Weak battery already??

Porpoise Hork

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Over my many years I have seen car batteries last as little as 1 month to as long as almost 10 years before shorting out. OEM batteries are usually good for at best 2-3 years before they need to be replaced. Of course this is in Houston so what we get for battery life here will be different than in other parts of the country.

@MustangMike2021 A vehicle alternator should be capable of bringing a battery back up to full charge within 8-10 miles after being started. If the battery under charged when the engine started then this can increase the distance/time it takes to reach full charge. Disconnected the battery should read between 12.4-12.8v anything below that could indicate a faulty alternator, shorted cell in the battery, or electronic components in the truck that are putting an increased drain when the truck is shut off. If the battery and alternator check out then they will need to connect a scan tool to it and monitor battery voltage and amperage draw with the system off to check for anything unusual.
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MustangMike2021

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Adding My Experience--
Having the exact issues spelled out in this post, start/stop was constantly disabled, 12VDC power ports in cab and bed would shut off with ignition (Use to stay powered 2 hours after) Numerous dash and radio messages stating "Shut off to save battery"
2019 XLT FX4- 12K miles, daily driver (25 Miles a day), added some LED bed lights off the 12VDC bed pigtail (Use for camping, rarely)
Dealer Visit one- Sent to Quick Lane- 3 hours only to be told battery tested "Great" When I asked "What is the next step" told needed to do further diagnostics- Scheduled 2nd appt.
Dealer Visit Two- Acknowledged there is an issue with 'the computer' not recognizing battery is 'Great' because voltage is too low, but still feel battery is not the problem. Battery spent 3 hours on charger and driven for 30 minutes, but still can't get battery voltage high enough to 'teach' the computer the battery is fine. Asked what the next step is- Told they would prefer the have truck brought in night before so they can put battery on charger overnight to get the battery up to the needed voltage for computer. Also added that I may have caused the issue with over usage of my added bed lights (They haven't been used much in the last 6 months) Scheduled my 3rd appt.

My Take- If a 'great' battery on a charger for 3 hours, can't get fully charged, the battery is probably the issue
Just giving an update to my original post so if someone does a 'weak battery' post search, they can see what the ford dealer is doing to resolve t5he problem.
Third Visit--Left truck at dealer overnight so they could leave on charger over night so it can 'fully' charged in the morning. Late this afternoon I went to pick up my hopefully fixed Ranger, only to be told that the battery voltage is still not high enough to teach the computer. When I asked "Now what"? I was told that they created a 'hot line case' with Ford, but it may take few days for a response. Service writer would call me when they get a 'next step' from Ford. I drove away frustrated and decided to try a easy fix for BMS issues I found on this forum. The drawback to this fix is it will disable the start/stop function. The fix is to disconnect the two wire electrical connector that is connected to the negative battery post. If you search 'disabling start/stop' you can probably easily find the post. It has several YouTube links that explain it. I disconnected it when I got home and idled the truck for about 15 minutes to charge the battery and shut it off. The 12VDC power ports remain powered, and radio played for the normal 30 minutes with key off. It has been about 90 minutes, and I hope the 12DVC port shut off at 2 hours as normal.
My play is to leave it disconnected a day or two and monitor operation, while waiting for Ford's response it to the hotline case.
 
 



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