Time for a battery replacement?

[Abed]

Hi
My 07 Explorer V6 just went out on me and I couldn't start it. Every light inside the car is flickering and I barely managed to lift the windows up after a few tries. Gonna post a couple of videos i took so you guys can see.
Before I change the battery, can something else be wrong with it? a fuse maybe?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Won’t be a fuse, they wouldn’t limit power. Could be a connection issue. How old is the battery? You can typically get them tested where you are gonna buy the new battery.

 

[Abed]

Won’t be a fuse, they wouldn’t limit power. Could be a connection issue. How old is the battery? You can typically get them tested where you are gonna buy the new battery.

The battery is a year and a half old. I checked the battery itself and it was lighting green which means it's okay. I guess that's not always true.

 

[94Eddie]

Hi
My 07 Explorer V6 just went out on me and I couldn't start it. Every light inside the car is flickering and I barely managed to lift the windows up after a few tries. Gonna post a couple of videos i took so you guys can see.
Before I change the battery, can something else be wrong with it? a fuse maybe?

Bad electrical grounds can cause many weird problems.

 

[Blackhawkxx]

Like others said, check to see if the connections are clean, charge or jump it and drive to auto parts store to have it tested for free. Batteries can be a strange thing, check the easy stuff first. If the fully charged battery is good, then you have to search for the voltage drain.

 

[Abed]

UPDATE,
So I was intending to replace the battery today, but something got in the way! I noticed some oil under the driver's seat and after much thought and having an expert view it, it turns out to be a power steering fluid! No idea how that happened

 

[Mbrooks420]

What’s power steering fluid have to do with starting and electrical problems?

 

[94Eddie]

UPDATE,
So I was intending to replace the battery today, but something got in the way! I noticed some oil under the driver's seat and after much thought and having an expert view it, it turns out to be a power steering fluid! No idea how that happened

Do yourself a favor and check the main ground straps/cable connection points for corrosion. Check the battery cable connections too. This has been an issue on many Ford models from the early 2000s. I would do this before spending money on a new battery. Especially if it tested to be good and only 1.5 years old.

 

[Abed]

What’s power steering fluid have to do with starting and electrical problems?

Believe me, I have no idea, I just saw that. Maybe there are more than one issue that just came up together.

 

[07EddyB]

Understand that your power steering system uses transmission fluid.....

Not that has anything to do with your battery issue but you should realize that it could be from the transmission.

 

[J_C]

Measure the battery voltage with a multimeter. If not low, look for a bad ground or battery cable clamp corrosion. If low, jump start the vehicle but do not drive it. Measure voltage with engine running, should be rising towards 14.4V. If it's not you may have a bad alternator and should not try to drive it anywhere after a jump as you might get stranded a few minutes down the road.

If the alternator is suspect, disconnect the cable to the battery, at the alternator end, and with engine off, measure whether there is any current drain, first on the amp range of the meter and if not registering, only then on the mA range.

You could also measure for parasitic drain in case there is some other fault, with a DC clamp meter or regular meter in series, or instead of current you can measure voltage drop across the fuses. There are youtube videos showing how to do this and charts for what voltage on what amperage fuse, corresponds to what current draw. It only works with quality major brand fuses, not generic chinese which can be wildly higher than rated.

 

[Abed]

UPDATE:
I took the car to the shop and jumpstarted it there. The battery was the problem, as suspected. But, when the vehicle ran for a few seconds, the power steering fluid was flying out of the hood and had my clothes covered by it. The mechanic told me something broke down under the driver's side of the car (couldn't catch its name though)
Gonna pick the car up tomorrow and see what happens. I was told that this leakage is due to the car bumping into something really hard so it broke down. Trying to wrap my head around that as my driving is mostly in the city and I drive really carefully