I had to buy a battery at Wal-Mart late lastnight, and the computer their showed that my 03 F150 FX4 Screw required the 450 cold start amp battery. I got it, but was a little concerned since the stock battery had 650 cold start amps. I live in Texas where it very rarely gets below 25* in the winter, and it get's pretty hot in the summer. Is this battery going to be okay? Forgive me for my ignorance. I don't know much about batteries at all! Thanks in advance.

Austin

 

Mine came stock with 540 CCA's so who can tell, and we get pretty cold and hot around Detroit. I just replaced it last winter so got 7 yrs out of it. Wal-mart bozo is clueless, but it should work fine for a while.

 

Thanks, that makes me feel better. I might still call Wal-Mart to see if they will take it back. It kinda makes me mad that their computer showed a battery that is not equal to the stock size battery.

 

Ya, even mine pist me off when I looked and saw only 540, I was like wtf? I got every option for towing yadda yadda. No surprise really, even my rad when it puked found the original to be thin, the replacement was twice as thick so again, wtf? Like I said, a 540 cca battery got me 7 yrs, the thin rad 3 yrs, (replacement rad lasted a year) and the new one now 4, so you never can tell.

 

Get this one:



It's ~$80+tax out the door at most dealerships. Just tell the parts guy you saw it online at that price, and he should sell it to you for that. The current ones have a red label.

 

Its funny. Back in the 1970's and early 80's a 450 CCA battery was about the biggest you could find at "normal" auto part stores. Most of the batteries sold were 375 to 425 CCA's. They worked fine on all the 351's, 360's, 390's and 460 c.i. engines. Then the stores started selling higher and higher CCA batteries and folks thought that you just had to have them.

Beside the CCA figure there is another number that is just as important. The CCA rating only indicates a short term power delivery at cold temps. The Amp Hour (AH) rating is the one that indicates how much energy is stored in the battery - can you leave your headlights on for 4 hours or 12 hours before the charge is gone. Or if can you crank your engine 6 times or 20 times on a cold morning. The AH rating can vary 3 to 1 for the same size battery because it is determined to a large degree by the internal construction. The last time I was looking at batteries at Wal-mart the info wasn't even printed on the battery anymore -or in the Wal-mart book. I decided if the battery vendor was ashamed to put the info on the label then it must be on the low side.

Back to the CCA's. 450 CCA is just fine for North Texas winters. Unless you are running a high compression KB big block full of 50W racing oil that has to start at 25 degrees F. don't worry about it.

 

i was surpeised also whem i went to replace and saw it was only 540cca.the 4.6 isnt a very big motor so.. my crown vic p71 has 800 cca lol that thing could power my house.

 

I put the same one as Steve83, but with the red label. I jump stuff off all the time, so I bought the biggest they had. It is under $100, and my stocker lasted almost 9 years. Until I broke a post off while changing a stuck battery cable end.

 

The modern spec for Ah is "reserve minutes".

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/
http://www.4unique.com/battery/battery_tutorial.htm