I was out of town this past weekend where my 2009 Expedition EL sat in the driveway. Last week the Expedition drove fine with no obvious problems in starting or running. Upon returning home Sunday night I jumped in to move the Expedition 3 feet forward. I turned it off and did not use again until Monday Afternoon. My wife called me Monday afternoon and told me the car would not start. I went home and jump started the car. After jump starting I took the battery out (thinking something must have drained the battery, e.g. I left the back door partially open and the interior light was left on). I charged it with my battery charger at 2A that evening. After a complete recharge I reconnected the battery and the Expedition started right up.

My wife tried to start the car this afternoon with no power showing on the console. My OBDII dongle would not power up to read any values.

To trouble shoot:
1). Pull battery out and measure the voltage on the battery.
2). Fully recharge the battery.
3). With a full battery charge measure the voltage on the battery.
4). Reinstall fully charged battery and then start car. Turn on all power options. If a voltage drops occur across the battery after running for about a minute then the alternator is bad.
5).If a voltage drop does not occur, disconnect negative lead of the battery and measure the resistance from the alternator lead to the battery positive terminal. If an open circuit is measure then a fuse might be blown?

My question, if I run through the above sequence and the alternator proves to be fine, does the 2009 Ford Expedition version have a mega fuse or in-line fuse? I am not finding on-line information about an in-line fuse. I don't have a Chilton's book available either.

An additional task would be to load test the battery. I was thinking about fully charging the battery tonight, measure the voltage across it. Then let it sit alone tonight, not connected to anything, then measure a voltage across it in the morning to see if anything changes significantly during that time.

 

One quick thing to check is the rear wiper. They can get gunked up and stick, then continue to try to find the home position after the vehicle is off. You can try pulling the fuse for that and see if the drain still occurs.

give this post a quick read through as well

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ery-drain.html

 

Thanks for the response and link to thread.

To clarify, if I am standing behind the vehicle and looking towards the rear is the "left" home position relative from this view? Or looking to the back of the vehicle from the front?

 

correct, the wiper should rest to the left when standing behind the vehicle

 

If you do end up needing to replace the battery, I would suggest getting something other than Motorcraft. My Motorcraft BXL-65 was pumping out only ~400 CCA on a full charge after 48 months of use. Note that those are rated for 84 months. I'm now running Advance Auto Parts' AutoCraft Gold (made by Johnson Controls) as the last two of the same name that I purchased are still running above their rated CCAs after 3+ years.

 

How do I measure the CCA capability of my battery (as opposed to measuring the cranking amps the starter is drawing)?

 

Fully charge the battery and perform an actual load test. Because of the hassle and time involved a lot of vendors use conductance testers instead of load testing.

There is a certain voltage that the battery should not drop below during a load test. It is important to fully charge the battery before testing (and after!) so it takes a while.

http://jgdarden.com/batteryfaq/carfaq4.htm#load

 

Many Thanks.

 

Depending on where you live this may just be the normal life span of the battery. I live in S FL and rarely get much more than 3 years of a flooded cell battery. I had to replace my 2014 Navigator batter this month.


After buying many batteries for several boats, carts, trucks, RV, lawnmowers, generators and others I have found that buying anything other than a gel or AGM battery is a waste of money in harsh conditions.


I consistently get 5-7 years out of my AGM cells. More money to buy but the reserve capacity is bunch higher for things like opening rear tailgate and running TV or other accessories without engine running. The AGM handle the deep discharges and heat like nothing else I have found.

 

The wiper issue is better diagnosed by pulling the fuse and seeing if the battery still drains, in a lot of cases you can't really tell if it is the culprit by looking at where it is parked, it appears to be in the proper place, it is the motor that doesn't realize that and keeps trying to park it. In that thread that was linked above he had it easy - the wiper was screaming "it's me, I did it". And as is usually the case, the OP never comes back to share the fix and help others.