3kushn

Just got back from 10 days vacation. Left the truck at home. Guess what? Battery is dead as a door nail. Sure glad I was smart enough to take the wife's car to the airport. It would have been nicer taking the truck but thought I should bring jumper cables if I did.

Haven't had to think in those terms since I was a punk in the 70's.

3kushn

Duplicate post deleted

Damn Dirty Ape

iTrader: (1)

Sucker eh? Kind if like when you bought it unaware it had a problem? Nice.

papa tiger

Disconnect the battery and charge it. Reconnect it and let it set untouched for 8 hours. It should be allright then. If not you have a weak cell in it. If you have a weak cell the battery spins down internally on its own and things don't ad up right for the Battery monitor. It starts shutting down accessory circuits and you can fight it forever.

Tyssa'sRide

So how does this explain the guys that have had numerous batteries installed? Bad cells in all of them?

mattbrim460

HAHAHAHAHAHA! I needed a good laugh! 4 "bad" motocraft batteries in 3*months plus an optima that lasted three days...... Ya it is definitely "just the bad battery".... have you read any of this forum? Just curious.

3kushn

Did this on the original battery. This one is a dealer replacement that worked perfectly for about 3 weeks before the message started coming back.


Last night when I put the charger on it read only 8.? volts. This morning I went to disconnect the charger and it says "bad bat" I've got nothing - Zero.


So now I thought lets disconnect the battery and see if it'll take a charge. Not sure if it is but the charger is reading between 12.7 and 13.5V. Time will tell.


I know it sounds sophomoric but earlier someone said the software under certain conditions will prevent the alternator from topping off the battery. I've got nothing to lose, its Sunday and can't get another replacement so why not mess around a bit.


One thing I didn't consider with vacation plans is the battery not taking a charge at all when I got back. So here's a little advise. Either disconnect the battery when you leave for vacation or plan your return during business hours so you can get to a dealer for your replacement.


Geeezzzzzzz!!

Larsen00

Ford does have a way to track the drain on the system with the thing just sitting. If your battery goes dead insist they run that check for you, they'll need the truck for like a week to do it. No matter what it should be able to sit 2 weeks and still start. Again, I don't believe we are all getting the battery warning for the same reasons. My truck has set in sub freezing temps for more than a month and would still start but I'd get the battery warning.

In my case they found the truck's charging system isn't capable of holding the battery charge at the rate a battery charger will bring it to so while it was looking for 13 volts as "normal" in reality it was only maintained at about 12.3. So they charged the battery but instead of resetting the battery minder with a full charge they let it run down to 12.3 volts then reset it and almost 2 months later things SEEM to be resolved. It has no problem maintaining 12.3 on the battery, so far.

3kushn

I tried that too, sort of. I disconnected the battery when it was low, charged it then reconnected it. That didn't work.

My problem is I work out of this truck. The dealer isn't able to give me a loaner with tonneau to secure my tools. So leaving the truck for several days knowing they don't have a solution is tough to swallow. I also have the band aid smell issue which there's also no verified solution and will take a week for their best duct tape fix. Replacing the entire system. I'll bet it'll come back.

I know the only way to get any traction is to bring it in but that's very costly not being able to work. And how many times will it need to be reworked?

conger

It wouldn't do any good any good anyway. My truck was at the dealer twice for 10 days each time. That was to specifically track down the source of the mysterious parasitic battery drain. They gave up both times. My issue has been escalated and still no solution.
If there was a fix, we would have it by now. I do think Ford is working on it, but they don't know what is the cause.
We know two things. The instrument cluster periodically powers up while the truck is parked and key off condition. Also the TPMS (tire pressure monitor) starts up and does a test while the vehicle is key off condition.
These problems don't all Ford vehicles, but only some of the 09 to 13 F150's. Maybe the 14s too. To soon to tell maybe. Time will tell. The problem doesn't seem to be engine specific ether. Affects both 5.0's and Eco's.

So please, next person to suggest battery. Look back in the thread a bit first.