Battery Problem

[Surfer8210]

Now I've got a battery problem, kinda. The other day I go to start my ST and noting. It reads as though the battery is dead. A jump did nothing, bought a 75 amp battery charger, sat the battery on it for 24 hours, still truck acts like battery is dead. Bring battery to place I bought it, their tester shows its 100%. Bring battery home, put it in truck, nothing. I get dash lights and that's it. No clicking when turning ignition and eventually the dead battery icon shows up on the little green led readout on the dash. Anyone have any suggestions? I don't do well with vehicle electrontics and don't have the diagnostic tools to really figure this one out. Going to have to get it towed to a garage and hope they can get it sorted relatively quickly. I hate electrical issues.

I just had this same issue last week. It turned out to be my starter.

 

[Surfer8210]

The weird thing it’s at 14.1 volts for a 12 volt battery but is only 75 % charged?? I hooked it up this morning and it’s 14.8 volts at 75 %! I’m no electrical wizard but that seems odd?

Even after a couple hours of charging, it doesn’t go above 75 %??? Odd IMO!

I have an original Oddysey charger for my AGM batteries.
The charging RATE fluctuates above 14v when charging and will drop down intermittently.
Mine also has five charging capacity lights, it’s get to 80% and that last light stays unlit for a long time before it reads fully charged and finally lights up.
An important thing to note is that when replacing the alternator always use Mororcraft OEM for the replacement.
For some reason non OEM won’t play well with my 07’ Limited and I’ll always get that check charging system warning light on dashboard despite the system working fine as far as charging and starting the truck.
Put an OEM alternator in and that light disappears.

 

[G Man]

Did you have any warning at all that the starter was going? My truck has been running like a champ, no starter hesitancy or any other weirdness.

 

[Surfer8210]

Nope, none at all. Just turn the key and the starter either worked perfectly or nothing, just dead silence.
It was the original OEM starter from the factory in 07’ though.
Very exposed there on the bottom of the truck.

 

[user 64972]

G Man:
Sounds kinda like the issues I've been had!All on a ST with around 80,000 miles!

 

[Todd Z]

Can you step on the brake and get brake lights and try starting it in neutral ???

 

[G Man]

Can you step on the brake and get brake lights and try starting it in neutral ???

Tried that, to no avail, and there is no play in the shifter linkage.

 

[Doug Kaye]

A jump did nothing

I had this happen once in my Sienna, apparently dead battery but it checked out fine. Turned out to be a badly corroded ground connection cable.. the corrosion was not easily visible, actually inside the insulation of the cable. New ground cable fixed it..

agree, I hate electrical.. give me a wrench to turn ;-)

 

[user 64972]

I charged mine with the Optima charger. I left it on there for like 24 hours total. I went out at 12 hours and it said it was75% still and was "conditioning" so I left it and came out the next day and it was at 100% and was maintaining. The battery has never shown signs of leakage and did not leak while being charged. I took the battery to the Sport Trac today, pulled the battery tray, checked the harness under there and it appeared clean, I put the tray back with two layers of Pig Mat under the battery and I installed the battery. The next battery will be an AGM battery for sure! The Sport Trac has set inside a large majority of its low mileage life. To me, a pampered, low mileage life should not cause these problems no matter how old it is unless it was left out in all kinds of weather.....but that's just me! Trying to make it last for what time I have left!

 

[G Man]

My battery issue was indeed a dead starter. Fixed now.

 

[user 64972]

I think the optima charger/conditioner/maintainer got the battery back on track. So far, so good! I like the charger!

 

[curtis james]

101 on batteries, they are only a few companies who make batteries, jci, johnson control inc. is biggest maker, they own optima and there made in mexico, we put stickers on them per manufacturer, die hard, everstart etc. the lower end have less plates and last less and lower cranking amps the better ones we put more plates in and you can tell by how heavy they are, acid type batteries last 5 to 6 years, the gel glass mats last longer due to less corrosion eating plates and acid breaking down, we make them and they sit, very little in winter as cold is a killer for batteries. when they get shipped we fill and boost. from cheap walmart to high end they are made in same shop. if you live in west region there made in canby oregon where i worked. dealerships get there own label but we make most brands. i would test every optima that goes out and they not as good as ya think. if you are going to go to glass mat go agm...

 

[DILLARD000]

@curtis james
Your insider view of battery maker & marketing practice is very interesting.
An "Average Joe" like me, has no practical way of choosing a new battery, other than checking that
~ it fits the existing BatteryTray & head room under the hood
~ it fits the existing BatteryCables+Lug arrangement
~ it at least matches the CCA rating of the old Battery
My approach has been, buy the largest battery that fits, has the highest CCA available,
replace the factory Lugs with heavy duty versions, & keep those terminals clean+tight.
Averaged 6+ years life on batteries over 21 years on this SportTrac, so guess I've done OK.
Current battery is made by JCI, approaching 7years old.

 

[Todd Z]

Love JCI batteries.... hate Exide.... Rant over..lol

 

[Surfer8210]

101 on batteries, they are only a few companies who make batteries, jci, johnson control inc. is biggest maker, they own optima and there made in mexico, we put stickers on them per manufacturer, die hard, everstart etc. the lower end have less plates and last less and lower cranking amps the better ones we put more plates in and you can tell by how heavy they are, acid type batteries last 5 to 6 years, the gel glass mats last longer due to less corrosion eating plates and acid breaking down, we make them and they sit, very little in winter as cold is a killer for batteries. when they get shipped we fill and boost. from cheap walmart to high end they are made in same shop. if you live in west region there made in canby oregon where i worked. dealerships get there own label but we make most brands. i would test every optima that goes out and they not as good as ya think. if you are going to go to glass mat go agm...

Aren’t the Optima batteries AGM?

 

[curtis james]

they are, they use a spiral but yes,, if your going to pony up get agm there the best but optimas were not up to par, when i would get a shipment they were fully assembled and we would check voltage and quality and quite a few would not get shipped out to stores. we had quite a few come back for warranty issues. there were around 5 brands of agm type. couple years back. jci was serious about quality control at least the nw region where i was, short of the plastic body we made and assembled them in shop but optima are made in mexico and they are decent but not the one i would buy.

 

[Todd Z]

Have to watch Optima, a lot are not Starting batteries and are deep cycle instead. I see people putting batteries in the wrong application all the time.

 

[Surfer8210]

Have to watch Optima, a lot are not Starting batteries and are deep cycle instead. I see people putting batteries in the wrong application all the time.

They’re pretending that they’re in a boat instead of their car…!!!
Lol

 

[Surfer8210]

they are, they use a spiral but yes,, if your going to pony up get agm there the best but optimas were not up to par, when i would get a shipment they were fully assembled and we would check voltage and quality and quite a few would not get shipped out to stores. we had quite a few come back for warranty issues. there were around 5 brands of agm type. couple years back. jci was serious about quality control at least the nw region where i was, short of the plastic body we made and assembled them in shop but optima are made in mexico and they are decent but not the one i would buy.

Now we all wanna know, what AGM would you buy?

 

[Todd Z]

I know the question was not for me, but ive been using the Diehard AGM for years, love them.