Am I missing something?

[bobbywalter]

unplug the radio. does it have a battery saver? could be a jittery gem module... you will have to log the critter or get a smart charger. the other thing is frequency....and rate. if its pushing 15-16 volts into the battery and cooking it...then just settling will mook it up.. i was undercharging.....then with straight grounds to the alternator bracket 14.7 was normal.... this was suspected to be too much for the gels...so i went back to regular junk....

the easy button was a maintainer...


and for sure newer batteries suck. optima has bit me in the ass one time too many. the only thing i buy new batteries for is the ranger....because....cold v8 diesel...is cold v8 diesel....and rotella 15/40 isnt helping.

 

[Terrys87]

Todays batteries are not as good as the old days but you still should not be having a weak battery after a few days.

I have fixed so many issues just by after market stereos and wired in trailer harnesses. I would pull the fuse or remove power from the stereo and see if the stereo is the issue.

If someone has just stripped the factory harness and installed a trailer harness instead of buying a Plug and Play trailer harness, that would be my next check.

If those two are not the problem, what is the other aftermarket, or hacked harness issue and possibly pull the fuse on that circuit over night see what my results are.

 

[RonD]

Unhook negative battery cable
Test the battery voltage after it has sat over night, write it down
Test the next day
If it has dropped battery has an internal short, its done for

First test needs to show 12.3v to 12.6volts
12.8v is a new battery, 100% charge
12.5v is a 3 year old battery, 75% charge
12.3v is a 5/6 year old battery and time to shop for battery sales, 50% charge
12.2v and less is a failing battery, under 50%

 

[19Walt93]

I would throw away the bolt on battery terminals and replace the cables, it won't fix the problem but those things offend me unless they're on a throw away beater. I'll be startled if you don't have a current draw somewhere, how are you measuring it? I start my truck maybe once a month during the winter and haven't had a dead battery yet. Ford BXT series batteries had a 3 year free replacement, then prorate for the rest of 100. After doing claims for 35 years I had to look up the procedure each tiem because we had so few failures. The new Motorcraft I put in my truck last year has 3 years free replacement, period, no 100 months. It also has a sticker saying warranty void if used in a start stop vehicle.

 

[Lefty]

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...

I have a similar problem. I checked with a voltmeter but couldn't figure out where the parasitic draw was coming from. I brought mine to my mechanic who found a draw in my radio clock. I got a new radio only to find I had another draw. I took it to Ford who found a second parasitic draw off the cruise control connections.

The problem was diminished but still not solved. I bought a new battery anyway. It failed after a few months. I got it replaced under warranty. I still had the problem.

I had the alternator bench tested. It's ship shape. Rather than going to yet another mechanic, I've gone ahead and installed an uprated voltage regulator. I'm sure there is still a draw somewhere. The new regulator doesn't solve the problem except it seems to be able to keep the battery fully charged.

The truck can sit for long periods and still start now, but I know there is still another parasitic draw somewhere. Whatever remains is very small.

Perhaps we suffer from a similar situation. There might not be just one draw, but two, maybe three. And along the way I've discovered that the OEM regulator could stand an upgrade, and even brand new batteries can fail in a very short time.

 

[Lefty]

unplug the radio. does it have a battery saver? could be a jittery gem module... you will have to log the critter or get a smart charger. the other thing is frequency....and rate. if its pushing 15-16 volts into the battery and cooking it...then just settling will mook it up.. i was undercharging.....then with straight grounds to the alternator bracket 14.7 was normal.... this was suspected to be too much for the gels...so i went back to regular junk....

the easy button was a maintainer...


and for sure newer batteries suck. optima has bit me in the ass one time too many. the only thing i buy new batteries for is the ranger....because....cold v8 diesel...is cold v8 diesel....and rotella 15/40 isnt helping.

Mine was an Optima too!

 

[19Walt93]

I have a similar problem. I checked with a voltmeter but couldn't figure out where the parasitic draw was coming from. I brought mine to my mechanic who found a draw in my radio clock. I got a new radio only to find I had another draw. I took it to Ford who found a second parasitic draw off the cruise control connections.

The problem was diminished but still not solved. I bought a new battery anyway. It failed after a few months. I got it replaced under warranty. I still had the problem.

I had the alternator bench tested. It's ship shape. Rather than going to yet another mechanic, I've gone ahead and installed an unrated voltage regulator. I'm sure there is still a draw somewhere. The new regulator doesn't solve the problem except it seems to be able to keep the battery fully charged.

The truck can sit for long periods and still start now, but I know there is still another parasitic draw somewhere. Whatever remains is very small.

Perhaps we suffer from a similar situation. There might not be just one draw, but two, maybe three. And along the way I've discovered that the OEM regulator could stand an upgrade, and even brand new batteries can fail in a very short time.

What's an unrated voltage regulator?

 

[Lefty]

What's an unrated voltage regulator?

Sorry that was a typo. UPrated!

 

[Uncle Gump]

So I'll answer how I test for a parasitic draw. First ensure that there is nothing on that shouldn't be... doors closed... etc...

Then I connect my ammeter set to mA in series between a disconnected battery cable and the corresponding battery terminal. Monitor draw... it consistently shows me between 15 and 16 mA. There is no way that pulls the battery down over several days to the point the battery won't start the truck. Now as bobbywalter said... maybe something else comes into play during the static state that pulls the battery down.

I left the hood popped and my first test today was just to test battery voltage. My Fluke told me 9.82 volts.

So... testing parasitic draw yesterday at 15 mA... battery was fully charged at shutdown... today at 9.82 volts across the terminals... common sense tells me the battery lost a cell.

I seriously think I have the world's worst luck with automotive batteries.

 

[bobbywalter]

lolz....for sure its probably toast. there are 555 type and smart chargers that can clean up and revive batteries.





i suspect its overcharging at times. but i also suspect you would recognize the caps burbling acid dust all over. though if you regularly clean stuff up nd maintain it ....it is easy to miss. i will try to get a pic of my 22....its toast every 2-3 months...and i am getting ready to clean it all up again...the batteries are at 70 percent at a year and a half old......two batteries....two alternators.

often these newer trucks are bad for this as they turn the alternator off at times and overcharge regularly once the terminals get cruddy.... from a fleet perspective...we eat batteries now....every since they started doing this alternator control to max fuel economy 10 or 15 years ago or so....

got to the point i leave the pc control pin unplugged on most of our gms..it under charges 13.6 to 13.8 but the fukking trucks start at 330-400 in the morning instead of me getting a call.. long idle times and power draw with high underhood temps... that high temperature takes a toll.

having trucks in the dealership chasing an unfixable problem doesnt work either. so i unplug them and problem goes away. some have it programmed out to keep the light off...some do not...

this is not the case for your truck... but i do think you need to be on your toes with a fresh battery to see if its cooking it at times.

 

[Lefty]

So I'll answer how I test for a parasitic draw. First ensure that there is nothing on that shouldn't be... doors closed... etc...

Then I connect my ammeter set to mA in series between a disconnected battery cable and the corresponding battery terminal. Monitor draw... it consistently shows me between 15 and 16 mA. There is no way that pulls the battery down over several days to the point the battery won't start the truck. Now as bobbywalter said... maybe something else comes into play during the static state that pulls the battery down.

I left the hood popped and my first test today was just to test battery voltage. My Fluke told me 9.82 volts.

So... testing parasitic draw yesterday at 15 mA... battery was fully charged at shutdown... today at 9.82 volts across the terminals... common sense tells me the battery lost a cell.

I seriously think I have the world's worst luck with automotive batteries.

Come to think of it, I might have another bad battery too

 

[86_FX4]

I mirror what RonD said. It's a pain, but some troubleshooting should get you sorted.

You may need to monitor over a longer time period to make sure there's nothing else kicking on after some time, or some electronic having issues with it's "sleep" mode. 15mA is definitely not enough make an impact over a week, but maybe something goofy is going on with something else, potentially the battery saver light timer circuit which wouldn't manifest until 15minutes or so...?
--One note to add, it seems silly but just confirm that you're using your meter right. 15mA is a small measurement and most cheap generic meters may lack the resolution at that scale and 15mA might as well be zero. I've been around meters alot in my career and by far the most common issue I see when people use them in current mode and aren't in the right scale setting, have a blown fuse, or forget to move the probes. Just throwing it out there.

Personally my first step would be isolate if its a battery issue or truck issue. Should be easy enough over the next few days or weeks to confirm if the battery drains when disconnected, or if it only drains when left installed.

If it only drains when left up to truck, then you can start going down the rabbit hole of randomly pulling fuses/relays until you narrow down the cause. You might have to grab some long scrap wire and get your multimeter setup next to the TV and watch a movie while making sure there's no current spikes or creep, or film the screen of your DMM and watch the playback spedup just to confirm you're not missing anything?

If there's no evidence of drain, and the batteries only seem to break when or after driving, I'd probably replace the alternator for peace of mind. Maybe reach out to Ford and ask if they have a way to test your alternator output while installed to make sure its not noisy or dirty power?

 

[bobbywalter]

there is the old.....battery toss....or drop tap..... if you remember ever doing that. to get the settled crap stirred up.


not advisable but i had to do it to get to work a few times.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Sounds like a parastic draw. I dealt with that in TRS-2 for a couple of years until I finally tested it and found the problem. For me it was a bad relay. The relay worked, but something about it was draining my battery.

Take a look at:

Parasitic Draw Battery Test - The Ranger Station

For a long time I’ve had a problem with the battery in my Ford Ranger dying when it sits for a few days. I finally decided to do a parasitic draw test and see if I could find the source … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

 

[Shran]

Dunno where y'all are buying batteries but I can get at least 5 or 6 years out of them. I would consider that totally normal lifespan. The AGM battery in my crawler is from 2012... Autozone AGMs are great. I keep damn near everything on a maintainer though. Most of my normal lead acid batteries come from Walmart, I get the Everstart Max or whatever the good one is called. Great batteries. The cheap ones from Walmart are shit though. Year at most before they are dead.

Sometimes you can bring dead ones back to life by leaving them on a trickle charger for a few weeks. Those little $5 trickle chargers from Harbor Freight are great for that. I have the battery out of my dad's truck in my shop now - it sat stone dead in the driveway for months and was drained down to like 2v. I let the truck idle for an hour and then drove it 30 miles and it still was dead. Took the battery out and put it on trickle for a few weeks - now it shows full charge and tests perfect with my load tester.

Maintainers FTW.