Had the same issue this last summer and the main battery was bad.Only had 255 ccr's. Replaced both batts with Optima Red Tops and problem solved.Good Luck!

 

Lo and behold I went out today and started her up and got the Check Brake System message. I keep her in the garage so it wasnt because of the cold. It only did it once, then later on it wouldnt do it. Havent load checked the batteries yet. I dont have a load tester. Will see in the morning what happens. Kinda like reading the Farmers Almanac coming here, or the Nostradamus effect. I hope its only the batteries and not a switch. Christmas and school are wearing out my pocket book.

 

I had Interstate Battery use their Hi-tech load tester and tested both batts.The driver side was bad and the other side was good.Ford replaced both batts under warranty and i paid the difference for the Optima Red Tops,They will withstand the heat under the hood that theses motors put out.Check brake light gone instantly!

 

i suppose we are all getting ready for new ones by now...(08 model year trucks). Better save those pennies

 

Seems a little soon for batteries, generally speaking. Is there a reason these trucks are killing them faster? I realize the electrical load for a diesel cold start, but it seems they should last longer than 2 years! I wonder if high output or dual-alts fights off the condition for a little longer? It'd be interesting to see where most failure happen, climate-wise, as well as the alternator config.

 

The Heat under the hood is what is killing the cheapo Batt's.I have found the Optima Red top Batts will withstand the heat compared to the standard type batts.We have had no issues with Optima batts in our trucks compared to the standard batts.

 

That's right ...the heat from the engine is killing the batteries.....I had to replace them and the truck had 52k miles.

 

I just got the truck back from the dealer today and low and behold, drivers side battery only had 350 amps. They replaced just the bad one, because the passenger side was at full amperage. Fortunatly my wife works for the dealer so I got everything at cost. So it looks like the check brake system light is definetly the battery issue.

 

Hello everyone, I'm new to this site and just bought my first diesel truck last wednesday.('08 F-250 SC SB FX4 6.4L) It's been very cold at night (-10 to +10) and I'm also having the same check brake system message when starting my truck in the morning. I've got an appointment for tuesday afternoon to have it checked out at my dealer, I'll let you know what they come up with, but I'll definately mention to them about load testing the batteries.

 

just wanted to everyone know that it was the batteries causing my "check break system" message. only after I told the dealership what I learned here, and told them to please load test the batteries. left side was "marginal", right side was less than 30%. so replaced both batteries @ 47k miles and problem solved.

as a side note, the dealership said this was the first truck they had with this issue and they are the largest super duty dealership in maine.

 

they are full of it....but glad it all worked out in the end...and they are the tech's?

 

was your truck turning over slowly? mine doesn't seem to be.

 

on very cold mornings the truck was slow to start.

 

just got back from the dealership. driver side battery had 346 cca's and passenger was 600 replaced both @ 24.500 miles.

 

terrapinME, do you have an extended warranty? Just wondering what the warranty is on the batteries. I would have thought after 36k or 3 years they wouldnt even consider a battery replacement.