Dead Battery

[mauberta]

Originally Posted by Gary

Got my TBird in December and love it. Only problem is when it sits for more than 8-10 days, the battery goes dead! Dealer said this is normal for any car and that it should be started every couple of days. Questions:
1) has anyone else experienced this problem? and 2) does anyone else use their TBird as a "nice weather car" and let it sit for longer than a week - with or without problems? The dealer is trying to convince me that this is not a mechanical problem and there is nothing wrong with the car, but I don't buy it. I've always had a third car that sat for long periods and they've always started right up -- until this one.

Gary

Gary
We are having the same problem with our 05. Purchased 10/05 and the vehicle was towed back to the dealer ship today for the 5th time with a dead battery. In Jan. the factory rep told us we did not drive it long enough to charge and we should keep asmall battery charger on it. Several days later they called and stated that they had found that the ground wire on the battery was not secure. We bought it and it ran fine until today when we went to start it it was dead again. this happens about every 3-4 months and the vehicle stays inside all the time. Its a great vehicle but we advised them today to start the paper work to have ford buy it back and if that does not work we will seek legal action. A person should not have to put up with type of problem. Has anyone else contacted you about the same problem?

Mike

[George]

Mike:
Good luck with that buy back. I have a friend that's going through the Lemon Law in NH and it isn't easy for him.
Even with a very well documented case and the dealership owner agreeing he has a case, there are steps that he and GM have to follow before the buy back. He's into his third month of it. Currently GM has the vehicle to attempt to fix it by their Factory Tech - All part of the process, I didn't know how involved it was.

[Anezangl]

George said: Even with a very well documented case and the dealership owner agreeing he has a case, there are steps that he and GM have to follow before the buy back. He's into his third month of it. Currently GM has the vehicle to attempt to fix it by their Factory Tech - All part of the process, I didn't know how involved it was.

"GM" as in General motors? I thought her bird was a ford! That explains all the problems!

[George]

Anezangl: Sorry for the confusion. I said a friend was going through it, but just didn't mention that it wasn't for a T-Bird. This is the first I've heard that a TBirder was taking the route.

I was just attempting to warn him that it won't be easy. I always heard that you can apply the Lemon Law and return the car after three attempts of repair by a dealer. ---- WRONG!!!
It would be too lengthy of a post to show what this individual has gone through, so our Legislatures haven't done us any favors with this particular law.

[JFortner]

Since the lemon laws came up I thought I would share my experience. I live in South Carolina and I purchased a new 2003 Thunderbird from a local dealer. Soon after I got it the differential started making a noise. I had it back to the dealer numerous times and they replaced the rear end twice and re-built it one time with no success. Finally I said enough is enough and I sent a registered letter to Ford Motor and the dealer and told them that the S. C. lemon law applied to my situation. Actually, after that the process was fairly painless. The dealer had two remaining 2005 Birds and asked me which one I wanted. I paid the difference between the 2003 and the 2005 sticker price (approx. $1,300) and drove out with my new bird. I hope everyone enjoys their Birds this summer.

[George]

Wow, I'm impressed. I think you did very well. But there's a case where the dealer was willing to help, which was great for you. They're not all that good.

[edward301]

This thread is old, but seems to have many casualities with dead batteries.
My 02 has never had a dead battery. And it sits for 3 or 4 weeks with
no one touching it. It does sit in a garage. My car only has 6k on it,
and to date no problems yet.

[kathleen]

I have a 2003 tbird and it was garage kept in pa...battery died because we didnt' drive it. my husband had to by a charger and keep it on a charger in the garage...i have the car now at my apt and it died twice already...the battery always died...just had it jumped and two days later? dead...time for a new battery i guess

[George]

I think that there was a bad run of batteries at one time for a lot of TBird owners. Many were replaced by Ford.

Are you out of warranty?

By the way. After checking, Ford is the only place I know of to get a replacement. Probably due to the vent pipe ours has, for fumes

[jfredjr]

I have always had a problem with my '02 killing batteries. They even had to charge it when I picked it up from the showroom (they said someone had left the lights on). I took it back to the dealer just before the warranty ran out and as expected they told me I needed a new battery (not covered by warranty). I also coughed up the extra cash for them to run a full diagnostic which came up clean. The old battery was good for 1-2 weeks. The new one starts showing weakness after 2 weeks or so and dies at 3 or 4. I'm out of ideas- guess I'll have to go the trickle charger route.

I haven't been able to locate replacement batteries anywhere other than the dealer either.

[George]

Two things:
I believe Ford is the only source for these batteries since there is a drain tube on the battery.
2nd, there was an issue with the rear defogger in the past. If it was not turned off when you parked the car, it STILL drained the battery. There was a Ford fix for this, you may want to see if it was done on your car.

Instead of a trickle charger, a battery tender is better for the battery. Do a search on either and you'll find thet're aroung $60.00 These will not over charge but rather maintain a battery at the level it should be

[BirdHouse]

Battery Tender Plus the only way to go!
Use them on all my cars....

Gotta Love It!

[George]

For any of you that have battery issues on a new '05, here's what one owner did:
"Ford replaced the battery in my '05 because it is still under warranty. In my case, rather than recharging the battery (which I actually did once), I called for a free jump from road service, then drove it directly to the dealer. When they checked it, they said because there were so few miles on the car, it must have been a bad battery to begin with. Anyway, they gave me a new one with no problems. They don't want to have to keep sending someone out to jump it for you, so that might be your solution - call road service the next time so it's on their records."
Probably not a bad idea for those who have reoccuring issues

[George]

As our Birds age, I thought I'd post some replacement battery info from the Motorcraft website:

According to Motorcraft website, these are the part numbers:

2002-2005 (before 1-10-05) Battery to ground cable WC95703

2005 after 1-10-05.............Battery to ground cable WC95952

2002-2005........................Junction to starter cable WC95702

2002-2005........................Battery, 100 month wet. BXT66-650
650 CCA -reserve Min = 130 tested tough Max 36 month Free Replacement

[Frodo]

I have had my tbird 3 years and it starts every time even when I am out of town for two weeks. I may just replace it because I have never had a battery last three years in the Texas heat.