Stupid weather...stupid batteries
It's been worse than a walk-in freezer up here, lately. I just tried to start my truck and the battery is dead. Put the shop charger on it and at the 40 amp setting, I had electrolyte streaming out of...
Forum Discussion
To answer a few questions:
Ford's implementation of "door ajar" and what it does/doesn't do. This is all about the truck in my sig line, 2003 Ford F-250 Crew Cab 4x4 5.4 V8. When a door is left open or closed/unlatched, open/latched the door ajar circuit is powered, a signal voltage is sent to the instrument cluster illuminating the located open door and the trucks ECU keeps the circuit powering the cabin overhead light powered for about 10 minutes or until 1/4 mi of forward travel has occurred. When I first brought the truck home, a mechanically disinclined ex-buddy monkeyed around with a rear door child safety switch and the door ajar problem has persisted, since. The result is that the cabin overhead light remains on when parked or, sometimes comes on by itself for a short time. I guess it is time to do some surgery and repair/replace the offending mechanism. At the same time, I'll replace the cabin lights with LED's.
Battery condition: Motorcraft BXT-65-750 was installed in the Fall of 2013, replacing the same original battery. The alternator was replaced a couple of years ago. I have a fairly large sound system onboard, two amplifiers, total rated watts 2600 (used watts-100, at most).
*Before anyone thinks I'm the guy or kin of the guy bumping down the street near your house, I'm not. I play my music at normal or less than levels. I just like good sound.*
Everything is wired with large cables and circuits are protected. Never had an issue with the sound system. I've never left the lights on and drained the battery. Last Fall, I checked electrolyte levels and cleaned the top of the battery with baking soda solution. I didn't clean the posts or terminals. When I removed the battery, I noticed the terminals had a bit of crud and posts were dark,not shiny like I want them.
The battery is now on the shop charger and I'll clean up everything, test the SG, fill the cells, and report back with my findings.
FWIW, as the Jr shop guy, years ago, my duties were to drive a jeep around on frigid nights in the Metro and start disabled cars. I had a separate car starting unit with two aircraft alternators. There wasn't much I couldn't start with the jump set, a can of ether, a distributor clamp wrench, and some time. Never thought I'd freeze my own battery but if you live long enough.....
Don,
Yup, immediately went to the 2 amp setting and the bubbling stopped. The last part of my battery maintenance will be to do an equalize procedure and get everything stirred. I might have replaced with an AGM, also, but 10 years with the original Motorcraft lulled me into complacency.
Mex and Almot,
Yup, trying to use batteries in the Tropics or sub-tropics is difficult. At least the terminal wrench doesn't stick to your hand, though. I've been living in the Great Frozen North long enough to acquire a fairly good sense of what vehicle batteries need to make it through the Winter. An outlier to the present situation is that I've had the truck parked in the drive for a week without starting. The high temp yesterday was -7F.
Ford's implementation of "door ajar" and what it does/doesn't do. This is all about the truck in my sig line, 2003 Ford F-250 Crew Cab 4x4 5.4 V8. When a door is left open or closed/unlatched, open/latched the door ajar circuit is powered, a signal voltage is sent to the instrument cluster illuminating the located open door and the trucks ECU keeps the circuit powering the cabin overhead light powered for about 10 minutes or until 1/4 mi of forward travel has occurred. When I first brought the truck home, a mechanically disinclined ex-buddy monkeyed around with a rear door child safety switch and the door ajar problem has persisted, since. The result is that the cabin overhead light remains on when parked or, sometimes comes on by itself for a short time. I guess it is time to do some surgery and repair/replace the offending mechanism. At the same time, I'll replace the cabin lights with LED's.
Battery condition: Motorcraft BXT-65-750 was installed in the Fall of 2013, replacing the same original battery. The alternator was replaced a couple of years ago. I have a fairly large sound system onboard, two amplifiers, total rated watts 2600 (used watts-100, at most).
*Before anyone thinks I'm the guy or kin of the guy bumping down the street near your house, I'm not. I play my music at normal or less than levels. I just like good sound.*
Everything is wired with large cables and circuits are protected. Never had an issue with the sound system. I've never left the lights on and drained the battery. Last Fall, I checked electrolyte levels and cleaned the top of the battery with baking soda solution. I didn't clean the posts or terminals. When I removed the battery, I noticed the terminals had a bit of crud and posts were dark,not shiny like I want them.
The battery is now on the shop charger and I'll clean up everything, test the SG, fill the cells, and report back with my findings.
FWIW, as the Jr shop guy, years ago, my duties were to drive a jeep around on frigid nights in the Metro and start disabled cars. I had a separate car starting unit with two aircraft alternators. There wasn't much I couldn't start with the jump set, a can of ether, a distributor clamp wrench, and some time. Never thought I'd freeze my own battery but if you live long enough.....
Don,
Yup, immediately went to the 2 amp setting and the bubbling stopped. The last part of my battery maintenance will be to do an equalize procedure and get everything stirred. I might have replaced with an AGM, also, but 10 years with the original Motorcraft lulled me into complacency.
Mex and Almot,
Yup, trying to use batteries in the Tropics or sub-tropics is difficult. At least the terminal wrench doesn't stick to your hand, though. I've been living in the Great Frozen North long enough to acquire a fairly good sense of what vehicle batteries need to make it through the Winter. An outlier to the present situation is that I've had the truck parked in the drive for a week without starting. The high temp yesterday was -7F.
