Had an interesting experience yesterday with my new truck. I returned from a 4-day trip and had left my truck in the parking lot at the airport only to find that its battery had drained so much that it wouldn't start. I double checked that I didn't leave something on and all was okay - no mental errors before I left. Thankfully I was able to get a jump start pretty quickly. No problems today starting it at any time either.

Has anyone experienced something like this? I don't usually go that many days without using my truck but, if this is a common thing, I need to plan for it on future trips. I know that the computer and radio will cause some drain, but aside from that, I don't know what it may be.

Any ideas?

 

I left my lights on without the motor running for only a couple of minutes and it drained the battery on my 08 XLT SuperCrew. I took it to the dealer and after some testing they determined it was a defective battery. They replaced it under warranty.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking the same thing as all else seems to be okay with the truck. My guess was that since it's an '08 and really hasn't been driven the battery probably never received proper charging cycles. I've called dealer this morning and am planning to go there on Friday. I'll post my results.

 

Finally made it to the dealer today and they checked the battery. Found it to be at 12.2 volts without charging system and 13.8 with. So, they said the battery is fine and I'll have to make another appointment to leave the truck for the day so that they can check on what may be causing a drain on the system. I'll be going back next week to leave it with them for the day.

Hopefully they'll get it figured out! Annoying when the truck won't start, especially in the cold.

 

If you have 13.8 with the engine on and it drops down to 12.2 when off then you most likely have a weak cell, you should go buy a new battery before it it leaves you stranded

 

I agree, I think it's a battery issue. They want to ensure that there is nothing else draining the system so I'll agree to let them run that testing next week. Either way, I'm asking them to put in a new battery when I go back. I want the issue resolved regardless plus a new batter will give me some peace of mind if nothing else.

 

Well, after going back and forth with the original dealer (where I purchased the truck) and getting no where with even an appointment for my truck, I decided to take it to another dealer. My truck went to the new dealer yesterday and they found that the battery was bad and would not hold a charge. Imagine that! So, they replaced it under warranty and all is fine with the truck. I'm certainly going to keep an eye on it to make sure all is well but, as I suspected, a new battery did the trick.

It was really getting annoying as I had to jump start my truck everyday in order to go anywhere. Even worse, if I made a short trip (under 10 minutes driving) the battery would be dead again as it didn't have enough time to get recharged from the initial start-up. Good thing I have a jump box otherwise it would have been a big pain.