All car batteries are subject to dying like this, as are all rechargeable batteries in say, R/C toys. If they are not 'cycled' i.e. charging and discharging appropriately for a long enough time, they will eventually die. New cars are very vunerable to having this happen. If a car is bought right off the lot after it arives and begins its normal cycle of charging and carrying loads(like starting), usually nothing ever happens. If you store your car you should use a charger/conditioner to prevent a dead cell. Its not just a 'mustang' problem, every car battery is subject to this happening. Batteries have a 'memory' that is imperative to condition to have a long life.

Some of the ones that opperate fine but die after a few days idle are borderline dead(the memory is no good) and its just a matter of time before it goes byebye. A car's computer and charging system is geared to do this for you automatically, by simply opperating the car normally and within an average time sitting on the lot before someone buys it. We must replace at least 50 batteries a year on new units that 'kill' thier cells(and that's units before they're sold). Its EXTREMELY rare that a trade in used car under 5 years old ever needs a new battery.

Just be glad its under warranty and FAR cheaper then say, high-tech li-poly battries in R/C airplanes. Some airplanes have over $350 worth of em. :shock: Dont charge/discharge/cycle them properly one time and they are done... You will see refferences to this in the cell-phone world as well, if you actually read the instructions. The first few days you use it and how you do will determine the effectiveness and longivity of the battery. If it has one bar of charge and you immediately 'talk' it dead and do not properly fully charge it again before the next use, the phone will never work right-ever. Once the memory is established(good or bad), you can not correct it.

 

Something you may want to try is to pull the fuse to the active anti theft systems . The fuse is inside the vehicle passenger side kick panel . This circuit is live at all times and feeds the intrusion sensors which I believe while even not being armed is a source of load on the battery. This is evident by the fact that cars built with this option come with the slightly more powerfull battery.

 

I pulled out my battery after it was dead after two weeks of not starting and took it to Shawnee Mission Ford in Shawnee, KS. They said they had not heard of any problems, checked it, found it was bad, and gave me a new battery. I took it home, dropped it in, and it fired up perfectly.

 

Dang..
I thought I was cool with starting every week or 2...

This morning..nice day..wanted to wash it.
DEAD

 

sounds like we need to do a group by on battery tenders

If the car is in storage might as well just disconnect the (-) terminal and let it sit. Since I have gotten my car I have done that, not a problem since.

 

That lovely little solar panel did the trick for me. $29.99 at Canadian Tire. I took the car for a spin yesterday. Started up just fine

 

I went to take mine out this weekend and it was dead again. Sat 9 days this time. After driving it around for an hour or so I put it on the trickle charger and it was only showing about 70% charge - so I think my weekend cruises are not enough to fill the battery and the extended sitting is not helping it at. I think I'll either look into a battery tender or start putting the trickle charger on midweek...

 

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smilies23.gif[/img] Well, I guess I have finally joined this club. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] I travel for business for extended periods of time. Anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month. Every time I get back the car fires right up. Just got back yesterday from a 3 week trip up north. Walked straight to the garage and opened the car door. Window didn't go down and no interior light. Dead as could be. Let it sit on a charger for about 6 hours. Went out today and it started right up.

Did notice one other thing too. And this is the first time I have noticed it. It oil smoked for the first 30 seconds or so when it started. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/headscratch.gif[/img] Never done that before.

 

Good news regarding my battery issue. Since fitting the new 70AH battery the car has been fine every day and better still, I just returned from a 7 day vacation and the car having been stood outside in the freezing weaher fired up beautifully first time .
So, I think that the original battery was probably faulty but I still havent put the shaker 1000 fuses back yet so that theory is not conclusive I guess. I suppose I could pop the fuses back in, leave the car a couple of days & see what happens, but as I know that fuse 6 is causing a current draw I really need to check for a short on the amp and/ or speakers in the trunk. anyone know how best to go about this?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hawgman @ February 4, 2006, 5:27 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Did notice one other thing too. And this is the first time I have noticed it. It oil smoked for the first 30 seconds or so when it started. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/headscratch.gif[/img] Never done that before.
[/b][/quote]
Try 5W-30, 5W-40, or even 5W-50 oil instead of 5W-20. The 5W-20 oil is so thin at full operating temperature that it leaks around the valve seals at shutdown. Probably the three weeks of sitting around added even more. You will hurt your mileage maybe 0.1 MPG. Always get a 5W base number for the oil.

 

It's odd that the dealerships act clueless when you ask them about faulty batteries in the stang. If enough of us have been having this peculiar problem you'd think it would have warranted a TSB from Ford. I don't know, come to think of it the service guys act clueless alot of the time. But not you Kevin.

 

My battery will discharge after about 2 weeks of sitting. It just sits in my garage. In my case it has something to do with the active anti theft. If i leave the stang unlocked with out the alarm on it's fine. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif[/img]

 

Well I've joined the club. I didn't start the car for about 5 or 6 days, go to get in it since it was a nice day and it was dead. It was so dead that even the keyless entry wouldn't work. Of course the window didn't go down and when you turned the key....nothing, not even a click. Took the battery out and took it to the dealer, they swapped it for a new one and it started right up. Is this going to end up happening often???

 

Unfortunately I have to join the club too. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]
Gonna bring it tomorrow to a dealership and have it checked out.

 

Not a problem with CTEK.
Automatically charges the battery including pulse maintenance.
Can be connected for months. Perfect for seasonal vehicles...

 

I've joined the club too. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img] Car sat in garage for 10 days. Went to drive it Saturday. Window went down, turned the key, and nothing. Jumped it and it started right up. Drove it around the block. Pulled back in the garage and turned if off. Waited 15-20 minutes and it started right up.

Took it out for a long drive and it started up each and every time. I guess this long stretch of cold days finally got to her or it was just showing me who is the boss.

Should I let my dealer know or wait and see if it happens again ?

 

On Jan 31st my wife went to take the car to the store and it was dead.
I checked the battery and it showed a voltage of 9. The eye on top was red. I called the dealer and they wanted to send me a wrecker and tow it in. I jumped it and drove it in. They checked the system out and found nothing wrong so they charged it for 8 hours. I picked it up the next day. Last Saturday it was dead again. So I called the dealership and jumped it again and drove her to them. The dealership changed out the battery and saw some scratches on my tint. They took the panels off and cleaned the mechanism in the door then retinted the windows. A very pleasant experience. The only bad taste in my mouth was they made me feel like it was my fault the battery went dead as it wasnt driven everyday. I dont know what that was about.
I havent driven my truck in a month and she started right up yesterday.

Anyway.....I need to put that $#@^ felt in before they scratch again.

The batteries are definately a problem.

 

I had the same problem in January. Dealer told me it was because the car sits. That's just silly. I have had other cars that sit for several weeks at a time.

So, I called Ford Road Service & had it towed to the dealer. I showed them the TSB & they replaced the battery with no questions asked.

Everything has been fine since then. Car still sits for several weeks at a time.

 

I'm the latest inductee into this group. What do I get other than 3300 lbs of vehicle that just looks nice?

After less than 10 days since my last outing, my '05 V6 greeted me with complete silence when I attempted to crank her up today. I have less than 3K miles on it in the 9mo I've had it. From all the postings on this issue it seems to be a common failure point. I've read the TSB that other's have referrenced but it doesn't seem to point this problem but talks more about how best to recharge these batteries but I may be missing something there. The notion that we are at fault for excessive down time is rediculous! 10 days is not too long. It's like mandating that these cars must be a daily driver.

Tomorrow I'll try jumping it with a backup power supply when I can drive it a good 30 minutes to get the charge back up if possible. Even if I revive this battery I still wonder how limited it's capacity will be and if I should bring it to the dealership. I'll just be annoyed if I spend a couple hours for them to tell me to run it more often. I think I'll look into one of those trickle charge devices that have been mentioned here (although it I generally avoid products with "trickle" in the name)

-EDIT- I just broke out the multimeter and the battery reads 2.5V... I thought a recently deceased battery still holds in the area of 11 volts or so? odd. I checked my multimeter against a 9V battery laying around and it read the full 9 volts.

 

Has anyone in this thread (tow rope) put a meter on the car battery to see what the current draw is when the car is sitting ? This measurement multiplied by the time should tell you when the battery will die , if you know for sure what the battery's true capability is. I hate to say this, but Motorcraft batteries are not very good. We ALWAYS had a jump pack at the ready at the dealership. I always recommend Interstate or (take a deep breath) AC Delco batteries. Motorcraft batteries are just as hit or miss as the Sears Diehard. Some work, some don't.