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2006 mustang gt battery dies

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Old Mar 14, 2014 | 08:30 PM
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From: Hayden al
2006 mustang gt battery dies

I was wondering if anyone found the problem with the battery going dead after the car is parked for two or three days? I have a 2006 mustang GT and if I don't drive it for two days the battery goes dead. I have read it is the radio that comes on when the car is parked, I turned the radio off and went to crank it today and the battery was dead, when I jumped it off the radio was on, I will install a battery tender later this week, but to check the radio I pull the fuse and will see , if it will crank Sunday, any ideas on the fix?
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:41 AM
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There have been quite a few posts about batteries. Doing a search should help you out.
Is your battery new or old? A mongrel or quality battery?
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 08:48 AM
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no ideas on the fix other than getting the battery tender. Autozone has one for around 26 bucks and Sears has one that is a tad better for around the same money.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 10:07 AM
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From: Hayden al
The battery was installed three months ago from a ford dealer, I have a diehart battery tender that I am going to install. thanks for the replies. Ken
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 06:33 PM
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Every time you kill a battery its life gets a lot shorter.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 06:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Glenn
Every time you kill a battery its life gets a lot shorter.
^^This is true.
OP,...just use the battery tender and you should be all set. Good luck!
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Old Mar 17, 2014 | 03:37 AM
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You could try pulling the fuse for the radio to see if that is really the source of your power drain
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Old Mar 17, 2014 | 02:12 PM
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Been there. I also have (update 12/2/2022: had) an '06 GT. The dealer has replaced my battery five or six times. This last time they also diagnosed an alternator issue. Since replacing the alternator the battery problem has stopped (so far).

Up until this last trip they said the alternator always tested OK.

Last edited by Paris MkVI; Dec 2, 2022 at 02:24 PM.
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Old Mar 19, 2014 | 06:52 AM
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Is the radio on CD when you shut the car off or a radio station.
I seem to remember something about the unit cycling the 6disc or something to that effect.

The main drain I would say is the sonic intrusion sensors.
I can't remember if ther was a way to lock the car and arm the doors/incline sensors without the motion.

Still, 2 to 3 days seems a big short, but I guess if the battery has died a couple of times, the time would get shorter and shorter.
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Old Mar 19, 2014 | 07:35 AM
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Once I pulled out all the CD's in the Skipper 500 and turned off the Radio, mine stopped drainin the Battery. It sits for a while.
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 06:59 AM
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Question Hit or miss

Sorry to hear you have this typical problem.
It is so weird that the battery drain is so random on these cars.
I have had 3 of these cars, with and without the shaker radio.
I let all my cars sit for weeks at a time.
Never had a problem with any of them.
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 07:59 AM
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I myself do a 'checklist' on mine, where by I ensure the radio is off, the wipers are off, and the air conditioning is off/set to cold/set to lowest fan. This is to ensure there's as little drain as possible. It's my belief (I have no proof) that the SJB sees these things on and tries to use them regardless of key on condition, so drain.

It's also known that the active sensors in the car's interior can cause the drain, if so equipped. The tender is your buddy in that case. I drive mine every day, though, so I don't bother.

I've also replaced the alternator three times, and the battery three times since I've had her. The last time, I replaced *both* at the same time.

I've now got whatever the Hi-Lo... er, O'Reilly, I mean... battery is, and their rebuilt alternator (lifetime on that, fine with me!) So far, no problems since (and now I've jinxed it. Meh.)

I've noticed that the '10s and up have a battery blanket. It is my belief that this is due to the engine heat killin' the things, so Ford did that. I am still contemplating on acquiring one of those. There is no cooling air (nominally why the batteries were in the front of the car, dontchaknow) that gets back to that cubby hole the battery is in.

I'm also contemplating getting a duct of some kind fashioned to get cooler air in there.

But so far, since I went with the dual all new/newly rebuilt dual swap out, no problems.

Oh, and be sure to keep your positive terminal *clean*. I'm not real sure what's going on, but I think the heat and that cap and the moisture are causing that thing to corrode faster than it should. I'm contemplating swapping out that terminal for something a little less troublesome.

In case that matters to y'all. Good luck to yas!

Last edited by houtex; Mar 31, 2014 at 08:01 AM.
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 10:45 AM
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Originally Posted by houtex

I've noticed that the '10s and up have a battery blanket. It is my belief that this is due to the engine heat killin' the things, so Ford did that. I am still contemplating on acquiring one of those. There is no cooling air (nominally why the batteries were in the front of the car, dontchaknow) that gets back to that cubby hole the battery is in.
All of mine (2007 and two 2006s) came with a blanket.
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 12:48 PM
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My 05 came with a blanket too ...
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 01:30 PM
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I have one too, 08GT.

Last edited by lowblustang00; Mar 31, 2014 at 07:36 PM.
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Old Mar 31, 2014 | 08:29 PM
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Huh. Guess *someone* before I got her took it off? Or is it an option that could be purchased back then...?

Odd.
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Old Apr 1, 2014 | 05:11 AM
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Not sure if it's an option ... Mine has the premium interior option, not sure if it would have came with that.
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Old Apr 1, 2014 | 06:08 PM
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My '06 has it too. Might be related to the active anti-theft option; I know they come with a higher capacity battery.
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Old Apr 1, 2014 | 09:17 PM
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both mine are base models, and have battery blankets, the wifes V6 does too.

Ive been thru several batteries, one in the 06, two in the 09... now I unhook the 09 after its 2-3 week warm up cycles. these batteries are compact, seem to sulfate up/refuse a charge faster than larger ones. read up on batteries- any time they are not FULLY charged, the plates begin to sulfate...if theres ANY draw, its not FULLY charged even after a few days... as time goes on the self discharge gets worse, 2-3 times sitting completely dead for a few days, they are pretty much shot.

our 65 galaxie dont even have a clock, it has sat up to two months, never fails to start- although it ALWAYS cranks> 20 seconds...and the battery was installed 12 years ago. any time I start it, let it fully warm up ( >25 minutes before shutting off) so battery has never been down, still cranks like a new one. the starter had a April 1865 date stamp on it too- the thing amazes me how well it runs

Last edited by ford4v429; Apr 1, 2014 at 09:19 PM.
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Old Apr 2, 2014 | 06:15 AM
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Tim Why do you think the Galaxie has to turn over for so long before it starts?
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