Its A Six

Hey there guys,

I was installing my new red L.E.D.'s for my rear side markers this past weekend, and I ran into some problems. The install was easy, too easy. When I fired the car up after installing the new bulbs, the left side light didn't light up, I figured hey no biggie. So I shut the car off, but left the lights on. I went back and pulled the L.E.D. out and rotated it making sure to push it back in smoothly all the way. Well the light fired up perfectly and lit up. I went back to start the car thinking nothing of it, and upon attempting to start the car, I got the click click click "rearrrrrrrrrr" noise, that is indicative of a dead battery. I waited around a while, and then threw the charger on the car after attempting to start the car a few more times. Charged the car for five minutes, and it fired up perfectly. I shut the car off and went inside for about an hour, then came back out and put the car away no issues.


Fast Forward to today, being extremly frustrated with Web Electric for not getting my returned tail light harness, and then not being able to contact them, after them leaving me a message. Anyways, I was pissed, but wanted to drive the car, so I went back to my car and reinstalled the left side harness, which was the one that worked that I left in. Anyways, I installed it and went to start the car. Dead Battery! So I'm like what the **** at this point. So I put the charger back on the car, and charge it up. I fire it up, all the lights are working, no issues, no error codes. So I go out and take the car for a 10 minute joy ride since I was bored, well upon arriving back at my house, I park the car in the driveway, and go away.

I come back litterally 5 minutes later becuase I have to go run some groceries for my mom, and sure enough DEAD BATTERY. Now, I'm really pissed, so I'm pretty upset. Anyways, well I noticed that my left side window isin't operating how it should be, which is its not going down when I open the door, and not going up when I shut the door. I put the charger back on the car and leave it charging for an hour. I come back and the door is working properly again, and the car fires up perfectly.

I let it sit for 10 minutes, and come back, its working fine. However, I have this feeling that after letting it sit over night that it might die again.



So here's my question, the LED's that I installed in the rear side markers, along with putting the factory harness back in for the tail lights, what could possibly be causing the battery to literally drain in under five minutes. I have fiddled with nothing else other than the side markers and the tail lights. Everything is connected correctly, and I checked the fuse box and pushed everyhting down, the last time I fired it up. So basically what could be causing the battery to be dieing so quickly. I just had my alternater replaced about three weeks ago, along with a throttle position sensor, and my fuel injectors, which were combining to light up the Engine Problem light and the Battery light, however that was all fixed by Ford. So what is doing all this?!

Thanks,
-Ryan

watchdevil

I don't believe your taillamp wiring harness nor LED bulbs have anything to do with this. All circuits are off when the key is turned off. The brakelights are switched through the brake lamp switch. There shouldn't be any parasitic drain from these items. If the LED was not working on one side then the LED is probably defective. You can do a simple test to see if you are getting voltage to the sidemarker bulb socket when the lights are on.

I would say that since you have a 2005 Mustang you probably still have the original battery. The average life of any battery is about four years no matter what brand you buy. Heat is an enemy and shortens battery life. A battery that is too discharged can also be damaged to the point it will no longer hold a charge.

It sounds like to me your battery just picked that day to fail and anything else was coincidental. You said that you replaced your alternator a few weeks ago. That probably put a nail in the coffin of your battery. The car probably ran off the battery until it was discharged to he point the battery may have become so weak it will no longer hold a charge properly.

Any time you replace an alternator you have to ensure that the battery is fully charged before putting it back in service. The alternator alone cannot be depended upon to fully recharge a severely drained battery. If you have a weak battery and the alternator is running all the electrical, it can cause the alternator to overcharge which lead to alternator failure. An already weak battery could have lead to the alternator failing in the first place.

Batteries are such now that they require no maintenance unlike the old days when you checked the fluid regularly. Maintenance-free simply means that maintnance is not required to maintain a warranty. However it will extend battery life if you can maintain the fluid. Some batteries are sealed and some you can still pop the caps to fill them. If you do this, use distilled water only or use an eletrolyte fluid mixture. Never use tap water or purified water... They all have minerals in them that will netralize electrolyte. If the fluid is too low then it wil not help to add distilled water because the electrolyte mixture will be too diluted.

Fluid in the battery often evaporates after this much time. So as a rule you get battery failures in extreme weather conditons, hot and cold.

When you buy a new battery, you usually get longer warranties in relation to higher cranking amps. Warranties don't guarantee that your battery wil not fail and buying a battery with a longer warranty doesn't mean it's any better. Warranties do however give you a free replacement or proprated allowance for the unused number of months during a warranty period.

Batteries are a high profit item for retailers and that is why they can afford to warranty batteries they way they do. It also gets the customer back in the door to spend more money at the same place if there is a prorated adustment done.

Anyway, you can go to any local retail auto parts store and get an electrical check done for free. It tests the battery, alternator and starter as well as any parasitic drain on the battery with all doors closed and accessories off or unplugged.

Its A Six

Thanks for all the information. The failed LED ended up working in the long run, but the battery is the issue. I'm going to do what you said and take it to an auto store to get it all checked out properly and if so buy a new battery. The battery is the original battery that came with the car over three years ago.

MustangRetribution

yeah pretty much agree with almost everything watch devil just said, what I disagree with is a different thread lol.

Anyhow like he said get it tested I'm sure it will fail and whatever you do at the minimum make sure you get a battery rated the same as what came with the car, more CCA wont hurt anything but getting less at best will just get you a battery that will last a year or two and at worst cause electrical issues.

Darth Stang

Since you're gong to be getting a new battery, search the threads for the Optima Yellow top battery. Get the best, you'll end up paying less in the long run when you don't have to replace it as often.

adrenalin

As devil has stated, I too think it is your battery. Just a coincidence that it should fail when you are doing electrical mods. Anyway, could you explain this part a little more?

Several people on this site have purchased items from WebElectric and the service we got was excellent. The way I read your statement is that you are upset that they didn't receive tail light harnesses that you had shipped to them. If that is true, how could that be their fault if they didn't receive them?

RRRoamer

The stock batteries do tend to fail VERY suddenly. When the original battery failed on me, I had very little warning.

The first time I knew there might be a problem, the car was sluggish to start after sitting for three weeks. It started up, but that night, I put the charger on it to make sure it was 100% charged.

I didn't have any more issues from the batter for two weeks, then it decided to be hard to start one morning, even though it had been out and running the previous night. I charged it up once more.

The next day, it tried to leave me at a restaurant and I had to get it jump started. I drove the car home and pulled the battery to have it tested.

On the tester, the battery was showing right at 12V with no load. But with a two amp load (which is NOTHING compared to starting!), the battery dropped down to less than 8V! Needless to say, the tester said the battery was very much bad.

Needless to say, I haven't had any starting issues since I replaced the battery. One thing I did notice is that the car spun over much quicker during starting with the new battery than it did with the old battery, even before the old battery started the death spiral.

Its A Six

Getting ahold of them is an absolute pain in the neck, and I'm getting fed up with them saying they don't have it, and the post office saying something different. I'm not angry with the company or service, just more angry with how I'm being inconvienced at the momment.

adrenalin

So does the post office have proof of delivery and shows who signed for it? I have shipped items before where the post office said it was delivered to find out the items were not delivered until 3-5 days after the fact. I guess the guy has gotten pretty busy. His response times before were pretty good.

Cheese302

good to know that the battery is a very sudden fail. i also stand behind optima batterries, i have never heard a starter motor spin so strong.

Its A Six

Well, I was going to say that he has taken care of everything because I got my package from him today in the mail. However, upon plugging the harness in, it still doesn't work, and is doing the exact same thing that happened last time. It was shipped from WebElectric, and had a note attached that had "repaired" penciled in. So now not only have I been shipped a bad harness once, told that my package never got there, only to have it arrive with a repaired note, when they still claim they never even got it, but my harness is still broken...


Yes, I'm sure this sounds very different then what Web Electric usually is, but this is the honest to God, truth.



EDIT: They just called and told me that it was all a big mix up and that someone over there tried to get it fixed and out right away but must have forgotten to actually fix it. Through all this I can say that Web Electric is great for customer service, granted its hard to intially get a body on the phone, they are great about calling customers back. Also, they offered me a 10% discount for the mx up, so I can't talk higher about them or their service.