So I loaded up the truck Saturday night for a trip to Kettle Moraine to ride our mountain bikes Sunday and Monday. Sunday am I get up finishe loading and go to start her up and Tic, tic, tic, tic........ No way! 551 miles and a no start. Even better, I didn't put my jumper cables or jump box in the truck because........I won't need it, right.

Ok relax, call the free road side assistance from Ford perfect, the guy is her in less than 30 min.

Ok, I probably did something wrong, left something on.


Drive up park, change, start it up again and move it to a shaded parking spot, no problems. Finish getting ready and check to see if it will start again, same thing tic, tic, tic.....

My friends have jumper cables so we continue about our day ride for 2 hrs.

While luch was cooking on the grill, I check out the battery, I pull off the covers and see the 1st. cell by the negative terminal was EMPTY. I pour some water in and notice it coming right out the bottom of the truck.

Ok so at least I know what the problem is, but why did it happen?

Now, If you call around to places that sell auto batteries (remember it's Sunday on a holiday weekend) many don't list a replacement battery for the 2012 Ecoboost battery. Took some measurements and found one @ Farm and Fleet and all is good now.

So, on to the picture.
Notice the tape in the upper left corner, was that covering the hole? This had to have happened during installation, Yes?


Either way I'm heading to the dealer in the AM with the old battery and my reciept for the new one. Can't wait to see what they say.

B.

 

Id put it back in and have it towed in.

 

I agree with Worm^ have them replace it on their dime and that way if it happens again they can't throw the voided warranty bs on you.

 

If I didn't need to use the truck I would have had it on a flatbed to the dealer but trust me the dealer will pay for the battery I had to buy.


Stay tuned,

B

 

I doubt if the tape was applied on the line. My guess would be a dealer swapped battery. I've had two dead batteries on 2 different brand new trucks, one died in the driveway the day after I brought it home, the other was weak from the start and lasted about 18 months. Both were replaced under warranty.

 

Agreed, unless the parts in question were sent the 'inspect and repair' station on the line.

You wouldn't believe what those guys do to get parts accepted so they get longer 'break' times.

This really does sound like the dealer swapped it out.

 

Wow, so you really think the dealer swapped out the battery and put this on in. That's crazy!!

So was it a situation where the dealer dropped one and this was the way to get Ford to replace it for free?


B

 

Did you buy your truck off the lot or special order? I know it happens often on the lot where a truck might sit for awhile before being sold. The dealer will swap out a battery from another vehicle, and forget to replace or whatever. However, the battery you show in the pic looks like it was damaged somehow or dropped.

 

It was a special order. It was at teh dealer for 2 days before I picked it up.

B

 

Is there any evidence that the electrolyte damaged the battery tray or the sheet metal below the tray? Outside of getting a new battery, I would have concern about damage to the metal from the electrolyte leaking out into the tray and running down and around the engine bay.

 

Gip hit that one right on the head. A few years ago, Mazda had a whole boat load of new Mazdas damaged when the vessel ended up improperly re-balasting and rolled on it's side. Some of the cars go wet and they were immediately scrapped. Surprisingly though, Mazda scrapped all of the cars because of exactly the type of hidden damage Doug mentioned - battery acid spills leading to corrosion problems down the road. Have your dealer inspect, repair and warranty everything. Save all documentation.

 

I was going to take care of it myself but I think you are right, I will look everything over and take it in.


B