Cold start question

anthonylee337

New member
Only on cold days my car starts but sounds like the battery is weak because it doesn't turn the motor over as fast but returns to normal when the temp goes up. My battery is factory installed and less than three years old. Does anyone else experience this?
 
anthonylee337 said:
Only on cold days my car starts but sounds like the battery is weak because it doesn't turn the motor over as fast but returns to normal when the temp goes up. My battery is factory installed and less than three years old. Does anyone else experience this?
Mine did that for a few weeks then it finally died. I went to the dealer and it wouldn't start after driving 40 min. Got it replaced under warranty.
 
Do you have a multimeter?  Put it on Voltage, at a setting > 14V.  Red wire/clip to red (+ terminal), black wire/clip to black (- terminal) connection.  If the battery is below 12.6V with the engine turned off, it is starting to give.  If between 12.6V and 12.8V, the battery is likely fine.  And, as I posted earlier this morning, the "eye" (a built in battery tester) is not the most reliable of indicators once the battery has been put into use.  But the dealership probably has a more sophisticated battery tester they can verify it with.
 
To warranty the battery it has to pass 2 tests performed by the dealer. It needs to be within the 3yr/36k as well.

One test is amp rating and the other is slipping my memory at the moment.
 
wasinger3000 said:
To warranty the battery it has to pass 2 tests performed by the dealer. It needs to be within the 3yr/36k as well.

One test is amp rating and the other is slipping my memory at the moment.
They perform a draw test and as you mentioned they check the amp rating,also as SHOdded mentioned a descent multimeter will be suitable.
 
I replaced mine this past summer after I found out it barely had a half hour power reserve then it would die on me. I would classify the factory battery a medium duty at best 
 
I always forget about it, but I replaced my battery in June 14. It's a 13, and I bought it 11/13. Probably had 16k miles on it at the time...

Are Motorcraft batteries poor for longevity or what?
 
I think the ones that come from the factory are not that great, but you guys are lucky, you get a serious upgrade when you buy the Tough Max with its' 850 CCA and nice warranty.  How long was your SHO sitting on the lot?
 
Well the factory replaced the battery-my car had to get jumped at the shop! My service writer told me the factory battery last about 3 years if your lucky. Glad it was still under warranty.
 
Funny, just had mine replaced as well.... Along with the harness , tray and a few other things.
2b8c74c729f842eb71a6d57e8eab7afd.jpg


Supposedly all this (damage) took place between my last oil change and now (4k miles).
 
Yikes! Mine had some corrosion as well but not as bad as yours! I never had good luck with batteries especially when I used to spend my whole paycheck on audio equipment!
 
Looks like they put anti-corrosion coating on the terminal, that should help prolong the life of the battery.
 
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