Battery problems 23 2.7 EB

[National Superbike]

Went out the other night and opened the door to get in and the interior lights didn't come on. Truck started OK. Next day after a short drive to the park, got the attached message on the screen. Friend works at the local dealer and told me to bring it on in and he'd test it since it's going to get cold (20's) this weekend. It's apparently a 2 hr procedure but it passed so he can't replace it. Now I've got battery anxiety, lol. Truck is 11 mo old so under warranty but I'm really skeptical at this point. He said he just had a truck in yesterday that did the same thing and he did have to put a new battery in. Wondering about the quality of Ford's batteries at this point. Anyone have a similar experience and is the battery warrantied for the 3/36?

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[National Superbike]

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Went out the other night and opened the door to get in and the interior lights didn't come on. Truck started OK. Next day after a short drive to the park, got the attached message on the screen. Friend works at the local dealer and told me to bring it on in and he'd test it since it's going to get cold (20's) this weekend. It's apparently a 2 hr procedure but it passed so he can't replace it. Now I've got battery anxiety, lol. Truck is 11 mo old so under warranty but I'm really skeptical at this point. He said he just had a truck in yesterday that did the same thing and he did have to put a new battery in. Wondering about the quality of Ford's batteries at this point. Anyone have a similar experience and is the battery warrantied for the 3/36?

Hi there! If you'd like to, go ahead and send us a private message with your VIN and dealer info and we’ll look into this battery concern. Thanks!

 

[Graygoose2021]

Take stock battery out, go to Local parts store get a new H7 or H8. Problem solved. Mine went out first year as well.

 

[Natetroknot]

I replaced my OEM H6 with an H7 at about 1 year and 10k of ownership before even a hint of trouble from the BMS out of pocket and also bumped my SOC up. Gladly paid a few hundred bucks to avoid the headaches of a dead battery and dealer diagnosis BS.

You do you, but I'd suggest a replacement ASAP. If the haggle at the service advisor's desk it worth it to save a couple Franklins, you could probably end up getting it covered at some point, but not before you have a headache or two and it falls below the threshold to fail the dealer required testing parameters to qualify for warranty replacement.

 

[National Superbike]

So, is it just that the battery is too small or is there a quality problem? I'll keep an eye on the voltage. When I checked it, it was 12.1 which is low for an almost new battery and it was charging at 9 amps. I have a STX without many power options but everytime I walk by the truck, I hear things clicking on so I guess there is stuff that stays powered all the time and discharges the battery. It does get driven at least 10 miles every day, though.
You are right about the hassle of taking it in, getting a ride, etc...

 

[Natetroknot]

So, is it just that the battery is too small or is there a quality problem? I'll keep an eye on the voltage. When I checked it, it was 12.1 which is low for an almost new battery and it was charging at 9 amps. I have a STX without many power options but everytime I walk by the truck, I hear things clicking on so I guess there is stuff that stays powered all the time and discharges the battery. It does get driven at least 10 miles every day, though.
You are right about the hassle of taking it in, getting a ride, etc...

Just my opinion, but the OEM size is probably plenty fine for an STX, but a bigger one will fit without any trouble so why not add the capacity.......you can fit an H8 if you want, but the stock battery blanket will only fit around an H7 if I'm not mistaken. The jump from an H6 to H7 gets you a hundred and a half more CCA's, give or take. Easy choice.

There are also some quality problems with the stock batteries, yes. Exacerbated by the chip shortage that some years fall within that were sitting for months waiting for parts.

You are right about all the systems that draw power when the truck is parked. Plus, I can see from you pic that you have auto start/stop, which is also hard on batteries. Only driving 10 miles a day isn't much as far as your battery and charging system is concerned!

And yeah, it dealing with service departments sucks and I avoid it at almost any cost. The wal-mart H7 I put in my truck was about $200 and comes with a free replacement 3 year warranty. Good luck!

 

[Graygoose2021]

So, is it just that the battery is too small or is there a quality problem? I'll keep an eye on the voltage. When I checked it, it was 12.1 which is low for an almost new battery and it was charging at 9 amps. I have a STX without many power options but everytime I walk by the truck, I hear things clicking on so I guess there is stuff that stays powered all the time and discharges the battery. It does get driven at least 10 miles every day, though.
You are right about the hassle of taking it in, getting a ride, etc...

Mines an STX, same, here clicking, etc well after truck shuts off. I've had zero issues in 2 years since throwing OEM battery away.

 

[Kanuck]

2 weeks since removing the OEM H6, which I had on a maintainer, and installing a new H7 and only driven 450 km. Seems to be worth the investment. Have not had any approach or interior lights NOT come on. Every thing seems good.

FYI: I saw/read someplace the battery blanket is not to keep the battery warm but to insolate it from the engine heat. Heating the battery up shortens its life. AT least this is how I understood it

 

[Gros Ventre]

I have followed OEM battery travails on this site. I had some weird readings while at power and at a steady 55 mph. Given the situation, I pulled into a nearby NAPA dealer and purchased their catalog battery, replacing the OEM at 4 months after delivery. Retained the OEM battery and took it back my dealer. It tested just fine, but I never put it back in. I wasn't yet smart enough to do a BMS reset, just dropped the new one in and drove. Bottom line is nary a peep out of the electrical system since. My inference is simple: there is something wrong with the OEM Batteries. You can go thru the drill of going back to your dealer, perhaps several times, get replacement batteries, or you can just split for a good non-Ford battery and be done with things.

 

[Aim64]

Take stock battery out, go to Local parts store get a new H7 or H8. Problem solved. Mine went out first year as well.

Which is the
best H7 battery for a 2021 f150 Platty?

 

[Gros Ventre]

Which is the
best H7 battery for a 2021 f150 Platty?

I'm partial to the NAPA folks. It was their stock size battery I put in. Something useful to do is a "wetting down" charge. WHen you get home, put the new battery on a low rate charge, say 2 amps, and let it run to a long term completion. When I did this it charged at that low rate for some 10 hours. The purpose it to ensure all active material inside the battery has been setup properly.

 

[National Superbike]

I have followed OEM battery travails on this site. I had some weird readings while at power and at a steady 55 mph. Given the situation, I pulled into a nearby NAPA dealer and purchased their catalog battery, replacing the OEM at 4 months after delivery. Retained the OEM battery and took it back my dealer. It tested just fine, but I never put it back in. I wasn't yet smart enough to do a BMS reset, just dropped the new one in and drove. Bottom line is nary a peep out of the electrical system since. My inference is simple: there is something wrong with the OEM Batteries. You can go thru the drill of going back to your dealer, perhaps several times, get replacement batteries, or you can just split for a good non-Ford battery and be done with things.

Worth noting that Clarios makes batteries for most of the big sellers including Ford and Optima. That doesn't mean they are all the same quality but the Ford batteries are not junk- probably just undersized. If Ford can get away with saving 10.00 per battery, I'm sure they do. But Ford's quality problems are well known and that has come back to bite them in the tail in the form of ridiculous warranty claim costs.
I suspect the charging scheme is somewhat at fault too. A lot of vehicles don't charge hardly at all when idling. My Frontier was so bad you could see the HL dim at night when you came to a stop. The fix for that was to unplug a plug next to the battery. But that truck never had the battery run down enough to trigger a warning.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Worth noting that Clarios makes batteries for most of the big sellers including Ford and Optima. That doesn't mean they are all the same quality but the Ford batteries are not junk- probably just undersized. If Ford can get away with saving 10.00 per battery, I'm sure they do. But Ford's quality problems are well known and that has come back to bite them in the tail in the form of ridiculous warranty claim costs.
I suspect the charging scheme is somewhat at fault too. A lot of vehicles don't charge hardly at all when idling. My Frontier was so bad you could see the HL dim at night when you came to a stop. The fix for that was to unplug a plug next to the battery. But that truck never had the battery run down enough to trigger a warning.

As to the sizing issue, I don't think that's the problem. When I replaced mine I didn't specify size just took the NAPA standard, catalog battery. I've since had zero issues across three Wyoming winters where we routinely get down to -20ºF and colder. As I reflect on the issues I've seen scroll across these pages, I think there is an alloying issue in the battery. An alternator (the BISG) should charge the battery at idle. In any case the engine, when spinning on a Powerboost, will be charging the HV portion and that will also support the 12VDC side.

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