Am I missing something?

[Uncle Gump]

This will make the third year in a row that I will likely have a bad battery. My truck has sat for 4 or 5 days (this is consistent with the past years also) and I go to start it and the battery has degraded to the point it won't start the engine. This only happens after setting several days.

I put a quick charge on the battery and it fired up. Ran the truck until it reached operating temp... I checked the charging system with my fluke and it's at 14 volts. After shutdown... it will fire right up. I also did a parasitic draw test and it's 15mA.

Now it may start later or even tomorrow... but once it's does this... duration of sit time is shortened.

In fact... this I believe is the 4th battery in just about the same amount of years. The first battery I replaced was from Wally World. I warranteed with another wally world battery. When that one went bad... I bought one from the local farm and fleet... and stepped up to the platinum 7 year battery. That got replaced with the same thing just about a year ago. Now I back to no starts.

I don't see how my truck is killing batteries... but maybe I'm missing something...

 

[dvdswan]

Do you think it might be the cold? Has this happen in warmer temps?

 

[Curious Hound]

Normal lead acid batteries?

 

[Uncle Gump]

It hasn't been below 30 degrees this year.

I don't remember the CCA on this battery... but I think it's 750 CCA.

With what little these starter actually draw... a one year old battery should start this truck with temps in negative numbers.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Normal lead acid batteries?

Yes

 

[bobbywalter]

could be in the charge cycle it is loading up garbage on the plates.

or there is a draw from decay. you need to check for draw after 24 hours ... be nice to have a battery monitor on it.

i have seen certain radios and cameras after a certain period of time draw power....then stop....then draw power....then stop. we assume its capacitor discharge...but i dont know that.

my ranger has this issue and we think it has to do with my computer which for the most part just runs the 4l80 transmission. i either leave a solar panel on it or plug in my battery tender...the big solar unit i messed up because i started it before disconnecting it...so that was expensive.... but my battries are over 400 dollars....so i keep it plugged in whenever possible.

 

[Uncle Gump]

So it does have an aftermarket radio... no camera... and I pull the plug on my Garmin because I thought it may have been that. The only other thing is aftermarket gauges with keep alive memory for saving color.

I think I will go out and pop the hood so tomorrow I can check parasitic draw without waking everything up.

They always put their battery tester on the battery when I take it back in... they tell me it's bad and give me a replacement.

It's really not the point... today's batteries IMHO are absolute garbage. But I'm just trying to ensure my truck is damaging them.

I'm half tempted to just tell them I don't want another one of their batteries and refund my money. Them buy an Optima. That said... they don't have stellar reviews these days either.

 

[Josh B]

Pull the ground cable overnight and touch it back to the post tomorrow, see if it blows anything up
I bought the cheapest battery at wmart for 50 bux, and another for the explorer, both marked 9/19, and both still going strong, but I never use the ac, although the heater motor gets plenty of winter use

 

[pjtoledo]

my 2000 does the same thing, sits 3 days and the battery is down.
swapped batteries between the Rangers, it's definitely the 2000.
only mod is remote start, it works flawlessly and has been for 8 years.
haven't gotten around to pulling fuses yet.
I'm sure 23 year old rust belt wiring isn't doing me any favors.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I don't feel that battery should get pulled down in a week... or even a month by 15mA. Unless some kind of draw is sneaking in over time.

And with a bit of time... if it's like the batteries I've had to replace in this yruck already... it's going to degrade fast. Like drive it to work... 8 hours later it won't start the truck.

I have to believe these batteries are just garbage.

 

[Curious Hound]

Once the battery is severely discharged once or twice, it's health fades quickly afterward. I agree that batteries are nowhere near as good as they used to be. But it still seems like something else is going on on your case.

 

[RobbieD]

Certainly an odd issue; a 15mA parasitic draw shouldn't be the cause, and especially over four batteries.

Curious- by any chance have you ever tested battery voltage before a "fail to start" episode?

The only other thing that I can think of is the truck's main battery cables. Have they been changed or checked recently? Being told on the returns that the batteries were bad may be stopping you from looking into other causes . . .

I know that you know, that cables can look perfect on the outside but green rotted inside. It has just killed my miserly old ass in the past, to have junk a beautiful but bad cable.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I have not checked prior to not starting... mainly because its not something you think about... until it doesnt crank. I did check battery voltage this time... after it failed to start... it was also a day after it wouldn't start. Battery was at 10.2 volts on my fluke.

I think they're likely the original cables... the battery clamps have been replaced a few times. They're cheap enough when they even look a bit dirty... I put on a new set of ends. I also keep the top of the battery clean. I may just do a bit of voltage drop testing and check them... but I can't help but think if they were the problem... it would be a near constant problem.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

New batteries are not that bad, my truck sits more than yours and the battery is 6 years old.

You have something going on aside from the battery IMO.

 

[RobbieD]

I also have to think that you've got something else going besides the battery. It just seems too unlikely that you've had four bad batteries, but 10.2 volts is not a good battery.

It wouldn't hurt to put some new good cables on. At least you can take those out of the equation, and just bill it to "preventative maintenance". Or better yet, tell Mrs. Gump that you can't find the Bronco's battery cables.

Does your '86 use the smaller group size 62 battery, or the larger 65 size? For what it's worth, if it's the smaller size, it's easy to convert the truck to take a 65 battery. I did it to my '84 mainly so that all my trucks would share the same size, but I honestly feel that the 65s hold up better than the 62s. I bring that up in case you're about to put a fifth battery in.

I also use cheap WalMart batteries, for at least the last 10 years, and have very good luck with them. But it does seem that the quality of just about everything has gone hell these days.