I'm kind of concerned about the current battery in my truck. It's the original battery that came in my 2010. It seemed to start a little slower than normal last winter(Mid Ohio). With that said, last winter is the only winter it has spent in OH. The first 5 years of it's life was in North Carolina.

I understand that in extreme cold weather, -20 to +10 degrees, the battery is going to struggle a little bit, but is taking 3-4 seconds of slow cranking before firing up normal?

I wouldn't be as concerned, but I will be out of town for a few months and don't want my wife to have to deal with a dead battery and 2 young ornery children in the middle of the winter.

Any insight or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I'm leaning on the side of replacing it, but it won't be driven very much while i'm gone, unless the winter weather is really bad. Which makes me wonder if I get a new battery it will go bad from long periods of non use/ charging.

 

Four to five years is about the average service life of a battery. Yes, they can and do last longer but that's not the way to bet, particularly if it's noticeably turning over slower. Wife and kids, you're gone? Yeah. Replace.

You can try thorough charging and then a load-test to be sure. Conductance testing at a parts store is another possibility that will weed out sulfated batts. An aged or defective battery presents a higher current load on the charging system. Anything I run with a computer and/or sensitive electronic gee-gaws always gets a fresh battery before outright failure. Motorcraft batteries are good, but we don't want to smoke alternators just to save a few bucks. Cold weather is a double whammy at startup because the ability to pass current is diminished at the same time the engine has thick sludgy oil and and is a bear to turn over. Hot weather or heat is actually what ruins batteries, but cold weather exposes it and sends people to the auto parts store the first overnight freeze snap.

Consider an outboard tender or battery maintainer if vehicle is not to be used frequently. Modern vehicles have a high inherent parasitic load with all the bells and whistles included - security systems, alarms, stereo presets and the like. The tender/maintainers include pigtails that allow them to be plugged in without even having to raise the hood and can be left plugged indefinitely. AGM type batteries are better about reduced self-discharge than conventional batts but there's still the matter of parasitic drain.

 

I would change it to be on the safe side. A battery price is cheap for the piece of mind. The battery in my '04 lasted 7 years and 2 months, but my truck had always been in the south. It wasn't subjected to extreme cold.

 

Second vote for replacing and a battery tender.

I use this one on the Plow truck
Schumacher XM1-5 Maintainer, 1.5-Amp - Walmart.com

Get one. You wont regret it, I promise.

 

Assuming you have two trucks or whatever with older batts you could replace wifey's batt with a new one for peace of mind, tho swap the original 5+ year old motorcraft battery in question over to your rig, also assuming it passes a load test and is newer than whatever is in there now.

While they can last longer than 5 years, it's probably time to start looking and remember they may not give any indication at all before total failure. They just leave folks stranded at the grocery store, starts fine but a minute later dead.

 

Remember, even a battery that is fully charged and functioning well doesn't put out nearly the same amperage at extreme cold temperatures.

After living with a couple sickly vehicles through Canadian winters, here's my procedure, that I use on my truck no matter how good the battery is. Any time the temperature is below -25C (that's about -15F), I plug in the block heater AND a 750mA battery tender overnight. Always starts right up nice and easy in the morning that way.

CTEK, Shumacher and Battery Tender are all good brands. For overnight use, you don't need a high powered one, I like my little 750 mA one because it's so small. I have a big 15A smart charger I use for truly recharging batteries when the need arises.

I do agree however that given the age, it's likely that your battery is at or near the end of it's life. If you are shopping for a new one, make sure to check out your options, and get the one with the most COLD cranking amps (CCA) firstly, and reserve capacity secondly.

 

Are you 100% sure your hard starting is due to the battery and not something else like inadequate fuel pressure? It seems unusual that a battery that was already giving you trouble a year ago hasn't failed yet.

Whether you decide to get a new battery or not, you should probably put a trickle charger on there anyway to keep the battery properly charged.

The other thing you can do to help the truck start in colder weather is switch to a lighter synthetic oil.

 

I've NEVER had an OE battery last longer than five years. Bad luck? Nature of the beast? I don't know but what I do know is that after this winter, the battery in my 2011 will come out, good or bad, it's gone.

The battery in my '04 expy actually died in the driveway, who gets that lucky?

 

Continuing on the sidetrack I started in my last post, does your wife drive a lot of short trips? That can be really hard on a battery in cold weather, as you may not be recharging the battery at all when running errands around town. Particularly if you have the defrost, heater, blower, heated seats and other large electrical draws on all at the same time.

If so, an overnight charge is even more helpful.

 

Hi awq134,

If you decide to replace the battery, I'd recommend checking out these coupons to save some green: Coupons and Rebates | Services | Official Ford Owner Site

Crystal

 

Nice coupons Crystal, thank you. I was just comparing the prices for a battery for my truck between Ford, sears, Walmart and Auto Zone. Ford has the best price and the best warranty on the 65 series Maxx battery at $119.00. Anyway for anyone who's interested, the 65 series Maxx battery carries a 100 month warranty with a 36 month free replacement and nearly 1000 cranking amps. I didn't read about reserve capacity but I'm sure it's very good.

 

Thanks for the information. It's greatly appreciated. I was debating changing the battery last winter but it made it through with no issues except the slow starting on extremely cold days.
will this work on smaller lawn mower batteries as well. I was considering a battery tender, but am not sure I will have a power supply available where the truck will be parked. If I park it next to our duplex for power it will more than likely be snowed it when needed. If I park it next door at the neighbors farm it will be accessible with heavy snow, but won't have power to run the tender.
my wife drives a 1 year old Toyota mini van. her battery had no issues last winter, and she will be driving it primarily. my truck is the vehicle with the questionable battery. I want it to be available if she needs to go out in nasty weather, even though she said she'd just stay in. You never know what might come up with 2 small kids, so i'd rather be save than sorry
I was running conventional oil last winter but have since switched to synthetic for longer change intervals and a sticky/ bleeding down hydraulic lifter. Time will tell if that helps. I will be driving some long distances between now and new years in New Jersey so I should be able to see if the synthetic oil helps before i'm out of town for a while.
I guess that depends on what a short trip is to you. both of us usually make trips that are 15 minutes or longer. there are rare occasions where we run to the gas station that is 8 minutes away. I drive the truck 4 days a week to work and back which is a 20 minute drive either way.
thanks for the coupon Crystal. when I try to print the coupon nothing comes up. also, it doesn't give me the CCA or CA rating of the max tough battery.

 

You're welcome, Tim!

Sure thing, awq134! I was able to print the coupons this morning, so you might want to give it another shot. Just select the "Print" button and you should get a pop-up screen with printing options. I'd recommend giving your local Ford Dealership's service or parts department a call about CCA/CA ratings; they'll be in the best position to assist.

Crystal

 

The battery tender I linked to will work with any 6 or 12 volt lead-acid battery, including AGM's (as best I can remember).

Highly recommended for any battery that sits for any period of time, lawnmower batteries included. The only down side is if the battery is really low, it can take a couple days to charge fully if it is a big battery. But if you have the time to wait, it will usually save the battery.

Cant help with the power outlet problem.

They do make solar charger/maintainers that might be an option.

 

My short trips are five to ten minutes, and I can go a month in the winter without driving more than fifteen minutes. That is really hard on the battery. Your situation sounds less severe. Not sure how long it takes to fully charge the battery while driving. Any experts want to chime in on that?