Solved Motorcraft battery issue.

[Scott E]

Hi Folks..

I’ve got an interesting problem... I live in Central Maine and it can get a bit cold at times as you can imagine.. Well since we have had some real cold days our 08 Eddie Bauer 4O has had a ‘drained’ battery. The battery is only about 1.5yrs old and should be under total replacement warranty but the Ford Shop.. one i wouldn’t trust much says the system shows ‘good’ as well as the battery. I ran another test at another shop and it still shows mid 5s for CCA... I checked for parasitic draw.. initially showing 180M amps.. then drops off to 0.. after cycling the key/switch... so saying all of this... can the battery be intermittently ‘good’ then going ‘bad’... I don’t want to spend a bunch of money if i can show the battery is bad and still under warranty...

I hope i’ve explained well enough but not boring.. lol..

Thanks Much All..
Stay Warm...
Scott

 

[Rcflyer330]

The stock motorcraft battery is rated for 850 cca. So your battery should get 850 cca for 30 seconds at 0°f while mataining a voltage above 7.2 anything less I would say it's a bad battery. But you also need make sure your alternator is working correctly if its not charging the battery all the way then thats a problem.

 

[Scott E]

The stock motorcraft battery is rated for 850 cca. So your battery should get 850 cca for 30 seconds at 0°f while mataining a voltage above 7.2 anything less I would say it's a bad battery. But you also need make sure your alternator is working correctly if its not charging the battery all the way then thats a problem.

thanks for typing it is probably what the oem truck calls for.... it is a 650 CCA.. and yup... it seems to be charging fine.. I'm going to test it further later today or tomorrow... we have had some really cold days.. sub zero so seems to be an intermittent problem...

thanks much
Scott

 

[Rcflyer330]

So your battery is a rated 650 cca?
650 may not be enough to crank the car when its really cold out. A reason it seams intermittent could be do to the soak time, the time from when you shut off the car to the time you go to start it, and the tempurature the car in during that time.

 

[dacaur2]

are you saying on really cold days the truck wont start, or it just cranks slow but still starts?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Starters tend to draw more current as they age. Your battery might be border line on this requirement, so it's a good idea to use a battery with more CCA on an older vehicle unless the starter was recently replaced or bench tested.

 

[DavidEBSmith]

Hi Folks..

can the battery be intermittently ‘good’ then going ‘bad’.

The last 2 batteries we had in the Mounty, at 1 1/2 to 2 years, the truck would randomly not start. Jump it, would start fine for a couple of weeks, then dead again. The battery before the current one was one of those super-duper $200 AGM batteries, and at about 1 1/2 years, occasionally the truck would be dead in the morning. Figured it couldn't be the super-duper battery, must be the starter (probably due for replacement at 200K anyway). With new starter, truck would still randomly not start. Got a fancy battery tester, battery tested fine. Then a couple of days later it showed bad. Took it back to the store for warranty replacement, when I got there it tested good. Tested it every day, most days it was good, every once in a while it tested bad. If I would drive it to the store to return it, it would test good when I got there. Checked for parasitic drain, never found any. Alternator tested fine. Finally just gave up on the super-duper AGM battery, bought a $70 EverStart from Wal-Mart, hasn't not started in over a year.

So I'd say yes, the battery can be intermittent good and bad.

 

[Scott E]

Well Hi Folks..

Sorry for delayed response to you kind folks. Down ill and a few other things going on lol... BUT... I just got plum tired of the intermittent starting issues and did like some others... I went ahead and bought walmart’s 850cca battery.... now ‘no’ problems... bear in mind the truck is not modified in any way so no wiring changes or different equipment to cause problems...

I hope this is a long term fix!!

Best of luck!
Scott

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update. Your thread is now marked as solved.

 

[digifoss]

According to North American Motoring, 4.0L explorers come with an engine block heater as standard equipment in many northern states, but Maine isn't one of them - maybe it should be.
Here in NM I keep my Suburban plugged in every night all winter and it makes a huge difference. Eliminating cold starts probably extends the life of the engine by a good margin.
4.0L SOHC 12-valve V6 engine
Engine block heater *Standard on non-fleet vehicles in AK, MN, ND, SD, MT, WI & WY*

 

[Scott E]

Yes ... I’m not sure why vehicles destianed for maine are not equipped with a block heater.... I know i’d Sure use one if equipped so.... and may even look to installing an aftermarket one. We have days where ambient temp never gets above 0.. zero... let alone wind chill... ours is the 4.0 as well... with 126k on her... all equip is oem.. and i’m Second owner.. prior owner had impeccable maintenance records ... so.. i hope we can wade through the boogers and enjoy her for a lot of years ahead..

Drive safe..
Scott

 

[digifoss]

My 95 Suburban came with one factory installed. I wouldn't mind having one in the Explorer but the level of difficulty installing one in the block where one of the freeze plugs goes may be a bit much for me. That's the kind my Suburban came with - it's a 500 watt and does great. I have it on a timer that comes on at 3am and goes off at 7:15am so when I leave for work at 7:30 it's ready to start. It was -15°F two mornings in a row in December here and when I cranked it up both mornings it fired right up and there was no clatter or other fuss from the engine, everything sounded well lubed as soon as it started. Since the whole engine is luke-warm to the touch, it's no time at all before the heater is blowing warm air. Eliminating cold winter starts is an engine life-saver IMO.

 

[dacaur2]

There are magnetic and stock on heaters that you can attach to your oil pan for not much $$ and easy to install... The heater heats the oil in the pan and the heat rises though the whole engine.