I have a 2005 Ford Freestyle, I’ve been doing a lot of front end work on it and had the radio on In it one day for a substantial amount of time, maybe 6 hours. Needless to say it died and later that day I took it to auto zone so they could charge it for me and when I went to go pick it up they told me that it’s charged to 100% but it’s a bad battery, leading up to that I never had a problem with the battery so I put it back into my truck and it started right up, it lasted about a week and a half with no problems what so ever until today. I go to start her up and and she turns over once and that makes that clicking sound when the battery is dead so I get out my charger and hook it up to the battery and let the battery charge. Later I go to start her up and she turns over slowly and then starts up and i drive it around and it’s driving fine as usual and then all the sudden all my dashboard lights come on and she is having a hard time shifting it felt like, she wouldn’t go over 45 mph, so I pull over an park her and sit for a few minutes and that go to start her up and it starts just fine and all the lights are gone but the check engine light is on but she’s driving good and accelerating well so I take it to auto zone and they say that the check engine light is from the low voltage, then I go to start her up again and the light is gone and it’s blank like usual and she drives and accelerated nice and smooth as usual. I’m wondering if the problem that occurred while driving was caused by the battery, it hasn’t occurred since then and she’s driving fine and accelerating fast like it normally does.
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Have you put a multimeter across the battery when the car is off and when the ignition is on? When the car is off you should get about 12.6V and when the ignition is on you should get between 13.7V and 14.7V.– JackUJun 19, 2019 at 9:15
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Another thing to check would your 12V sockets. Are they live all of the time (even with the ignition off) and if so have you got anything plugged into them. If so, try leaving that unplugged and see if you are still getting the same issue– JackUJun 19, 2019 at 9:26
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2Worth cleaning the battery posts and connectors.– HandyHowieJun 19, 2019 at 13:14
4 Answers
It's probably a bad battery as diagnosed.
Perhaps as the battery gets warmer from operation, there is a crack in one of the lead plate runners that is opening up and causing your issue.
Another possibility is bad battery cable(s); these will increase resistance as they get warmer, lowering the useful voltage. Perform a "voltage drop" test on all the battery cables, including the negative ground and the D+ alternator cable. Anything more than 0.4-0.6 Ohms is indicative of a bad cable.
It clearly isn't holding much of a charge. Just because the battery voltage is enough to start the vehicle, does not mean the battery has enough capacity for extended running.
Have the battery tested with a "State of Charge" or "Battery Load" type tester, which will reveal a failing battery that otherwise seems fine just from open circuit voltage "OCV".
I had a similar issue and it both the battery and the alternator. First the battery went bad and six months later the alternator had issues with regulator switching on and off intermittently while driving. The alternator developed some internal fault caused by a failing battery. When the alternator was replaced the issue disappeared.
The symptoms of the issue were:
It would start and run no problems for about 20 miles then all of a sudden charging light, ABS light, traction control, oil lamp, etc would all light up. The engine became sluggish for about another 20 minutes or so then correct itself like nothing happened . On the way home it would act the same way again,
Sound familiar....
It may be a bad battery.
Each and every time a lead-acid battery goes flat, it takes some amount of its lifetime away. If you regularly start deep-discharging lead-acid batteries, you'll find they don't last long; at least that's the case for automotive starter batteries.
Especially if the battery is from year 2005, it may be the battery was starting to fail, and the one deep-discharge (radio on for 6 hours) is the last straw that broke the camel's back.
If waiting for few minutes solves the issue, it's also indicating that it could be the battery. Sometimes, a battery needs few minutes to rest before being able to supply more current.
But do check the other usual suspects before replacing the battery. A bad alternator can lead to a bad battery, so you could realistically have both. Measure the voltage at rest and during charging; the rest voltage tells about the health and state of charge of the battery, whereas the charging voltage tells about the health of the alternator.
So, summary: don't get a new battery yet, get a multimeter instead.
Ok, I read Your Problems As A Mechanics I suggest You Please Check Your Alternator, if alternator gives proper Charge so you have to Check Electric Line or Take you Vehicle to good Auto Electrician if AlterNator Do not give proper Charge so Repair or Replace it. I hope you Problems Will Eliminate
