Battery Died Over Night. Thoughts???
 

Hi All,

Just bought a used 2015 F-150 501A Lariat a few weeks ago and we just got dumped on by a bunch of snow. Was going to go move it this morning to shovel (I had taken it out last night) and tried the automatic starter. Would not work. I jumped in and tried to start it normally and it would not work. I jumped it and finally got it to turn on so I left it on for about 15 minutes to get some juice back in it.

Things I think it could have been:
1. There was snow between my folding mirrors and the window that did not allow the mirror to close completely inwards. Maybe the system was trying to continue to close this all night and drained the battery.
2. Is it possible the memory seat function needs to return completely back to the starting position before opening the door and leaving the vehicle?

I am not sure if this is me being paranoid or connecting dots together but here are my concerns:

• The carfax was very up to date and service/inspections were performed regularly. However, almost every time the truck was brought in (including its first oil change at 5k miles), there is a "battery serviced or replaced" comment. Is this just regular inspection of the battery life/performance, or something to be concerned about?
• The carfax also shows 2 electrical system serviced remarks. One at 11k and one at 30k, the truck now has 51k.
• I also looked under the hood at the dealership and noticed the rubber cover for the positive side of the battery was off to the side. I did not think much of it at the time, I just moved it back and closed the hood. But now I am thinking this was because they had to jump the battery (this may be me being paranoid). The vehicle inspection report that was required to be done by the dealership shows zero signs of any issues with the truck as all the boxes are checked no regarding everything, including electrical issues or battery issues.

Any thoughts or comments on my concerns are very much appreciated. Please also feel free to share similar stories or other thoughts on what it could have been. I have had the truck for 3 weeks, it has experienced colder temperatures than this, and has sat without running while I was out of town for 4 days, so I don't think it is a time or temperature issue. I hope it was the folding mirror I mentioned above, but this is me being optimistic.

Thank you all for your help and comments.

First thing to do is get the battery tested. If it has a dead cell it won't hold a charge long even after driving for a while. In my previous car I had this happen. Battery worked great, then all of a sudden it was dead as a doornail. If the battery is the original and it's 3 years old I wouldn't be surprised if it was near the end of it's life cycle. A good replacement will last you longer than that.

My thought is AGM batteries suck, they end their useful life with no warning.

If you examine the battery, you will find a date of manufacture somewhere on it, either regular numbers or a date code.

Make sure that the battery did not just die of old age, before you get excited about potential problems.

I've had 2 batteries, on 2 different vehicles, die overnight in my garage. Both under warranty, the dealers came out and replaced them. Batteries die, such is life.

And the battery is supposed to be serviced/checked at each oil change at the dealer.

While not necessarily a desirable characteristic in a car battery, that's actually the mark of a better battery... rather than slowly degrading on time, they stay useful for much longer. However, proactive replacement is really recommended.

I really appreciate the replies. I am pretty cynical :wacko: and suppose I should knock out the most probable issues before thinking its something parasitic. Battery manufactured in December of 2014, so almost 3.5 years. Makes sense to get a new one sometime soon. Just praying it starts tomorrow before work!

Cheers

If possible slap a battery or trickler charger on it tonight.....

So it's the original battery. I've never had good luck with the factory battery in different makes. Buy a new one and you should be fine.

Exactly, original battery, which also mellows my concern about the carfax battery service/replacement remark.