I parked my 07 GT in the garage last summer and did not put on the Tender for about 3 months. I went to start the GT and it just clicked and the dash lights went out. I put my Tender on that battery for a few days and the battery is all back to normal. It seems like the onboard electronics sapped the battery rather dry, and the battery was about 5 years old at the time (factory original). My gut tells me to change the battery, it is about time, and I have yet to have a factory Motocraft battery last longer than 3 years. I think it lasted this long only because I had kept it on the Tender 24/7 whenever I don't use the car, EXCEPT for these 3 months.

I was planning to buy a new Group 96R battery from Autozone or Advance Auto, but I wanted some second opinions before I shell out over $100. Sears has no good offerings for Group 96R (No Diehard Gold). I want the longest warranty possible.

ETA: I did find some threads I posted about my battery, but I couldn't find them at the time. woops.

The only new info I have to add is that I'm not sure if a new battery is recommended. But I don't want to be stranded this driving season.

 

It really hurts the battery to let it drain all the way like you did. I picked up a AZ battery a few months ago and use the tender when its going to be more than a week or more untill I drive the car again.

 

I seem to remember a post a while back about batteries losing life quickly. I know that when I still had the original battery it wouldn't crank if I left it sitting for longer then a week. Since I've changed to a better cold crank battery I haven't had any problems.

 

I have noticed that about S197 Mustangs in particular. I have a 2000 and a 2003 Ford that sit out without tenders, and I could leave them uncharged for over 6 months and be able to start the engines without issue. It's the S197 that I keep hearing about dead batteries within 1 week to 1 month.

How much was the Autozone battery? What was the warranty? I may look at Wal-Mart to see what batteries they have. I am really disappointed in Ford choosing such a small battery. My Crown Vic has a 4.6L 2V and it has a gigantic Group 65 battery, same size used on the much larger E-series. The Group 40/96 was sized for a Focus or Mazda6.

 

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...mString=search
I'm pretty sure I picked up the 99 dollar batt. To lazy to get up and go look.

 

cable corrosin isn`t near the problem it once was but it still can occur ..your car will start many times with a bad connection as hi voltage is flowing .. yet a dirty connection will not allow low charging voltage to recharge the battery .. that happened on my toyota .. thought i had a bad battery but a good cable cleaning fixed it

 

I doubt it is cable corrosion, the GT is driven only in the spring through fall (no salt whatsoever) and is garaged all the time. Once the Tender did its thing, the GT starts fine. However, I did notice the GT taking longer to start (just a split second longer) around early last year even when it was fully charged.

I just went to Wal-Mart and they don't have a 3-year replacement Group 96R or 40R Ever Start. They only had the 2-year replacement, which is like a silver - for $72. They're all made by JCI, so they look exactly like the Motorcraft batteries.

 

I noticed when my battery was getting weaker I would have to reset/recalibrate my windows. Now with the new battery I dont have to do that anymore.

 

Mine too!

 

Yeah, I had that happen with the original battery too. I think one of the suggestions was to turn off the radio before you turned off the car. I didn't try that. I got tired of jumping off the car and got the new battery.

 

shouldn't make a difference if you turn the radio off or not. stupid fords

 

Anyone else notice how much snappier the car runs once you replace the battery? I nursed my original until this year. It died once again and I put it on the 2 hour charge that usually puts it back in order and it wouldn't hold the charge. I went for the $99.00 Advance Auto parts job and suddenly not only does the car start with authority, it feels like 20 additional horsepower as well. These cars seem hungry for juice.

 

nope feels like it ran the sameas before the new battery, but I can understand the logic behind your statement.

 

Was it because disconnecting the battery reset the ECU and it had to re-learn from scratch? (which means you have been driving to soft and it got used to you. lol )

 

Interstate is pretty much all I buy anymore.

 

My favorite was the Diehard security battery. Dam I loved the battery. First it had a remote where you could turn the battery off so no one could jack your car. Second It had a separate cell that would hold a charge enough to start your car if you left your lights on and killed your battery. Sadly they don't make them anymore.

 

I think you're right on this , the adaptive memory is reset and the car has to re-learn the data again. My A/F ratio had been off and I was told to re-flash the tune , which also resets the adaptive memory , because the adaptive memory may have bad data in it for what ever reason. So I did re-flash the tune and the A/F ratio was right back to what I expected ...

 

I installed a new Advance Auto AutoCraft Gold Group 96R battery. I see 2 plastic pieces in the tray that can be removed for a wider battery. Did anyone else notice that there is a gap when using a 96R? Meaning, the stock battery was not fully seated against both of the plastic pieces?

After I tightened the holding clamp down, I tried tugging on the battery as hard as I could and it seemed to stay put. But I don't like how there is a 1/4" gap or so on the side of the battery. I thought the Autocraft might be made out of spec, but the OEM battery was the same width.

It was hard to find a 3 year free replacement / 7 year pro-rated warranty for a Group 96R battery. Sears DieHard and Wal-Mart only had the 2 year free replacement batteries, and Meijers doesn't have 96R batteries or 40R. It's like a red headed step child of batteries.

However, after returning an old Group 65 battery as a core (sized for a E/F-series, Police car with the 4.6/5.4 V8 engine), I can see why Ford specified a small 96R for the Mustang. It is easily half the weight, or close to it. It is smaller and lighter, so it does not upset the weight distribution of the Mustang. I'd be more comfortable with a Group 65 in the trunk to be perfectly honest.

The Advance Auto AutoCraft looks like a Johnson Control battery from the outside, but I couldn't tell if there was an "eye" for one of the cells, and it was listed as being distributed by AutoCraft in Roanoke VA. The closest battery facility I could find in that VA area was Interstate Battery. Exide, East Penn, and Johnson Controls doesn't seem to distribute from that area of VA.

The Wal-Mart EverStart Group 96R specifically said "distributed by Johnson Controls".