The reason I'm posting is to share info. Bought my truck about 6 months ago. I have had my batteries checked multiple times at 2 different battery shops and a dealer. My truck has always had what I considered to be a long start time, but the only diesel motor I have to compare it to is a 7.3. My truck had a leak in the high pressure oil system, which was fixed at the dealer, and that did help.

Well my truck had a slow start/ long crank yesterday morning, so I charged the passenger side bat last night. Started right up this morning. I was going to charge the driver's side bat tonight and call it good, but I decided to check the bats with a hydrometer first. All cells checked ok on the driver's side battery. When I checked the passenger side bat, one cell was bad.Went to Autozone and got 2 new batteries and installed them tonight.

If you are unfamiliar with a hydrometer, it is a $4 dollar tool you should be able to buy at any auto parts store. It looks like a turkey baster with a hose hanging out of it. Not going to go into detail here, but you stick it in each cell of the battery and compare the specific gravity of the cells to one another. In my case, the bad cell was near the bottom of the scale while the other cells were near the top. A slight variance from cell to cell means a cell is bad and the battery should be replaced.

Hope this info is helpful to someone who might have had a similar problem. Oh and in case you were wondering, after installing the new batteries my truck started more quickly and smoothly than ever before. I felt like a little kid at xmas.

 

What Batteries did you buy and how much did youy pay.

 

Duralast Gold from Autozone - $104 each

Not a bad deal considering they are rated at 850cca, come with a 3 year replacement warranty and 8 year pro-rated replacement.

 

Thanks for the infor

 

Glad you have the problem solved. That is good information for those who like to be hands on with thier truck. Regarding what you said about charging each battery seperatly,did you disconnect the passenger side battery before charging it? If so why is it nessary? I usualy recharge while battery remains installed. Is it possiable to charge one without charging both unless a cable is disconnected?

 

I removed both cables from the passenger side battery. I wrapped a rag around the positive cable to prevent it from shorting out on anything since it is also connected to the driver's side battery. As far as I know, to test or charge one battery you must disconnect at least the negative cable of that battery. I removed both because I felt more comfortable hooking the charger cables directly to the battery terminals rather than worrying about them slipping off the cable end over night.

There is info on batteries here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...isconnect.html

Out of curiosity I checked the bad battery with a voltmeter tonight. It was at 11V. A Fully charged battery will be around 12.6V (2.1 volts per cell). The other battery is still fully charged.

 

just a little more and you could have gotten free road side with a new set of batteries from ford

 

You'll need the warranty. I have the same batteries in my truck. First set made 2 1/2 years and the second set is already going south in 6 months one month out of warranty even though the batteries are dated 6-10 I bet I still have to pay the 3 year pro rate.

 

I got 7 years out of stock Ford batteries. I replaced them about 6 months ago with another set from Ford BXT-66-750 at 115.00 each. And as cheezit stated they come with free road side for 3 years I believe.