The battery has dies on my 2005 F150 or so it appears. What is bothering me is that this is the technically the third battery. The original was replaced the day I bought it off the lot in December of 2005. The second died & tested bad per the dealer in February of 2009, and now the third is giving me problems. The third (one of Ford's Tough Max) is still under full replacement warranty so cost at this time is not an issue.

Could there be a low level electrical drain somewhere that is killing the batteries? I drive the truck once a week or so but I have been trying to be careful not to run the heater or the radio because it has been sounding slow to turn over when starting. Would the Anti-theft blinker draw that much current? My other vehicles don't seem to have a problem losing battery power when having set a long time.

Does the Ford dealer have a tester they can check for such leaks?

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Bob

 

Bob, I believe these batteries have a life span of at least 5 years if not more. It sounds like you have an electrical draw somewhere. The anti theft light draws very low current so I would rule that out. Is there anything electrically that you have added to the truck, extra lighting, a/c converter, radar detector etc? There is a way to find the leak but I don't know the exact procedure. I think it involves removing each fuse while monitoring the battery voltage with a voltmeter. Once that's found the circuit that the fuse is part of is the culprit. Yeah Ford should be able to test this for you. It also could be your alternator too but the fact that it sits for a while and is slow to turn makes me think it's a leak. Someone else here should be able to help you more though.

 

You haven't said what part of the country you live in. The folks that live in the south west, claim that 3 years on a battery is about it. As for checking for an electrical draw, dgndngrngr84 has it close. You actuality hook up the meter to watch current fow or milliamps. The blinking security strobe isn't the only thing drawing current. There are other systems on line all the time also, remote locks for instance.

 

Thanks, I will try to answer both of your questions in this reply but if I miss one or am not clear let me know. I'm in Vermont about 60 miles south of the Canadian border so it does get cold here once in a while.:-) In my two previous Ranger's I never had to replace the battery which did surprise me considering that one of them I had well over ten years. Of course they didn't have the remote locks or some of the other stuff we almost now take for granted.

The only add on is an electric brake controller for a trailer. That usually only blinks when I first start the truck and then goes off unless I do have a trailer hooked up. I will disconnect that today weather permitting.

Yesterday I disconnected the battery and charged it directly at 2 amps for about 8 hours and then checked the voltage, came out at 13. When I re-hooked the cables, positive first and then negative I got a pretty good spark which surprised me. It cranked over good and fast. Re-checked the voltage after and still at 13. I didn't have your notes in front of me so I didn't get to checking the fuses, etc.. Will try that in the next couple of days. (busy sugaring right now and can't leave the syrup without fear of burning it down). Will let you know what i find out as soon as I do.

 

I think the issue you are having is that you are just letting it sit for too long without running it so the battery is dying quicker.

You said you run it once a week how long do you run it during that time? And what sort of driving are you doing with it when you run it for that time?

You may have a slow drain but I would guess if you start it up one other time and just let it run for 30 minutes you will have less of an issue. You also can't compare the F-150 to the Rangers you had for how long they sit between drives either. Every truck will respond differently then the next.

 

There are times when my truck sits for a whole week (those times are increasing as gas prices rise). It starts up just fine except for one time. I had left my after market rear camera monitor on. I have a trailer break controler too, but it shuts itself off after a period of time. Yours may be faulty.