Took the truck on a road trip to Galveston last weekend and she performed flawlessly.

Truck sat six days and I go to start it this morning so we could run an errand and it barely started. The truck did start normal after a minute of idling though. We took the car instead, not wanting to press the luck.

When we got back this afternoon I drove it around for about ten minutes to charge up the battery a bit. Before that though I cleaned the battery connections and checked the water. The truck started normal after the drive, just like this morning after the minute of idling.

I assume the battery is around three or four years old, Interstate Mega Tron.

So when the truck sits it is starting slow. No sign of this weirdness before.

I waited until this evening to take a video of what the gauges are doing on startup when it starts slow after a sitting. Notice the volt gauge and it's low reading before it starts, then the tach and speedo needles bounce slightly but quickly after started, then all the needles go normal.



Weird.

Think my battery is going south on me or is there something else I need to look for?

 

If the battery is 3 or 4 years old I'd replace it after a weak start. My original battery gave me a weak start in December of 2010 after the first cold snap of that winter. I replaced latter that day even though it started fine in the afternoon. As it was a weak slow start in the morning when I went to work that day. Heat can kill a battery just as much as cold so if it is 3 or 4 years old and sat a week and had a slow start I'd replace it before it leaves you to get a jump from someone.

 

The truck sometimes sits for longer spurts than six days as it's not my daily driver any more. The original battery I could tell was going out because the edge evolution display was not showing right. Didn't have that luxury this time.

 

Battery

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I'm used to getting signs that the battery is going out like the windows going up slowly after I turn the truck off, struggling a bit on start up, things like that. But on Wednesday, my 23 month old battery bit it. I'd never once had any kind of issue with it prior to that. Good thing for 3-year free replacement, but my truck hardly goes a day without at least being started for a minute or two. So batteries can be strange

 

Battery. Interstates tend to last 2-3 years in Texas. I know because i keep warranting mine out

 

lol

I think I'm going Diehard Platinum. I'll never have to buy another battery.

 

Drive over to Autozone and get them to load test the battery and alternator. They do it in the parking lot and it's free.

 

Its the battery. My truck was doing the same thing. I got 6 years of service out of it. I replaced it with a diehard gold.

 

Tried to start the truck this morning and it barely did, worse than yesterday. Took the battery to autozone to have it checked. Said it was not charged enough to test so they are charging it and I'll know in an hour if it's good or not. I think it has a bad cell or cells because the alternator seems to be charging. I'll know more in a bit.

 

I would still get them to test the alternator. You don't have to pull it, they can test it on vehicle.

 

Verdict is: battery wouldn't charge. The alternator is working fine and passed all the telltale tests I did on it.

 

Get a Motorcraft from a Ford dealer. My original battery lasted 7 years and 120k so I replaced it with the same thing.

It was actually the same price as most parts store batteries.

 

My original motorcraftbattery lasted about the same as the interstate I had. In Texas batttery life is stunted by the heat.

 

The new Motorcraft batteries don't last worth a crap. They aren't the same thing any more.