Am I missing something?

[Eddo Rogue]

Have you tried an AGM battery? Might be better.

Also yes you probably have a parasitic draw somewhere.

Also yes new batteries are as junk as new parts and new tools nowadays.

I used to swear by Interstate, theres a factory direct warehouse nearby that will sell to public. started having issues and they wouldnt exchange me a battery that was DOA still in the box. I just cross my fingers and get the vatozone ones. Battery tenders are my friend, I have a drawer of em.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Yes... this is my 06 Ranger having issues.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Well temps are warmed up to 17 degrees...

Think I'm gonna go out and see if I can figure this thing out.

 

[Uncle Gump]

So... a bit of a follow up.

Temps have been better... but it has rained pretty much all day everyday for the past two weeks. I dodged rain drops and did some diagnostics but never pin pointed the issue.

Last week Friday... my daughter called and needed a jump. So I put the truck back together enough to go rescue her. While out I had to do some other errands... figured I would just disconnect the battery while doing my tasks and I would still start and get home... and it did. After getting groceries put away I went back out (I had left the hood open and battery disconnected) and checked draw on the system. It was at 67mA... not the 650mA I started with. So the large parasitic draw issue was now gone. I didn't fix anything... so it has to be intermittent.

I connected the battery cable... closed the hood and left it sit in the driveway overnight. Truck fired right up Saturday morning. Then the truck sat until last night (2 1/2 days) and I needed to drive it to my grandsons 1st birthday party. Truck fired right up. So definitely an intermittent issue.

I guess I'll get back to trying to diagnose it when it acts up again.

Probably going to show itself again at the worst possible time. I have a sneaky suspicion that it has something to do with my aftermarket remote start.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Optima and Interstate have gone downhill....The latter I was shocked and gave it another try but no, they suck. Their warranty sucks too. I quit the green batteries for good once they warranty shafted me over something stupid.

I just get whatever the chain parts store has now that looks recently stocked...and the cheapest one, because that's what people buy, so at least it will be fresh on the shelf.

 

[RobbieD]

I just get whatever the chain parts store has now that looks recently stocked...and the cheapest one, because that's what people buy, so at least it will be fresh on the shelf.

Good point. I'm guilty of cherry-picking through the manufactured date stickers when I buy a battery.

 

[pjtoledo]

So... a bit of a follow up.

Temps have been better... but it has rained pretty much all day everyday for the past two weeks. I dodged rain drops and did some diagnostics but never pin pointed the issue.

Last week Friday... my daughter called and needed a jump. So I put the truck back together enough to go rescue her. While out I had to do some other errands... figured I would just disconnect the battery while doing my tasks and I would still start and get home... and it did. After getting groceries put away I went back out (I had left the hood open and battery disconnected) and checked draw on the system. It was at 67mA... not the 650mA I started with. So the large parasitic draw issue was now gone. I didn't fix anything... so it has to be intermittent.

I connected the battery cable... closed the hood and left it sit in the driveway overnight. Truck fired right up Saturday morning. Then the truck sat until last night (2 1/2 days) and I needed to drive it to my grandsons 1st birthday party. Truck fired right up. So definitely an intermittent issue.

I guess I'll get back to trying to diagnose it when it acts up again.

Probably going to show itself again at the worst possible time. I have a sneaky suspicion that it has something to do with my aftermarket remote start.

interesting,,, my 2000 also has an aftermarket start, and lately the battery goes down in 3 days.
the remote start has been there for 6-8 years and worked ok the whole time.


swapped batteries between Rangers, it's definitely the truck.