Dead Battery

Why speculate about other problems? Charge the battery and have it tested. If it is bad they will replace it. If it is good and will not hold a charge for 10 days, then they can start looking for an intermittant short or low amp draw that might cause the battery to discharge.
I still feel like the battery is at a low state of charge - that's all. (I checked with the old Motorcraft Battery Product Manager and he felt the same about this one).

[tbinil]

My car sits for weeks at a time in an insulated but unheated garage. There are also two older T-Birds out there with it. If they are left all winter, sometimes the batteries are a little low, but never dead. Go check on your car in the dark to see if an interior light has been left on. There could also be a glove box light or a trunk light stuck on due to a loose switch. These could drain the battery completely in 8-10 days. In the dark, you may be able to see light leaking from around the glove box door or such. This kind of thing has happened before.

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Yellow premium, full accent 4127

[quote]
I still feel like the battery is at a low state of charge - that's all.

Wish that were true, but we had the battery replaced last time it died and it happened again within a month. So it has to be something else.

Gary

Gary, yes it does sound like you may have a major short somewhere. Your dealer SHOULD be able to trace this. If the battery was replaced then this is what it almost has to be. I still think your dealer is setting on his thumbs on this one.


Gary, if you haven't been following the site very long you will find that your first name brings back some Bad memories to us. Someone else can explain this to you. Not your fault.

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02 T-Bird 9293
69 Vette
73 MGB
97 F-150 4x4
2-Seadoo Jet Skies
a dog a cat and a couple hundred fish in my pond

[This message has been edited by Gobird (edited 03-28-2002).]

Gary,
As suggested earlier, be sure to check that a light somewhere on the car is not turning off. On one of my other cars there was a problem with several people (including me) that would have the battery go dead in a few days of sitting idle. I discovered that the trunk light was not turning off. It had a switch in the latch mechanism that required the trunk to be fully latched to turn off the light. There was no mercury switch that allowed the light to go out with the trunk down but not latched. I've heard that mercury is not good for you, so they've eliminated that type of switch.
There must be something causing the battery to drain in such a short time.
I left my old '64 Falcon sit in a parking garage for 7 weeks while in Hawaii and it started right up. We leave our '57 Bird set for 3-4 weeks all the time and it starts with no problems.

George
Blue/White/full Blue on order (3/3/01)
North Richland Hills, TX

[This message has been edited by chryslertcnut (edited 03-28-2002).]

chryslertcnut,

This is off the subject, but I had a '64 Falcon Sprint convertible. I loved that car! It was white with an all red interior, 260 CID, 4 speed and bucket seats.

One problem that I had with it was that it was stolen twice in front of my parents house. Both times it was recovered with only the top slit. The kids that stole it didn't even hot wire it. They were caught while pushing it.

Gary

Gary, anther thought, if I am not mistaken, this car and a lot of other newer Fords have a circuit that turns any light left on, off in 30 mintues. i think there is something in the manual about this. I will be interested to see what it is when they finally find it. John

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Blue/Blue Prem. w/full accent
In my Garage as of 1/25 #6333 LIC: BLU TB

Chryslertcnut,

I had a 64 Ranchero Black/Black 289 4 speed back in the late 60's early 70's. We were drag racing semi-professionally at that time so our sponsors kept giving me stuff for the Ranchero. Had 12.5 to 1 forged Venolia pistons, Crower roller cam & roller solid lifters hi-rise Edelbrock manifold with two 850 double pumpers on it. It was my street car but it ran like a bat out of h-e double hockey sticks. Turned in times of 12.90's at 118 MPH. Was fun going to High School in it. Was the fastest car in school. Sorry to get off topic, just brought up old memories.
Also heads were ported & polished by Mondello. heavy valve springs added for the extra Rpm's.
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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

[This message has been edited by LON O'CONNELL (edited 03-28-2002).]

I have a big problem with my T-bird and I did a search on the Forum and lo and behold, it's happened to someone else here....

My T-bird sits in an unheated garage. I have not driven it for about 2 weeks. It's been extremely cold here in the DC area lately (highs in the 20's-30's, lows 10-15 degrees). My T-bird is now COMPLETELY dead. I can even turn on an interior light, and the windows don't drop down their usual 1/4" or so when you open the door. I guess the battery is dead from the earlier discussion (I had guess that the security system went beserk and shut down the vehicle -- after reading this thread I'm now thinking "battery").

I'm going to call the Ford roadside assistance 800# and hope they can either get me started or tow me to the local dealer.

I have a couple questions:
1. If I can get the car jumpstarted, should I still take it in to the dealer to have the battery evaluated? I'm thinking "yes" on that.
2. If they tow my T-bird, should I violently object to one way or another of they way they tow it (i.e., is it OK to tow by the front or the back and not on a flatbed?).

I am very bummed out about this. I cannot think of how the battery went completely dead. I guess I will never ever let it sit for 2 weeks again.

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2002 Thunderbird VIN 17889; rotation 7373.
Premium. Blue/blue/partial.

Yes Thaser I would still have the dealer check the battery. There is most likey a bad cell in the battery because it should hold its charge for well over a month. As for the tow, most all the tow companies now have roll-off beds where they winch the car up onto the tilted bed and then tilt the bed back down onto the frame of the truck carrying the car rather than towing it. I bet they can just boost it off and you can drive it to the dealer. Just in case you did not know it, there is a key cylinder behind the drivers seat back that you can unlock the trunk with when the battery is dead. Just tilt the seatback forward and insert & turn the key. Now you can get to the battery in the trunk.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

My wife went to the local dealer to test drive one of the two left over 02 T-Birds. Since they would sell either one for invoice we figured why not check one out. Both were dead and had to be jump started.

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Birthday Bird

read my post on battery trouble.. my dealer said he had several tbirds with a bad cell from the factory my unit is 27080 maybe the supplier had a bad run around this time....

Lon, yes I know about the special behind-the-seat trick to get the trunk open... but I appreciate the tip.

I am pretty bummed about this... my first nontrivial problem in 7 months and 5K miles.

My battery was stone dead when I bought the car in May because someone left the lights on. They recharged it and I've routinely let it sit for two weeks at a time with no problem.

I wanted to provide some feedback to anyone whose battery goes dead on them...

A friend of mine was checking out my T-bird as it sat in my garage and he flipped the interior lights on by raising the interior "dimmer" dial until it clicks into the uppermost position. (The dimmer dial is on the dash, left of the steering wheel, and right next to the outside mirror adjustment switch). I did not realize that I (well, he)left the interior lights on until almost two weeks later and my T-bird was completely "dead" due to the battery drain.

I jumpstarted the car and now it runs fine. The owner's manual has a paragraph that describes what you need to do if the batter ever becomes disconnected. For example, the drop-glass feature on the two doors needs to be "re-programmed". An obvious example would be resetting the clock. I took care of this stuff per the manual and now I'm back in business. Note that the owner's manual says that the transmission can run rough after disconnecting the battery (or, in my case, having it go dead). I found this to be true... my transmission was somewhat rough but after driving my T-bird for only about 10 minutes around the neighborhood, the roughness went away.

Whew... I'm good-to-go!

The guy from Ford Road Assistance who jumpstarted my T-bird told me that he heard the T-bird (and many other new cars) have recycled batteries in them. I find this plausible due to 1) the environmental issues involved and 2) the manufacturer's willingness to cut costs any way it can. Does anyone know if this is true? He suggested that recycled batteries can have bad cells and that I should have the dealer test the battery -- I was going to do that anyway, but after hearing his advice I'm definitely going to visit my dealer this week.