Word of wisdom....anyone with 09+ ford vehicle eqipped with the smart junction box/modules will want to keep alert when the following happens after initial startups .......

*air bag light stays on

*nav radio indicates malfunction>>>the radio will work but the screen says the unit itself is malfunctioning

*seat belt reminder stays lit eventhough everyone is buckled

*dome lamps don't turn off

*remote start and remote keyless entry intermitantly working

all of these issues never occurred at the same time....only one or a combination of two of them but never a combination of three or more...

these are all symptoms that happened when my battery was dying......my use of a battery tender did help but made the diagnoses of the issues more difficult until I just took a break from using the tender....

after allowing the vehicle to run for 5 minutes after the initial startup then a restart should clear the malfunction due to the system having enough voltage......

I had to cancel my order for the pro xs d6500, it was backordered anyways and I ended up going to sears and purchasing a die hard platinum group 65.....

now none of these symptoms have not reoccurred .....

A load test of the battery confirmed the battery was bad.....only 3.5 years old original oem from the factory....

I didn't have any other warning or dash lights on to indicate there was an issue....

 

On trucks without nav the radio display lights up with battery warnings if the voltage drops too low.

I charge my XLT's battery once a month whether it needs it or not.

Low voltage on battery's in new vehicle's cause nothing but problems so I'm not taking any chances.

 

Great point. Battery tenders and other charges are extremely useful tool...when used properly. I think they are intended for long term storage type settings.

I had a motorcycle that I kept on a battery tender junior religiously one time. Remover the charger and she'd fire right up. 1 hour later and 80 miles frome home, she'd leave you stranded! Battery tender masked the problem for a long time. Luckily bikes are relatively easy to roll-start. Now I only use it for its intended purpose...winter storage.

 

I had a 2004 F150 that wouldn't blow warm air, the rear windows wouldn't open, a couple other issues. Finally I decided to change my battery and magically everything started working.

The dealer, replaced the heater core, the blower, fuses, etc.... All on Fords dime but when I replaced the battery all started working better. Glad you found the problem.

 

You don't know how long that brand new batt has been sitting in the mfg. warehouse, the back of a transport truck, the distributors warehouse and finally the parts store. Good way to help a brand new battery's life span is by slow charging it overnight before installing into the vehicle. They should be charged monthly until it arrives to the end user but nobody does it.

This is also true with a brand new vehicle so I'm not that surprise yours only lasted 3.5 yrs. I asked my dealer to charge the batt prior to picking up my new truck in 2010. Needless to say they didn't and they even called the service manager to give me this generic BS about the new vehicle electronic system.

Anyway the point is to charge up the brand new batt as soon as you get it. It will last a lot, lot longer.

 

After 3 years I always replace the stock battery regardless.

 

My first OEM batt died after about 3 months, actually it didnt die all the way but I kept getting the Batt error on my display in the instrument cluster. I would turn the key off and the radio would play for abut 30 seconds or so then turn off and I would get that error. They replaced the battery and now I dont see it as quickly. If I let the radio run for about 5-10 min with the keys off it comes on, but I am running 2 amps (about 1000 watts) and a signal processor. The first battery was with the system bone stock.

 

My buddy has a 2003 Harley F150 and the stock battery lasted 7 years, for some reason Ford switch manufactures or something changed in 04 and the quality has taken a turn for the worst. Its not just ford either, these auto companys are just putting the bare minimum batterys cca into there cars and trucks.

 

I agree....

 

There was likely nothing wrong with the battery. It is cheaper in the long run for the dealer just to replace instead of taking the many hours to re-charge so it could be tested properly.

But like was said previously, lot rot and initial state of charge of battery may not have been up to snuff. Even assembly plant repair bays I've seen them leave head lights on w/ no charger.

But also understand the feature content has climbed considerably and engine temps have increased (limited front air flow for improved mileage) which also is hard on a battery. So batteries today are generally cycled deeper and operating at higher temps.

Ford has been using the exact same supplier (JCI) for F150's for over 10years and the batteries are nearly identical except for a slight upgrade in specific gravity. The '09's have 58Ah, 10's 72Ah and the 11'+ are 78Ah batteries. There currently isn't a bigger standard wet cell available above 78Ah that will fit under the hood of current production vehicles. I agree that the '09 with the smaller batteries were undersized, but still met key off load requirement.

 

Im not doubting you, you seem to know a lot more then me but for what ever reason these batterys just dont last like they use to.

 

I bought a new 1978 E-150 which I drove for 10 years, parked it for two years, traded it for some reefers in 1990 and it still had the original battery.

I put a 20amp charger on it for 2 hours and the guy drove it away.

Both of us were real happy.

He drove it out to Woodstock '94.

But I believe he'd already changed the battery.

 

OMG, OCD!

I had an 04 for 8 years, killed the battery 3 times over two winters with aftermarket seat heater, that was the only times I ever charged it. Started up no prob on the coldest mornings.

are these new truck batteries smaller? cheaper?

 

My 2005 oem battery lasted from June '05 (when I purchased it new), till August 2010. So a bit over 5 years. Not sure if it was just a coincidence, but I never had it even act like it was going dead until I left my phone plugged in the charger overnight by accident. Tried to start it the next morning and the thing just clicked, battery was completely dead, not a single light would come on.

Funny part was my friend tried to give me a jump using her saturn and best I could get was the lights would come on. Had to get my sisters Yukon for a bit more umph, and she started right up. I made a few jokes about the poor saturn being too weak...

 

So witch battery should I replace the junk OEM battery with? Doesn't JCI make most of the aftermarket batteries out there?