2003 SportTrac battery dies after 3-4-5 days

[Bob Stuke]

Hey folks,



My 2003 V-6 SportTrac has always gone dead after sitting for 3-4-5 days. I replaced the battery, but it still happens.



I make sure every adapter is unplugged from the lighters. No interior lights left on. 3 different premium batteries. When it was in for 60K service, they checked everything and said it was fine. The lady at the service desk said hers does the same thing......



Does your do the same thing?



Any insights or fixes?



TIA.



Bob

 

[Gavin Allan]

Check for parasitic current draw. Something is drawing down the batteries.

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

If you can put in an amp meter in series with the pos. lead, to check your currant draw, then unplug the fuses one at a time. You might be able to isolate it this way.

My trac sits in the garage a week at time with no trouble.

 

[Jeff DeJournett 2]

Definitely not "normal". I've left mine sitting two weeks, climbed in and starts right up. I've only had it out once this week, and probably won't drive it again until next week at the earliest.



Use Gary D's advice and isolate the bad circuit and go from there.

 

[Bob Stuke]

Great info guys. I will go the isolation route now I know it is not normal.

 

[Dreman]

I don't know. I don't think we've ever left it sitting for more than one day!:lol:

 

[Richard L]

Your battery may just be getting weak and cannot hold a charge for 3-5 days.



That is usually how people disconver they have a bad battery. The vehicles sits overnight and the battery is too week to turn-over in the morning. Yours sounds like it is getting pretty weak and is having difficulty holding a charge. Any drain, even as small as the clock, or PATS security system can suck the little juice left in the battery.



I always look to the most obviouse problem. Modern Vehicle electrical systems are pretty stable and the Sport Trac is not known to have any electrical defects that would drain you battery over 3-5 days. Yes, that could be the problem but I'm leaning towards a weak or bad battery...It happened to my 2001 Sport Trac because the EPA has required battery manufacturers to reduce the lead they put in batteries and that makes the batteries less reliable than they were 12-15 years ago.



...Rich

 

[Darrell Miller]

Could it be the alternator draining the battery?

 

[Todd Z]

What you need to do is Remove the NEG battery terminal....



WITH ALL THE DOORS CLOSED, hook up a test light to the neg battery cable and the other side to the batter top post...



IF there is an electrical drain, the light will stay lit...



THEN the easiest way to narrow it down is start removing the fuses from the fuse panel 1 at a time until the light goes out....

What ever the fuse is for , thats the circuit with a drain..



Todd Z

 

[Bob Stuke]

As a follow up, I took the battery out to give it a good overnight charge without it being hooked up to the truck electronics. Lo and behold, my smart charger ended up saying a cell was bad. Not sure why it wouldn't tell me that when it was hooked up in the truck. I took it back to the parts store, and they confirmed it was bad, and gave me a new one.....



Case closed.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

Good deal.



My OEM battery lasted 6 years, with the vehicle being parked for sometimes 3 months at a time. I just had to replace it this week -- hopefully the motorcraft replacement will last as long.



Gerry

 

[Greg Bosin]

I would just take it to Napa autoparts, autozone or whatever you have in your area and have them load test the battery(usually free). I've you have a bad cell or cells the test will tell. Then you'll know if you just need a new battery or start to troubleshoot the vehicle wiring.

 

[Dre L]

THEN the easiest way to narrow it down is start removing the fuses from the fuse panel 1 at a time until the light goes out....

What ever the fuse is for , thats the circuit with a drain..

That's great advice, electrical problems are my least favorite to troubleshoot. On my last car I had a short. Everytime I lit a cigarette, the trunk would not pop open from the remote switch. :blink: took a while to figure out the pattern and that the cigarette lighter was bad and on the same circuit as the trunk release.



On the Trac, I had a 12V accessory plug fall apart in the outlet. There was a large flash and blue arc inside the outlet took out the OBD2 port and my scanguage went blank, I soiled myself at the impending cost of repairs :unsure: Then I replaced the fuse and all was well.



I hate when fuses blow.

 

[Jeffrey Travis]

I was going to suggest to put the pos/neg on your tongue but that is how to check a 9V battery. My bad.

 

[Nick Barber]

Same problem with mine, new battery. See "Alternator ?"