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Battery / Electrical Question


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Question:

 

With my wife’s 2010 Ford Edge it periodically will not start but when I go to charge it the charger indicates a full charge. I cleaned the terminals thoroughly and put them back as there was quite a bit of fluffy corrosion on the negative terminal. This made no difference. I can start it by jumping it or using a portable jumper pack and it starts right up. It will continue to start for the next few days and then all of the sudden it won’t start and requires the jump start treatment.

 

My instincts tell me that I have a faulty battery. I’ve certainly witnessed newer vehicles displaying strange behavior as a result of battery’s nearing their death. Yes, it is the original battery in the vehicle as it tested very well at the local Interstate battery store.

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Probably the battery. They often test ok at the auto parts or battery store but are really bad. If it's the OEM battery I'd go ahead and replace it - I never get more than 3.5 years out of one here in Atlanta. 5 years is pushing it nowadays unless you take extra care with periodic recharging and reconditioning and keep it topped off.

 

Check this out:

 

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It will indicate a full charge based on the battery's condition. But the full charge is less than full capacity. the batteries five years old. It's done. Get a new one because getting stuck is going to cost a lot ,more.

Few actually know how to properly test a battery, nor do they have the equipment. My wife's died with no warning in her 2010 escape. Yret the one in my 08 was fine until the day I traded it a few months back.

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I went and bought a Solar tester and C-tek smart charger after watching that video. My 2013 Fusion was down a bit and needed a recharge. I don't think it needed reconditioning yet. I hope testing and charging every 6 months or so will help prolong battery life.

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A worthwhile investment I'd say.

 

I need to show the wife the video as it's burned in her memory that the Interstate Battery store told her the battery was good. Therefore purchasing a new battery is blatantly a waste of money :doh:

 

That's why I bought the Solar tester so I can see the CAs or CCAs.

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The Solar testers are not very accurate and can be out as much as 100% of the displayed lost capacity I have lots of batteries that passed with the Solar but failed when tested with the Midtronics unit. With the Solar sometimes showing 300 More CCA than the Midtronics unit did.

 

http://www.midtronics.com/shop/products-1/battery-and-electrical-system-diagnostics/mdx-series-conductance-battery-and-electrical-system-analyzers/midtronics-mdx-700hd-battery-tester

 

Mind you that is a professional quality unit with professional quality price too. It is the unit most of the Manufacturers rebrand for their dealer spec service tools.

 

The Solar will Identify batteries that are completely shot but most of the time will pass ones that are failed but still showing a good level of CCA. This is especially true with AGM batteries.

 

Remember you get what you pay for , the Solar unit is ok for the DIY'er but do not take what is says as gospel.

 

You should be able to get 5 years easy out of good quality battery with no extra maintenance. I'm going on 11 years on the one in the Mercedes and only showing a 50CCA loss. And that is in Alberta where it routinely sees -20 and colder temps each winter and it's cranking over a diesel to boot

 

Also don't rule out a bad Alternator Ford has issues with ALT's damaging batteries and or sucking them dry when not running, this has been on going for about 15 years now and it seems they still get some every now and then that still do this.

 

My F350 drove me nuts with discharging batt's several Alternators and a few sets of batteries later never solved the issue, and it was intermittent to boot the final fix was a high quality aftermarket Alt and 2 AGM batteries. Now the truck can sit months with no fear of draining the batteries so far down it wont start. Prior I was lucky to get a couple weeks or even a couple days before they were too flat to start the truck.

 

 

Matthew

Edited by matthewq4b
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My LS's car battery lasted 7 years, I was shocked because I never paid it any attention then one day it just wouldn't keep the charge and I'm like "Oh wait I haven't seen you in years" (its in the trunk)...I guess when its mounted there you kinda forget to give it any attention. I gladly bought another Motorcraft Battery to replace it with.

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My LS's car battery lasted 7 years, I was shocked because I never paid it any attention then one day it just wouldn't keep the charge and I'm like "Oh wait I haven't seen you in years" (its in the trunk)...I guess when its mounted there you kinda forget to give it any attention. I gladly bought another Motorcraft Battery to replace it with.

Now that you mention it I had my LS for 6 years and never replaced the battery. Being in the trunk surely helped the most.

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