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Is my battery on its way out?

6K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Mazo 
#1 ·
Whilst sat in the car with the radio on (engine off) the "low battery" warning light came on.

I tested the battery and it was showing 12.18v. When i started the engine it went to 14.62v area, so it appears to be charging correctly, but maybe not holding its charge.

Should the battery have a higher voltage than 12.18v?

Ideas, suggestions welcome. Thanks.
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had the low battery warning while sat with just the radio on last summer and due to it only happening once I did nothing about it. I think it was the only time I'd sat with radio on but my wife has since told me it had happened to her.

This winter after being unused for a few days the battery was as flat as a pancake. My mate jumped the car and like you it was reading charging ok. Turned out though that the battery was knackered. I've sat with just the radio on since having a new battery and had no warning come up.

So in my case the warning was telling me the battery was on it's way out
 
#3 ·
Cheers Lee,
i take it you changed it then, did you have any problems fitting it, it doesn't look the easiest thing to get you and did you have to reset anything apart from the radio, i know the windows have to be reset too?
 
#4 ·
Yes we changed the battery. As for fitting it - it was a nightmare. My mate has been a mechanic for over 30 years and has never had such a problem removing a battery. He had a right game getting the front bit off and then he couldn't get the battery out. I had a go and couldn't get it out either. Ended up ripping the back cover off as well and was then able to get the battery out. I've now got the battery cover in the boot.

It could be that it is easier to do than we made it out to be and we were just useless.

Reset wise it was just the radio and windows. Everything else works fine.
 
#5 ·
Thanks Lee, it does seem to be tucked away to be inaccessable
 
#7 ·
I'd check the fluid level and condition , when was it last changed ? I had a random low battery warning when it was really cold, I've since driven a few long journeys and I haven't seen it since
Thanks for the comment. I'm going to flush and replace the fluid as the garage that serviced the car before I bought it has put red (ATF?) PAS fluid in like the Mk3 rather than the green CHF 11S stuff! It was also massively overfilled and after taking some out back to the max level, it's certainly a bit quieter.

Re battery message, without going too off-topic, I have done several long (3hr+) journeys and it still comes up if I leave the radio on and the engine off for more than about 5 minutes. It doesn't labour when starting, the battery measures bang on 12v with engine off and between 13.8 and 14.4v when on. Really can't find the problem.
[/quote]

Without screwing this topic up, when the battery low comes up what is the voltage across the battery and what is the voltage at the cigarette lighter socket?
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
I too had the battery warning light after having the radio on and engine off for 5 mins or so and started this thread

http://www.talkford....50#entry1853350

I haven't had any problems since, starting it, but i am wary of leaving the radio on and engine off just in case, you never know with Fords glitchy electronics.


Perhaps being off topic, the 'leccy problems could be put on the above thread
 
#9 ·
I have owned a mk4 for less than a month as of today. It was an ex-demonstrator registered in Dec12, with ca 5k miles up. Just getting round to setting up Bluetooth phone tonight so sitting in with ignition on only and after 5 -10 mins up came the Low Battery warning on the display. The car does sit for some time idle in a week so I ran the engine while continuing to set up the phone. Stopped it after a moderate period but by the time I was done figuring out the phone the warning appeared again. Hence my search online for evidence of this being a common issue as the manual directs me to get it checked immediately by a competent engineer (or words to that effect). Seems like I am not alone, but this is tremendously irritating of a nearly new car which I intend to keep a long time as per the previous 2 Mondeo estates in the last 18 years or so. Not a good start; but then my first example began by totally failing to sustain the electrics related to the alarm and within a year of new the alarm was never active again. This despite the attentions of specialist auto electricians commissioned by Ford to troubleshoot.
Being under warranty I guess I have nothing to lose by referring back to Ford............ Inconvenient and ought not to be happening, I'm not very confident of a confident diagnosis and resolution having seen the drift of other member posts.
 
#11 ·
Bay be a warning it being drained I seem to get this if I sit there on the lap top reprogramming the car after ten fifteen mins bat light comes on but during the week I only do 10 mile a day and the weekend it's sat there but when I go for a three four hour drive it's fine for months

Posted Via The Free TalkFord.com App
 
#12 ·
If my memory serves correctly (some hope!), there was a firmware update that changed the threshold for this message. You can probably conclude from this that Ford originally tried to set it up correctly, did quite a bit of testing, and then found out, once the car was out and in a fair few hands, that they had set it up a bit too hair trigger.

That said, the message coming up can't really be much of a good thing, even if it is a very early warning of something undesirable.

For anyone who has a usage pattern doesn't include much in the way of extended runs, it probably is useful early warning that you should get out more (figuratively).

For anyone who just has an old battery, it probably doesn't do any good at all, because you already know, or should do, that you have an old battery and the message isn't going to make your battery any younger.

Possibly, if what you really need is some cleaning of the various terminals and connections, the message might just be of some use, because it might prompt you to do a bit of maintenance before you ruin your battery.
 
#13 ·
I am experiencing this problem as well.

I have a keyless ignition 2011 Titanium X estate. To get to position 2 (ignition on) I press the start button but do not depress the clutch. If i do this I get the warning after about 2 minutes. I thought it would be because the DRL's etc come on in position 2.

However, i have since discovered that to get position 1, ie ignition and all main electrical circuits disabled, but radio can be used just press the radio start button. A message will come up saying it will switch off in about an hour, which is fair enough, but then after 2 minutes the low battery warning appears again and then switches off. I can't see the radio draining the battery that fast.

The car has only done 32k so don't think the battery is at fault, but as per previous posts may be something to do with the audio.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
I replaced the original battery in my 58 plate recently. Would charge to about 12.3v but drop rapidly to about 11.8v after 5 minutes. 20 minutes and the low battery warning came on at about 11.5v.

It never once failed to start the car however. Was replaced with a Bosch S5 85Ah. So far it seems that will charge up to about 12.7v but fall quickly to 12.3v then slowly drain from there with the electrics on. Much improved.

For anyone wondering, you have to remove the air box to remove the battery.
 
#15 ·
Would charge to about 12.3v but drop rapidly to about 11.8v after 5 minutes. 20 minutes and the low battery warning came on at about 11.5v.
Those are figures with the charging off, aren't they (ie, charged, but not charging)?

Anyway, a drop of 0.5 volts in the first 30 mins after the engine running is reasonable, depending on how much the battery charged, that ambient temps and a whole load of other factors (some people see this drop in voltage and jump to the conclusion that there is something awfully wrong, but that rough value of voltage drop is quite usual).

Was replaced with a Bosch S5 85Ah.
Bosch make quality batteries (well, I believe that Varta make the batteries for Bosch), so that should work well.

Do you know what physical size the battery is (ie, 110, 75, etc)? Which engine? And does that fill the battery box, or does it look as if a longer battery would fit, if you wanted to.

I'm concerned that mine is fitted with the wrong size of battery and it might suddenly fail, some time. So, I suspect that I might have to replace mine at short notice. Or, maybe, I'm worrying about nothing.

For anyone wondering, you have to remove the air box to remove the battery.
I think with my smaller battery, you could, just about, fit it without removing the air box (top section). But access is so much improved if you take it off, I don't know why anyone would want to. And, unlike the idiots who fitted mine, you actually use the clamp-down device, rather than just leaving it rolling around and the battery secured largely by the cables...
 
#16 ·
Would charge to about 12.3v but drop rapidly to about 11.8v after 5 minutes. 20 minutes and the low battery warning came on at about 11.5v.
Those are figures with the charging off, aren't they (ie, charged, but not charging)?

Anyway, a drop of 0.5 volts in the first 30 mins after the engine running is reasonable, depending on how much the battery charged, that ambient temps and a whole load of other factors (some people see this drop in voltage and jump to the conclusion that there is something awfully wrong, but that rough value of voltage drop is quite usual).

Was replaced with a Bosch S5 85Ah.
Bosch make quality batteries (well, I believe that Varta make the batteries for Bosch), so that should work well.

Do you know what physical size the battery is (ie, 110, 75, etc)? Which engine? And does that fill the battery box, or does it look as if a longer battery would fit, if you wanted to.

I'm concerned that mine is fitted with the wrong size of battery and it might suddenly fail, some time. So, I suspect that I might have to replace mine at short notice. Or, maybe, I'm worrying about nothing.

For anyone wondering, you have to remove the air box to remove the battery.
I think with my smaller battery, you could, just about, fit it without removing the air box (top section). But access is so much improved if you take it off, I don't know why anyone would want to. And, unlike the idiots who fitted mine, you actually use the clamp-down device, rather than just leaving it rolling around and the battery secured largely by the cables...
2.0L Diesel. Size is 110. 175mm x 175mm x 375mm I believe. Stock Ford battery is the same size. It fits absolutely perfectly.

No way in hell you'll get the battery out without removing the airbox no matter how hard you try. The battery is simply too long and too tall to get past the airbox. It's easy enough to remove anyway. Unscrew the worm drive clip, unplug the MAF sensor and just give it a tug upwards to pull it out of the rubber grommets that hold it in (same kind of grommet as the engine cover on the 2.0L)
 
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