Battery Drain???

[MATBird]

Re: Battery Drain???

Sorry Ira but that's how it was posted by Joe. That's why I said it was, "really for use by the Ford Technicians".
At least it may give you the flavor and maybe some talking points to a service advisor.

Joe's been very sick, but maybe OlDave could contact Joe Varey to see if there's a place that we can get 100% of the info.

[Harry's Platinum 04]

Re: Battery Drain???

George, as you can see the info on tsb 05-22-9 did not post correctly in the forum. I hate to ask, but could you try again. Thanks, Ira

Ira--I believe you would be in way over your head with that TSB service procedure. If you want to measure battery drain, it is relatively easy to install a digital ampmeter in series with the positive battery lead. ( first turn everything off, close all doors and remove trunk light bulb) Then measure the current draw---as I said above, the relays should time out and the current draw come down from 650 to approx 130 ma. If you have a significant variance, I would pull the relays one at a time to isolate the offending relay/ system and trace it back from there.
Harry

[blkbrd]

Re: Battery Drain???

Harry, Thanks. I will do this with a good digital ampmeter later when I come across an ampmeter with a wide range. Meanwhile, I will keep using the BatteryMinder Plus to keep a full charge. Again, Thanks---Ira

[5bird7]

Re: Battery Drain???

In reading thru that tsb, it looks like it was in 2 columns that merged during copying. With some time, one could pull it apart so it reads correctly.

[MATBird]

Re: Battery Drain???

I thought I remembered that I saw somewhere that 2005's had problems w/batteries and now I found out why I was so positive.
Go to this link and click on all 5 tabs and you will see a service bulletin 0295 for "Excessive electrical system current draw which could result in a discharged battery and a no crank condition". Put out by NHTSA office of defects investigation:
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr.../tsbsearch.cfm
Or if you have other years and other issues search you year and issues to see what you come up with, if anything
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/central2.cfm

[tlfmd]

Re: Battery Drain???

after having to jump car from showroom floor, driveway, leave @ shop for 10 days (all with diagnostic trips to dealer) it finally ran off of primary 3 year warranty. 14 days after that warranty ran out, they did OASIS test and wanted $400 or so for REM. (I had extended warranty this was supposed to be above and beyond that. The field rep got involved). This on my daily driver. It has been a bunch better, only drained once, and that was due to the trunk light switch not adjusted right.
a beautiful car but not dependable, as I take call @ hospital, I wanted reliable transportation with a local dealer (small town).
I tried the link, NHTSA does not list T-bird in 2005 model year.

[MATBird]

Re: Battery Drain???

Thomas:
I just entered this link: http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr.../tsbsearch.cfm and filled each request; vbehicle, 2005, Ford, Thunderbird etc.
It came back with "Defects and Recalls, Service Bulletin 295 dated 11-14-05, NHTSA Item Number 636096, Electrical System : Battery".
If you query "All Bulletins" you'll find there are 12 listed. If yoiu still cannot get in, let me know and I will copy the data for you.

[tlfmd]

Re: Battery Drain???

must have been error in link, I got there fine just now....
thanx

[gladiator99]

Re: Battery Drain???

Just a short note, but if you have to replace your battery, check the manufacture date on your replacememt. I found that my Ford dealer had the battery in stock for about 2 years. The new battery they gave me was manufactured in 2006. I don't know if it will make any difference to it's service life but they said it has a full warranty. Not sure if they have it sitting on the shelf with the acid installed or if they fill it when they sell it.
Our t- birds have that special venting battery that is only available from Ford dealers.
Take care,
Jim

[CA BIRD]

Re: Battery Drain???

Harry, Thanks. I will do this with a good digital ampmeter later when I come across an ampmeter with a wide range. Meanwhile, I will keep using the BatteryMinder Plus to keep a full charge. Again, Thanks---Ira

I just had a problem on my wife's 02. Bought a clamp-on meter from Tooltopia.com through Amazon that has a 4 Amp DC range. ESI 687. About $100. Drain while "settling down" was over 1.5 Amp but after 45 minutes, it dropped to 85 ma. (Security system off.)

[NotU]

Re: Battery Drain???

Speaking of battery longevity...
I thought I had won the prize when the original battery lasted 9 years and 2 months in a 1987 Firebird I once had. That has been topped! The battery in my 1996 F-150 is original. It's dated April, 1996. I now carry jumper cables.
Randy Mattson

[5bird7]

Re: Battery Drain???

I just had a problem on my wife's 02. Bought a clamp-on meter from Tooltopia.com through Amazon that has a 4 Amp DC range. ESI 687. About $100. Drain while "settling down" was over 1.5 Amp but after 45 minutes, it dropped to 85 ma. (Security system off.)

Chuck,
Here's a possible source of the extra drain that lasted 45 minutes.

I did a visual test (no meters) on the 02 interior lights several years ago. I did it because our 02 had the original battery go dead after sitting for several days which was not normal for it in that short of time. Here it is, several years later and we still have the same battery in the car and it's going strong, hasn't died since.

Here's how I had it set up for the test. 1- the high intensity dial had been accidently left in the top most position (probably when I was cleaning) so I left it in the upmost position for this test.
2 - I turned on the light on the rear view mirro and timed how long it took for the rear view mirror light to go out after closing all the doors. According to the owner's manual, it should have turned off by 20 minutes but it didn't turn off until sometime between 40 minutes and 45 minutes.

3 - I lowered the intensity dial to a lower light setting and then timed it. It turned off the mirror light as it should - in less than 20 minutes, probably somewhere around 18 minutes.

Leaving the setting at the highest point seemed to be the trigger for the abnormal time it took to turn off the system. Since I didn't watch the car for several days, I have no idea if that light came on again on it's own but I wouldn't be surprised if it had if the system had a glitch in it. We've been rather careful of that intensity setting ever since and haven't had a dead battery since. We also don't leave the alarm set when it's in the garage at home. Not taking any chances that that also causes a battery drain over a period of time.

The other thing we do for our battery is drive the car. There isn't anyplace we go that's closer than 9 miles so the battery should be getting well charged everytime we drive it, even at night. and it's lights are on full time when we're driving, day or night.

[Ray]

Re: Battery Drain???

I had a problem with the rear defroster draining the battery. There was a TSB that corrected the problem. I can't remember if it was just an '03 problem.

The crazy thing about this problem is that I had never turned on the rear defroster. I still have never used it.

[harley]

Re: Battery Drain???

My 02 has a bad drain on it.if I leave it for 2 weeks its dead .It does have lojack installed but no active contract.does lojack draw more than a regular security system.Any help would be nice.thanks

[CA BIRD]

Re: Battery Drain???

Chuck,
Here's a possible source of the extra drain that lasted 45 minutes.

I did a visual test (no meters) on the 02 interior lights several years ago. I did it because our 02 had the original battery go dead after sitting for several days which was not normal for it in that short of time. Here it is, several years later and we still have the same battery in the car and it's going strong, hasn't died since.

Here's how I had it set up for the test. 1- the high intensity dial had been accidently left in the top most position (probably when I was cleaning) so I left it in the upmost position for this test.
2 - I turned on the light on the rear view mirro and timed how long it took for the rear view mirror light to go out after closing all the doors. According to the owner's manual, it should have turned off by 20 minutes but it didn't turn off until sometime between 40 minutes and 45 minutes.

3 - I lowered the intensity dial to a lower light setting and then timed it. It turned off the mirror light as it should - in less than 20 minutes, probably somewhere around 18 minutes.

Leaving the setting at the highest point seemed to be the trigger for the abnormal time it took to turn off the system. Since I didn't watch the car for several days, I have no idea if that light came on again on it's own but I wouldn't be surprised if it had if the system had a glitch in it. We've been rather careful of that intensity setting ever since and haven't had a dead battery since. We also don't leave the alarm set when it's in the garage at home. Not taking any chances that that also causes a battery drain over a period of time.

The other thing we do for our battery is drive the car. There isn't anyplace we go that's closer than 9 miles so the battery should be getting well charged everytime we drive it, even at night. and it's lights are on full time when we're driving, day or night.

That is good advice, Dot. We do have a Gentex aftermarket mirror with opener, compass, temp indicator installed and it has three bright lights under the mirror. I did notice that they stayed on for quite a while so I cut the leads to the mirror in my fault-finding. Got a new mirror to install some day that does not have lights under it.