Replace that factory battery
Member
Joined: Jan 2023
Posts: 91
Likes: 15
Update: bad starter! I think that's been my issue all along. Battery is fine and plenty of charge on short trips. New starter did the trick. Makes sense to me now, I just never thought that would be it. However, replacing the battery twice and trickle charger still didn't fix it so I knew that was the next logical step and sure enough!
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 1,001
Likes: 547
From: Ontario, Canada
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2024
Posts: 13
Likes: 3
Replaced the battery on my 2022 Lariat a while back. I was continually getting the battery save messages. I mainly use the truck for pulling my boat in the summer and an occasional ride to town. After 2 weeks or so of no use the truck gets really hard to start. One time on my way to town, 35 miles, the battery was so low that the gauges were all screwed up. I would keep mentioning it to the dealer and they kept telling me to put a charger on it if it wasn't used for more than two days. I told them good luck with that, it was a new truck under warranty and if it didn't start, they could come and jump it. I did give in and take it to pool league every couple weeks so after that so it wouldn't get too bad.
It finally seemed to get weaker and weaker, so I gave in and charged it to get back to a full charge. Took the negative cable off the battery and waited 4 hrs for it to settle, 12.2 volts fully charged, basically dead. Studied up a bit and decided to get away from Ford batteries. The standard battery in my truck was a agm H6 760 cca, I replaced that with a H7 850 CCA agm Everstart from Walmart. Truck doesn't even hesitate to start like before, even when sitting for some time. Best $190 I have spent.
It finally seemed to get weaker and weaker, so I gave in and charged it to get back to a full charge. Took the negative cable off the battery and waited 4 hrs for it to settle, 12.2 volts fully charged, basically dead. Studied up a bit and decided to get away from Ford batteries. The standard battery in my truck was a agm H6 760 cca, I replaced that with a H7 850 CCA agm Everstart from Walmart. Truck doesn't even hesitate to start like before, even when sitting for some time. Best $190 I have spent.
No fart cans allowed
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 4,342
Likes: 2,367
From: MO
For my 2021 XLT same issue and replaced at Walmart with an H8 Everstart. What a difference but less than 2 years later and I got the battery saver message. What a dissapointment Ford. IT IS THE TRUCK causing this, not the battery. I put my NOCO5 charger on a repair cycle, then a 24hr charge on the AGM setting and seems like new again. For now. Lets see how long this lasts.
IMO it's not a battery draining issue. It's a poor engineering decision for how they programmed the BMS to potentially eke out another 0.1 mpg on the CAFE drive cycle. Change the target charge percentage to 90% or 100% before the alternator shuts off, thus acting almost like a traditional alternator/voltage regulator setup, and your issues are likely to disappear. Especially if you also disable ***, which pulls hard on the battery. I haven't had an issue on my 2015 because I don't often drive only short trips; my Lariat delivered with an H7 battery. If I did, I'd just disconnect the BMS at the battery. That's not a good option for later BMS versions.
Charging the battery periodically with a battery tender just helps keep the battery charged above the BMS 80% target, thus eliminating the problems. Fix the BMS target percentage and input the correct battery size and type with Forscan and you fix the problem.
No fart cans allowed
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 4,342
Likes: 2,367
From: MO
Ford OEM battery is likely manufactured by Clarios. Same as with most of the Walmart Everstart batteries. There is zero reason to stick with an OEM battery when an Everstart is cheaper, and rated as a good battery.
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2025
Posts: 366
Likes: 196
My 21' is original also. No problems whatsoever. Costco and call it a day.
Last edited by BlueLivesAntimatter; Jan 25, 2026 at 05:56 PM.