the Norfolk plant and my battery did the same thing after 4 years of service. About 3 months ago I came out of a store and just like you, I heard nothing. The truck didn't click, crank, or anything. I ended up calling my dad who gave me a ride down the block to a Walmart, where I bought one of the yellow colored high amp batteries. I put that in, and have been good to go ever since.

I'm guessing part of my problem can be attributed to killing the battery a few times by leaving the lights on, or the radio on with the engine off. I also haven't been driving the truck that much lately since I purchased a small econo box (Focus ZX3) to commute to work.