Back in July, the same day my Mom was discharged from 1 of her NUMEROUS hospital admissions, my battery died! I'd made it home from the hospital & went to move the truck over to make extra room for the ambulance & nothing! Dead as a doornail. BTW - what IS a doornail?
Anyhow, my "darling" sister refused to jump the truck. She doesn't jump ANYONE'S vehicle with her precious 2000 Toyota Sienna (?!?) so I missed out on getting to Ford to buy a Motorcraft battery. I NEEDED the truck - as it turned out my Mom was readmitted to the hospital the very next morning - TOTALLY UNRESPONSIVE due to respiratory issues. So........ dear sis HAD to drive me in & wait till I was ready to leave. (Typically she doesn't go to the hospital w/my Mom - she hates the waiting around!). After I got home I had a neighbor jump the truck & went to Advance Auto as it was the only place open to do an install as I didn't have ANY tools & heck, the truck is too tall for me to even reach the battery! LOL!
Okay - here's the HAPPY part. The kid pulled my battery out as I was telling him I'd had the truck since 10/00 & had never replaced it. Guess what? C'mon guess! YEP! IT WAS THE ORIGINAL BATTERY FEARLESS WAS BORN WITH ON 11/18/96!!!!! That battery lasted 12 YEARS! I TRIED to buy my core back - I was going to put it in the garage & invite friends over to marvel @ it but they refused to sell me MY core! So - I took some pics of it! Soon as I remember how to post them I will!
Now for the sad part. Had I gone to Ford the Motorcraft was ONLY $10 more than the garbage battery I had to buy. Oh well - if it gives out in 3 years I get a new 1 & will just have to cross my fingers it lasts.
So - there's my happy battery story. Hope y'all liked it!

 

Tell your sister Toyota blows. Good story, I thaught I was doing good at 8 yrs, Motorcraft batteries are good.

 

Why couldn't you just pay the core charge and keep it?

 

The battery in my 97 F150 lasted over 7 years.
The battery in my 06 took a dump a couple days ago.WTF 3 years??
I replaced it with a NAPA battery.The NAPA battery has 880 cca's, the original Motorcraft battery only had 650 cca's.

 

I agree about Toys. But she's a hockey Mom & LOVES her minivan. Go figure. Sure doesn't take after me or my Dad - he was a Ford man too! Boy do I miss him!
I went with the 850cca too because we get some nasty temps here in the frozen wasteland known as Western NY. I was SHOCKED when I saw the original battery though. I jumped up & down, called a former coworker who's a GM man & razzed him real good!
They said they had to show a core for every battery sold & that's why I couldn't get it back. That's a lot of cow manure if you ask me! What if I bought it, brought it home to install & never returned the core? Would they send the "dead battery core police" after me? The manager just thought I was nuts for wanting it. That's ok - a guy pulled up in another 97 F150 & I went over to rave about Motorcraft batteries. Guess he won't buy a Valu Kraft if he ever needs a battery! LOL!

 

My '99 gauges started to peg on startup after 9.5 years.
I had planned on getting another Motorcraft but, the brand has been getting bad press in the 2004 Forum.
Things may have changed in the last dozen years.

Anyway sounds like we got the same battery, this was about $100 here.


The warranty matched Optima and spec'd out the same.

 

My ****ty mastercraft battery didn't even last a year.

 

I am on my 4th ford truck (01, 03, 05, 08), all bought new, all stock, all can't keep a battery longer then 6 months. They all work fine one day and then the next, nothing. Back to ford for a new one and I am good for another 6 months. I had my 05 F150 after the warranty expired, bought an aftermarket and it lasted me a full year (at which point my lease ended and I got my 08). So to sum up, I think ford batteries lick *******.