Dead Battery

[gmadams]

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

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[Howlee]

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

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

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

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[thaser]

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.

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

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

 

[Birthday Bird]

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

 

[mike02redbird]

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....

 

[thaser]

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.

 

[JFred]

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.

 

[thaser]

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.

 

[NMJeff]

Very interesting that this is happening to some people. We have had temperatures from zero to 20 degrees for the last 3 weeks and yesterday I started mine for the first time since before Christmas. Started right up, with no hesitation.

 

[gmmoore]

Thaser, I'm in Falls Church, Va, and, obviously, since you live next door in Annandale, I've had the same weather. Went to Hawaii for two weeks. Came back and started the tbird w/o a problem. Weird!

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[thaser]

gmmoore, you must not have read my whole "book" (it was sort of long, sorry). I (er, my friend) left the interior lights on for two weeks -- that's what killed me. But jumpstarted like a champ.

Hope Hawaii was fun. I'm guessing it was a bit warmer there than here 🙂

I'm sure you've heard how outrageously freezing it has been).

 

[gmmoore]

I spoke too soon. Had to call roadservice because my bird wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery. Turns out I needed a "cold start". Had never heard of this. Just hold the accelerator down partially and keep cranking til it starts. Took a way long time, but it worked!!!! The guy said a lot of Audis and BMWs have the same trouble in cold weather. No trouble since. Good thing to know. A free fix!!!!

 

[gmmoore]

I spoke too soon. Had to call roadservice because my bird wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery. Turns out I needed a "cold start". Had never heard of this. Just hold the accelerator down partially and keep cranking til it starts. Took a way long time, but it worked!!!! The guy said a lot of Audis and BMWs have the same trouble in cold weather. No trouble since. Good thing to know. A free fix!!!!

 

[gmmoore]

I spoke too soon. Had to call roadservice because my bird wouldn't start. I thought it was the battery. Turns out I needed a "cold start". Had never heard of this. Just hold the accelerator down partially and keep cranking til it starts. Took a way long time, but it worked!!!! The guy said a lot of Audis and BMWs have the same trouble in cold weather. No trouble since. Good thing to know. A free fix!!!!

 

[hodgsonk]

My battery was fully charged before I parked the car in an unheated garage for about five months. When I went to take the car out of storage, the battery was completely dead. I had to boost the car to start it.

I suspect there are a few circuits in the car such as the electric clock, the security system, etc. likely have a very small, continuous draw on the battery, even when the car is not being used.

Normally my car can easily sit for a couple of weeks without a problem.

By the way, Ford recommends having the car running when you put the roof up and down, as this uses a lot of charge from the battery.

 

[Sophia]

A few days ago roadside assistance came over to jumpstart my battery (daily driver, garaged at home and at work). He tried to hook it up as instructed in the manual, connecting the negative to the screw coming out of the center of the spare tire, and the positive to the battery. Finally he just hooked both clamps to the battery and bingo, lights and everything!!
Dealer told me to check to see if the heated rear defrost light goes off when I turn off my engine. Don't know if he meant every time I drive or not.

 

[Quickdraw]

Sophia, if Im not mistaken they have a problem with the heated back window relay not shutting off the power and draining the battery. There are several relays that shut off headlights, trunk lights, etc after so many minutes. One of them stuck on me and drained the battery dead as a doornail. Don't know which relay it was, it only happend once however. This intermitent problem is very hard to diagnose as the dealer could spend hours on the car and not have it "stick." I think the dealer means for you to check this light frequently when you shut off the engine. If it ever stays on after you shut the engine off you've probably found the cause of the dead battery for the dealer.

 

[Sophia]

Didn't want to be caught again with a dead battery, so, yesterday when I parked my Bird in the garage, I turned on the rear window heated defrost, just before I turned off the ignition.
Just as expected, today the battery is dead.
They just towed it to the dealer.
It is my way of forcing them to deal with it instead of telling me to be sure the defrost light is off (they meant I should occasionally check to see if the light is off). I don't think I should have to do that.
There was no mention of a loaner vehicle while mine is in the shop, maybe I should give them a call. I see specks of snow coming down, but the streets are clear today. I don't really want to get my Vette out, but I might have to.