I will purchase another meter at the next available time. Thanks for the advice. Can't wait to get a meter.

In the meantime, what do you all think about my battery immediately dying and not being able to get a charge? I don't know what is faulty, the battery or the battery charger. At the same time, I took it for a drive and it wouldn't crank after a 10-15 minute drive. I tried to charge the battery with and without cables, same results. It would show the battery charge, if I reset the charger, it'd show it at 10-20% again and very low volts (something like 9v). It's never done this before.

 

Hard to guess whats going on without a meter. I got my last one at radio shack, wal mart had one a little cheaper but the Radio shack one seemed to be better quality.

 

Well, I finally got it fixed. It was a bad battery, contrary to Autozone's first test. Well, after buying a starter and solenoid (and the first new battery that died in 2 months), me and my dad told them the battery is bad, no matter what their tests show.

We took the vent caps off, charged it, and 5 out of 6 had gurgling acid water while charging. Took it back, got a new battery for free. Even got a refund on that solenoid.

Thanks for all the help, guys. I know it's hard to diagnose a problem when autozone is telling us the battery IS good.

That was a nightmare.

I'M PROUD OF MY TRUCK AGAIN!!! Actually, Ive always been proud of it.. if Autozone diagnosed the battery problem right the FIRST TIME, I'd have never ran into this multiple-month extravaganza of pinpoint a problem that didn't exist elsewhere except within the battery.

EDIT/RANT: I can't believe all the gas I had to buy to go back and forth to Autozone over a battery, a battery check, a starter, a solenoid...

And it was the BATTERY ALL ALONG! Man, don't ya just hate that.
...
It actually BURNS ME UP. Moral of the story... Don't trust ALL the autozone guys trying to check your battery.

 

BWT, since Autozone said my battery was good. Then said it wasn't good a few months later... with the exact same problem.

What should I tell them? I bought a starter. I bought a solenoid. They gave me my money back on the solenoid... but didn't seem to care I bought a starter. Which, in all fairness, I asked for one.

At the same time, I went with a starter BECAUSE they said my battery was bad,

Anything I can do about this to get some money back?

 

You can't return the new starter?

I guess you could go round and round some more with them and see if they'll give you a refund, seeing as their misdiagnosis of the problem cost you quite a bit of money...

 

Do you think I should get on the phone and talk to someone with higher management... or go back to the store? Seems like the "main guys" at the stores are *** holes around here.

Like I said, in all fairness, I did ASK for a starter.

At the same time, I would have never asked for one if they got the diagnosis right the first time.

Time to call a lawyer ;-) Nah, I'll live and learn, but I am going to talk to or call someone. I just think calling someone higher up the ladder might yield me a better result. My old starter was a Motorcraft starter TOO!

EDIT: BTW, they took my old starter as a core.

 

Any tips? I'm kind of infuriated.

I mean, what's a man supposed to do when he thinks the battery went bad at 2 months old, takes it back to where he got it (Autozone), and they tested it and said it was NOT the problem. So, after going through the simple cleaning connections, etc. I had to spend more money. Well, I bought a starter and gave them my Motorcraft starter for a core, when in reality, it was a great starter. Same problem. I went and got a solenoid. Same problem.

After opening the battery and charging it, one core wasn't bubbling. I told them this, they gave me another battery.

Everything is fine now. Don't you think if they got it right the first time, things would be ok? Should I call someone higher up the ladder?

If you guys think I should just let me be, let me know. But I have a hard time letting this go.

 

Yeah I buy the top dollar Autozone then about 2-3 months before 2 years is up I disconnect it and let it sit on the floor in the garage for about 4 months. Usually kills it good. Then I take it up there and say I have a bad batt. they test, then I get a new one Sometimes I pay a fee, but I keep two that way my truck is never down and I have a back up battery to test with(except for the 4 months I let it die)

 

They test for free, starters are cheap, I would let it go. A battery can be bad intermittently. If a plate is loose inside it can short sometimes and sometimes not. The interstate battery man told me to drop the battery from 6" or so or beat on it with a soft hammer and retest if you suspect an intermittent short.

 

Well, it was never intermittent, it was constant. It just got worse over time. I explained to them it would show good on a load charge because I just drove 20 minutes to the store.

Oh well... I was hoping to maybe just call and explain my story about my money, time, and gas wasted because I TOLD THEM the battery was bad for the beginning, they said it wasn't. They were wrong and I was right.

Now, I can let it go. I'm not THAT mad anymore, it feels good to have old faithful upholding her name now. Cranks every time. BUT at the same time, it's worth a gift card or something as an apology for them disagreeing with me when I was correct, costing me near $100 or more diagnosing a ghost.

 

If the battery was properly load tested they would have found the problem, even if it had a loose plate that is/was intermittent.

I have my own load tester, however if I had some one else test a battery for me I would also have it done elsewhere ... Only because I have learned not to trust anybody, especially if there is a buck involved!

However, It is of my opinion that you are stuck with the starter, even if they are willing to allow you to return it for a refund, you will never see your Motorcraft starter again, it's long gone!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~