WTF?..battery is dead

[DirtyDeedsInc]

Mine routinely sits for at least 14 days at a time and has never killed the battery. Well, until this last time. Got the car jump started and drove for 45-60 minutes and figured it should be fairly charged. Wrong! The time it took me to get out of the car, walk to the door of the bar, find out it was closed, then get back in the car, the battery was dead enough to not be able to start the car. I remembered about roadside assitance (after the bar opened) and called them. Still waiting on them from a week ago. Ended up getting it jumped again then drove it about 2 hours. It would just barely start the car after I shut it off. Swapped the battery in the parking lot of Autozone.

OK, that was the long bitchy version. Short version, you should get a new battery. Stock one sux.

 

[MikeVistaBlue06]

Mine routinely sits for at least 14 days at a time and has never killed the battery. Well, until this last time. Got the car jump started and drove for 45-60 minutes and figured it should be fairly charged. Wrong! The time it took me to get out of the car, walk to the door of the bar, find out it was closed, then get back in the car, the battery was dead enough to not be able to start the car. I remembered about roadside assitance (after the bar opened) and called them. Still waiting on them from a week ago. Ended up getting it jumped again then drove it about 2 hours. It would just barely start the car after I shut it off. Swapped the battery in the parking lot of Autozone.

OK, that was the long bitchy version. Short version, you should get a new battery. Stock one sux.

Batteries are covered under warranty for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Mike

 

[GIG4FUN]

Guys, mine doesn't need to be locked to arm.

Here's how mine works... this was a surprise to me.

I can pull it in the garage get out NOT LOCK IT..and then jack it up a few inches and leave it on the jack. Go out after eating a sandwich, drink a brew etc. and when I let the jack down OFF GOES the alarm. It is self arming without any need for me to lock the car first. Try it and see if you have the same factory version as mine. I ordered this optional kind of alarm. It self arms..get it?

It will go off if I just start jacking it up too (without locking it first). BUT for me to see that it "set" itself crooked like that (while it was jacked up) surprised me twice.

 

[GIG4FUN]

Batteries are covered under warranty for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Mike

My dealer, told me it may be THREE DAYS before they would determine that the battery was indeed "bad". And that it "may" be known in 5 hours BUT I needed to be prepared to be without my battery for that long (and the car). He said they would have to run it through tests before they would replace it under warranty. They know I am ASE certified and I told them it was 9.6 volts and checks "bad" on my load test etc. (trying to get them to just exchange it for me if I brought it in...) and they said...it was likely going to be good and they had to do all their stuff to it before they would let me have a new one.... geeez.... I ended up just going to Wal-Mart and spending $63 bucks for a new one. I was not going to put up with the down time.

Anyone else hear this run around?

 

[06gt4rad]

Guys, mine doesn't need to be locked to arm.

Here's how mine works... this was a surprise to me.

I can pull it in the garage get out NOT LOCK IT..and then jack it up a few inches and leave it on the jack. Go out after eating a sandwich, drink a brew etc. and when I let the jack down OFF GOES the alarm. It is self arming without any need for me to lock the car first. Try it and see if you have the same factory version as mine. I ordered this optional kind of alarm. It self arms..get it?

It will go off if I just start jacking it up too (without locking it first). BUT for me to see that it "set" itself crooked like that (while it was jacked up) surprised me twice.

Interesting Very Very Interesting

 

[don_w]

Guys, mine doesn't need to be locked to arm.

Here's how mine works... this was a surprise to me.

I can pull it in the garage get out NOT LOCK IT..and then jack it up a few inches and leave it on the jack. Go out after eating a sandwich, drink a brew etc. and when I let the jack down OFF GOES the alarm. It is self arming without any need for me to lock the car first. Try it and see if you have the same factory version as mine. I ordered this optional kind of alarm. It self arms..get it?

It will go off if I just start jacking it up too (without locking it first). BUT for me to see that it "set" itself crooked like that (while it was jacked up) surprised me twice.

Interesting Very Very Interesting

Mine will do that... if I want it too. But I have it set to not be self-arming. I hate those. That's great way to lock my keys in the car. haha

 

[biznazion]

Battery died 3 times in my 2005. The third time it died I was gone for a week and upon return found it at 5v. I removed the battery from the car and took it to the dealer. They were very reluctant to swap it and wanted me to have my car towed to them. I spoke with the service manager and told him I had bought my car there and was not about to have it hooked to a tow truck for a dead battery. He finally broke down and had his guy test the battery and found it to be failed badly [this took all of one minute]. He let me have a new one on the condition I would bring the car to them once I installed it. I took the car back - they verified the VIN and mileage and sent me on my way.

I've not had any problems with the replacement battery [yet] but I now put the trickle changer on it weekly and park it with the shaker off.

My dealer, told me it may be THREE DAYS before they would determine that the battery was indeed "bad". And that it "may" be known in 5 hours BUT I needed to be prepared to be without my battery for that long (and the car). He said they would have to run it through tests before they would replace it under warranty. They know I am ASE certified and I told them it was 9.6 volts and checks "bad" on my load test etc. (trying to get them to just exchange it for me if I brought it in...) and they said...it was likely going to be good and they had to do all their stuff to it before they would let me have a new one.... geeez.... I ended up just going to Wal-Mart and spending $63 bucks for a new one. I was not going to put up with the down time.

Anyone else hear this run around?

 

[Forward Performance]

Battery died 3 times in my 2005. The third time it died I was gone for a week and upon return found it at 5v. I removed the battery from the car and took it to the dealer. They were very reluctant to swap it and wanted me to have my car towed to them. I spoke with the service manager and told him I had bought my car there and was not about to have it hooked to a tow truck for a dead battery. He finally broke down and had his guy test the battery and found it to be failed badly [this took all of one minute]. He let me have a new one on the condition I would bring the car to them once I installed it. I took the car back - they verified the VIN and mileage and sent me on my way.

I've not had any problems with the replacement battery [yet] but I now put the trickle changer on it weekly and park it with the shaker off.

Wow, I'm really suprised how many people to go through a routine to keep there battery charged(trickle, radio off, disconnect, disarm the alarm) these are new cars, NOT beaters...WTF FORD???

 

[DirtyDeedsInc]

Batteries are covered under warranty for the first 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Mike

Already at 45,000 miles. If you can get one under warranty, I'd say go for it. Listening to y'all makes me glad I didn't get an alarm.

 

[Lazy Racer]

In the UK, we wouldnt get insurance without a major alarm. my battery has lasted 3+ years though. As Im about to replace it, does the ah impact performance? I was looking at 75ah and I recall it was 220 CCA...any thoughts on what is best? Im assuming all these mods might benefit from some heavy power from the battery??????????

 

[Mustangshar]

Yeah...the dead Battery Club is right! This was in December-of course cold bad winter we had here in Chicago this year. I was recovering from orthopedic surgery and wasn't able to get IN the car let alone drive it. So I had family come over and drive it once every two weeks. Well the second time came and dead...totally.

So another friend had a trickle charger <which I am going to pick up before next winter comes> and did a slow charge all night. But had I known about this I definately would have made other arrangements to keep that battery charged. Oh well, now I know! : ) And is it worse if you have an alarm, is that what I'm reading?

But I was pissed as hell that this happened. I've never had that happen in all the years I've had cars..and it's in a garage. Bizarre

 

[TGJ]

My car was good up until last fall; the first 2 years I had it, I could let it sit for months and the battery would be fine. Last August( 2007 ), I had my Shaker 500 unit replaced( again ) under warranty due to skipping CD's all the time. When I put the car away for the winter, I found out that my battery was dead. I will be replacing my battery once my Mustang becomes a DD again as the battery will not hold a charge for more than 2 days. My car has the self arming alarm as well, and I made sure to turn off the stereo before shutting off the car.

 

[GRAYPNY]

Dead battery club member here too. I bought battery tender and a Optima yellow top. So far the issue has been resolved.