I'm convinced I bought my new truck with a faulty battery. What is the best way to handle this? I'll give a quick rendition of the story.

The day I went to the Dealership for final negotiations on this truck it was not on the dealers lot. They told me that it was getting cleaned up for a parade the next day, but if I bought it they would need another truck for the parade. I didn't buy the story, but figured it was a new sales ploy. When the truck showed up after I bought it, it was clean, but nothing special. It still had the same dirt on the front wheel that I noticed the last time I saw it. The next day I went back to the dealership because I forgot to take my CD out of the radio of the truck I traded in. While I was there, the sales manager who was off the previous night apologized about the battery problem.

Through the winter the battery has struggled. Twice it just barely started. Once I let it sit for four days, and it did not start. I didn't have time to get it towed in, so I threw a maintainer on it for a day and went to work in my wife's vehicle. After it was charged I could tell it turned over faster than than it had been. I made an appointment with the dealership and took it in the following week. I asked them to check the battery, and complained that the compass needed to calibrate about once a week. The service manager said that is common with a bad battery. When I picked up they charged the battery and said I was good to go.

Now I have an Edge installed on the truck so I can watch the volts daily. It appears that the volts drop a little every day. Currently they are about 11.5 volts when I start the truck each day. It's getting warmer so that is enough to get it started. My daily commute is 12.5 miles and 20 - 25 minutes each way.

What do I do next?

 

Defective batteries happen. Get them to test it. It should show up weak. They need to test the output of the altenator as well. It may not be charging the battery.

 

The dealer had tested it twice now. Both times they charged the battery and sent me on my way. I don't trust the results of their test. I'm driving around with jumper cables, a battery maintainer and 25' of extension cord in the box just in case I need them.

They told me that batteries drain when the truck sits, and that's normal. If it sits for four months sure, but not for four days.

You have a Gryphon, what do your volts read before you start the truck? Please test it for me. Set your display to show volts. Turn the key acc on, but don't start the truck. Read the displayed volts.

Here is another hint. Lately my Edge display does not work. I have to unplug it and plug it back in after I start it. I heard that is normal if your battery volts are low.

 

I had a similar situation the day after I took delivery of my 2006. Called salesman and they
offered to tow it back to the dealer for a new battery pronto. Don't know if I got a bad battery, or maybe it was swapped out by the dealer as a replacement for another vehicle in for repair, but it was a dead duck since day one.

 

Mine reads just over 12 volts, and when the engine is running, it varies from 14.2 to 14.5

 

Long shot, I know, but do you leave your keys in the ignition while the car is parked over-night? Keys with the chip in them will drain the battery if you leave the keys in the ignition for an extended time without the car running.

 

Don't know where ford gets these batteries, but they are junk. Mine has been replaced twice under warranty.

 

I lucked out my stock battery lasted until January of this year, and my truck has a build date of 4/04, so almost 5 years isn't too bad IMO.

My truck sits alot, 3-4 weeks at a time and if I knew I was going to be using the truck I would put the charger on the battery a day or 2 before. But I found that even if the truck sat for 4-5 days the truck would barely start, if at all. If it would start my Edge would not light up so I would have to unplug and the plug it in again for it to work. And I also noticed that my battery volts were only in the high 12-low 13's with the truck running.

After I got the new battery the truck would start even when it was -30* and it sat for a couple weeks. Also my volts are now in the mid 14's while running.

Take the truck to the dealership and tell them that you want a new battery, if they through a fit about it go to a different dealer.

 

My battery went totally dead while I ran into a store and back out. The dash lights would not even come on. No warning whatsoever, 35 months old.

 

Then I'm not far off from normal.

The keys were left in it the time I could not get it started. I planned on using the truck again later that day, but instead ended up sick and didn't leave the house for four days. Thanks, I will ensure the keys are out of the ignition and test it right.

 

I would rather go back to my old dealer. Who pays for the battery, the dealer or Ford? I'm thinking I have to get it towed for Ford to pay for the battery.

 

It should be under warranty, so Ford pays.

 

Ford should pay for them, but the dealer of course has to accept it as a warranty claim. My dad had both batterys in his 05 F350 PSD replaced when they were about a year old. He said that they didn't even test the batterys, they said that they had alot of problems with batterys and just put new ones in, no questions asked.

But every dealer is different...

 

It's a battery problem. My truck sometimes sits for a month or two without being started and it starts fine. My original battery lasted almost 5 years and the original in my Escape was replaced after almost 7 years and it still worked well (worried wife). My original battery in the F-150 cranked slow for a couple of weeks before it totally failed.

 

I'm convinced it's a battery problem. I either need to convince a dealer that it is and get it replaced, or buy one myself.