Just came back from a 10 day Vacation and My 05 has a dead battery...what do I do!! I dont want to mess up computer or anything electrical. Cant wait any longer to drive her.....

 

Jump start it or put it on a trickle charger. If it continues to rundown then take it back to the dealership.

 

I would jump it.
One day a few weeks ago I was listening to the radio when I washed mine.
When I got in it to move it, it was dead. Just used the boost charge with my charger and it started right up. I can't believe that these things have such weak batteries.

 

There is a TSB about this.

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/albums/us...%20discarge.pdf

 

Same thing happened to me. I was listening to it while I washed my car and when I tried to start it, it was dead. I got a boost from a battery charger, and let the car run for a little bit to relearn idle and stuff. It's been workin' fine since.

 

I've run mine down twice with a radar detector. On my '97 Cobra I was able to leave the detector on without a problem. This car doesn't like the detector to be on even for 1 night. 1 night will cause slow crank, but the car starts. 2 nights and it's basically dead.

I find it pretty strange, but chalk it up to this thing being smarter and having more things going on at rest.

 

I'd be very leary of a battery that has been run down many times. Every time it is run down, it looses life. Many of the Corvette owners have switched to Optima batteries to avoid the problem.

 

My battery has gone dead twice. I ran some tests and find that if I don't drive it for about 3 weeks it is dead. If you run the Shaker with the engine off it really drains the battery. Also learned that many of the batteries are not fully charged when they leave the factory and if you don't put some miles on the car when you get it,it might go dead if parked for a few days. I solved the problem by installing a small tricke charger which I plug in if not driving the car for a few weeks. These batteries do not fare well in deep discharge and there is a constant discharge from the cars computer and opening and closing of the doors.

Rene'

 

same problem with shaker, found that there is a short in the subwoofers in the trunk all should get it checked out

 

I sell both Motorcraft and ACDelco Batteries. Both GM and Ford dealers have a new type of battery tester. They check Conductance not load . Have them perform a test it takes all of 30 seconds. You can also have most Interstate battery dealers do the check it should be free.

 

Since I put my car away for storage, I have been attempting to start the car on a regular basis. On Saturday the battery was dead, after getting the car started I let it run for about 20 minutes to get it up to temp and the battery charged. 2 days later (this Monday evening), I attempted to start the car again but the battery was drained. The battery had barely enough juice to drop the window. On Saturday when I got the car running, the charging system appeared to be running at the normal voltage. Either the battery is faulty or there is an electrical gremlin of some sorts. Just a note, the car would not hesitate to start up when left alone for a week just a few weeks ago. The factory alarm wasn't armed.

Just wondering if anyone has had similar problems since putting their car in storage?

Hopefully it is just the battery,

 

I put my "vert" in storage about six weeks ago, and found the same issue of a dead battery. I've started it up and did a few miles every few weeks, but it still went dead. Now, I put the trickle charger on it every other week, and it seems to stay charged up. I too don't know why a new car, with a new battery, would slowly drain out.

 

the first time it happened I thought it was because I left the alarm system on. Afterwards, I didn't fully arm the system, yet it still happened. After sitting for 2 weeks, maybe... but not 2 days?

 

Galaxie, your battery wasn't fully recharged in 20 minutes. When you went back in 2 days it was again fully discharged because it was never fully recharged. It takes quite a bit of time to recharge a fully discharged battery.
I have measured current draw on my Mustang and it will fully discharge the battery in a few weeks if you don't drive it or trickle charge. It's possible you do have a battery problem but I doubt it.

 

A good rule of thumb that I've run with for almost 40 years of driving;

It takes roughly 30 minutes of running time to recover the lost charge from your last start of the engine.

FWIW - my car has been in storage for roughly a month. I went to it two days ago and it started like I had just shut it off the night before.
I will be putting a battery tender on it this weekend just in case.

 

I'll try and charge it up with a charger this time, I just found it perplexing that the battery couldn't hold a charge for 20 days.

 

seems to be an ongoing problem, especially in the cold. There is obviously something draining the battery at an alarming rate...maybe the alarm system (no pun intended). I disconnected my battery and connected one of those solar battery chargers ($29.95 at Canadian Tire). So far the light on the battery is still green and holding a proper charge. Once I get my car back from the body shop I will leave the battery connected and connect the solar panel to see if the battery still is charged after several weeks of sitting there.

I must say this is annoying because I have had almost 20 cars and never had this problem before and I have had some serious stereos/alarms in the past that never killed a battery.

 

I believe that these batteries as a group are of a rather poor quality. They are even small for the battery tray, which makes me think that they have a marginal reserve capacity. I would ask Ford to replace it, and once the warrantee is over, go get a nice 8-year Interstate battery that fills the tray.

 

If the battery has to be replaced I will try and see if I can get one of those high-end spiral-cell batteries with my paying the difference.

 

My Mustang has been in storage off-and-on for most of the last year. I left it completly unattended from January to March, and when I brought it out of storage, it started right up. Same thing in June, but from September through November my son was starting it up from time to time, but things went bad. The battery went completely dead in November. I had it towed to the dealer who found the alternator to be bad, and replaced both the battery and alternator. Now the car is storage again until February, so I'm crossing my fingers that it will start then.