Weak battery but Ford won't replace

[EcoBeastCA]

I've had my truck in for numerous electrical gremlins and I'm positive some (like chimes defaulting to the IPC rather than the speakers) are related to low voltage. My battery sits at like 11.7-11.9V which is far too low, but every time I take it in, they put it on their "special tester" and somehow or keeps passing the god damn thing.

I only have the truck for another year and few months before the lease is up. I don't think I'll be keeping it cause the residual is too high. I know I could take a new battery with me, but I don't think this expense should be on me.

Any suggestions?

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[Rinn69]

Take the crappy battery out, save it, put a new one in, and the day you go back to turn it in, put the crappy battery back in, jump start it, and drive it to the dealer. They wanna play games.....so can you ?

 

[KBKEITH]

Take the crappy battery out, save it, put a new one in, and the day you go back to turn it in, put the crappy battery back in, jump start it, and drive it to the dealer. They wanna play games.....so can you ?

I see nothing wrong with this course of action. Leased trucks generally go to auction and if the truck needs a new battery so be it.

 

[EcoBeastCA]

You're missing the point. I shouldn't have to spend $330 (CAD) of my own money on a part Ford should be replacing for free, because the one I have is defective by any measure but seemingly their own.

 

[gpbst3]

I get it but sometimes its just easier to pay. You can go to Walmart and get a new battery for under $200 and hopefully be done with it for the rest of the lease. I don't know about you but repeatedly going back to the dealership is wasting my time. Time=money

 

[EcoBeastCA]

I get it but sometimes its just easier to pay. You can go to Walmart and get a new battery for under $200 and hopefully be done with it for the rest of the lease. I don't know about you but repeatedly going back to the dealership is wasting my time. Time=money

I suppose, but I need an AGM and an H7 at the least. I would prefer an H8 but like I said, they're $330 CAD at Costco. I definitely haven't racked up $330 worth of trips to the dealership over this, especially because I typically go in when I have several issues to address.

 

[KBKEITH]

I get it but sometimes its just easier to pay. You can go to Walmart and get a new battery for under $200 and hopefully be done with it for the rest of the lease. I don't know about you but repeatedly going back to the dealership is wasting my time. Time=money

This is sound advice. Ask me how I know.

 

[EcoBeastCA]

This is sound advice. Ask me how I know.

Do tell. Same issue?

 

[KBKEITH]

Do tell. Same issue?

Yep. I had junk Motorcraft batteries in my ‘21, ‘22 and now my ‘25. Dealer gave me the runaround in 2021 so I bought a new battery on my own dime. This solved my battery issues. Did the exact same with the ‘22 and ‘25.

 

[EcoBeastCA]

Yep. I had junk Motorcraft batteries in my ‘21, ‘22 and now my ‘25. Dealer gave me the runaround in 2021 so I bought a new battery on my own dime. This solved my battery issues. Did the exact same with the ‘22 and ‘25.

Did you stay with the existing size or upgrade?

 

[KBKEITH]

Did you stay with the existing size or upgrade?

The ‘21 and ‘22 were EB so I was able to drop in the H8. My ‘25 is a PB so I had to go with the H7. In all cases I went with the EverStart Platinum. Seems to be a great battery for less that $200.

 

[National Superbike]

I have a friend at my local dealer. The battery problem is real and he says they have a way of making it fail the test. He said it is a constant problem. They replaced mine with a H6 stock size battery and everything has been fine ever since. But, yeah mine passed twice even though the interior lights wouldn't come on at times, would never do OTA updates, disabled features, etc.

I'd call Ford customer service if your dealer won't replace it and complain about it being a safety issue to you. Maybe remind the dealer that the lease is coming up and they have no chance of leasing you another truck if they can't even fix a simple battery issue.

 

[Hans Moleman]

I think some dealers purposely have a really bad battery laying around and they use it to help customers fail the test for warranty if it’s on the borderline.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

I've had my truck in for numerous electrical gremlins and I'm positive some (like chimes defaulting to the IPC rather than the speakers) are related to low voltage. My battery sits at like 11.7-11.9V which is far too low, but every time I take it in, they put it on their "special tester" and somehow or keeps passing the god damn thing.

I only have the truck for another year and few months before the lease is up. I don't think I'll be keeping it cause the residual is too high. I know I could take a new battery with me, but I don't think this expense should be on me.

Any suggestions?

well, I bought my truck in June of last year. I replaced both batteries before they started to take a shit. I didn’t want to deal with that with any of this crazy shit in the winter.

I replace the main battery with a NAPA unit. I replaced the auxiliary battery with a 14 aH O’Reilly battery

 

[SumGuy]

I suppose, but I need an AGM and an H7 at the least. I would prefer an H8 but like I said, they're $330 CAD at Costco. I definitely haven't racked up $330 worth of trips to the dealership over this, especially because I typically go in when I have several issues to address.

Most professional folks time is worth about $150/hr. So if you’ve spent 2 hours between scheduling service, driving to the dealership, posting on here about it…spend the $300 for the H8 battery and move on.

I had one battery replaced under warranty and the second failed after about 6 months. I bought the NAPA H8 and have zero issues since. That is worth my time and money regardless if Ford should have fixed it.

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