New Battery

[Johnny O]

Had to get a new battery on Sunday. Shortest lifespan I've ever had on one. The alternator crapped out last year and killed the OE battery enough that the Trac died while I was driving it. Dealer put in a new alternator on warranty but my regular mechanic warned me that my battery would be a short-timer after being totally drained. The dealer said the battery wasn't covered or damaged and wouldn't put a new on in.



I got a Duralast Gold. Consumer Reports said they're good.

 

[Todd Z]

Yes, I always see batteries die way shorter when there is an alternator issue...

Sucks the dealer would not replace.....



Todd Z

 

[TrainTrac]

Yep, my alternator went out on my '04 Trac last year, and it killed my 1 1/2 year-old Optima Red Top battery. The Optima just stopped holding a charge. I replaced it with an Autozone Duralast Gold.

 

[Wayne Costin]

I just replaced the battery on my '07 V6 about 6 weeks ago too.

 

[zaffo oxnard]

Does the Volt meter in the dash work at all? I have never seen it move much at all. Is it like the fake "oil pressure guage" that is really just an idiot light? I wish they had an alternator idiot light instead of the stupid gauge, or had the gauge wired like the fake oil pressure gauge. The idiot light is 100% fool-proof. If the alternator stops charging, it turns on. I wish the voltage gauge would drop to zero when the alternator dies so I know it is bad. The gauge might dip as the voltage drops, but if it isn't very accurate in the displayed range, I may not be able to see that my voltage is down from 14.4 to 12.2 all that easily. A volt meter is a good tool, but it is not as good as an itiot light/gauge.



Another suggestion for Ford product development.

 

[Johnny O]

It does not have a voltmeter.

 

[user 59934]

My original Motorcraft Battery just finally went with over 90,000 miles on it.



Replaced it with a Red Top Optima.





TrainTrac....I hope you didn't trash or trade-in your "old" Optima.

It is an AGM battery and will not recharge like a normal lead-acid

battery. If it was only 1.5 year old I am sure being discharged was like

a fly on it's back.



I bought an Optima 10 years ago for car I was building and basically never used it.

It drained 100% in 5 years. I brought it back to life and it lasted 5 years

after that.



You can't just put it in a car (or put a regular battery charger on it) and expect it to charge.

Once it goes below about 10 or 11 volts it has special charging requirements. You have to trick the charger into charging the battery by placing a lead-acid battery in parallel while charging. Once it is above 10-11 volts you can chardge it by itself. You can also use a charger that has a AGM setting.



If you still have the battery, go to Optimas website and watch the video on how to charge AGM batteries.

 

[user 59934]

Here's the link to the video....





http://www.optimabatteries.com/product_support/techtips.php





It's video #3.