moosestang

Jesus! I'd be taking a bike to work, wth? You need to take the long way to work.

pandastang

thanks for your response, Ive had the vehicle since Monday and the battery light just came on last night while I was driving home from the woman's house. It didn't come on today but I have just driven to work. Before it died last time the light came up a couple of times but would go away before the drive was over.

And yeah the battery and alternator were replaced.

pandastang

lol trust me I would, but when you wear a suit and tie and its 115+ outside riding a bike isnt the best option

Nuke

+1 on you're draining the battery. The amount of capacity that you use to start the car cannot be replaced in 1 mile of driving; not even in 4 or 5. If you MUST drive that short a distance, you need to place a charger on that battery.

And your 115 degrees is a DRY heat...

pandastang

ha dry or wet, hot it HOT! I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Now, when it comes to the electricity in our cars, I'm a total noob. Do you mean to tell me that cuz my commute is so short that its actually hurting my battery since it doesn't have time to re-charge? Is this just a mustang specific issue? In the 5+ yrs that I've worked at the same place I have never had charging issues on previous owned cars so if that's the case I don't know what to think!

Nuke

Driving only a few miles every day is not good for ANY charging system and battery. If you rarely take the vehicle out for a long drive (at least an hour or more above idle speed once a week or more), then ANY battery will eventually discharge. The S197 is compounded by a marginal-at-best alternator.

Alternators are not designed to be battery chargers but more as battery maintainers. Constant drain from starting with little charging time not only discharges the battery but also greatly reduces an automotive battery's service life. In essence, you're almost treating it like a deep cycle battery; a service duty that automotive starting batteries are not designed for.

pinn

^this. These cars need a solid hour (or more) of driving to recharge the battery. A bunch of very short drives each day will definitely drain the battery.

mustang country

After I replaced the battery on my car, the same thing happened to me. The battery light and "check charging system" sensor came on. When this first happened, I took it to PeP Boys and they checked both the battery and the alternator and everything was fine. I've been told several times that the sensor needed to be reset. I've driven the car four or five times from Miami to Palm Beach county with the faulty sensor in the past couple of months and so far, I haven't had any problems. The best thing to do is take it back to the dealership and tell them to reset the sensor, if that is the case with your car. WIth Autozone, they give you instructions and you have to reset the sensor yourself.

pandastang

Hello All,

Here is another update:
So last weekend as I had mentioned, the batt light with the charging system message came on and it started affecting my rpms especially when taking off from a stop. Called the dealer and they advised to bring it in again. Long story short I have been getting excuses from them on what the issue is. They told me on Monday and Tuesday that the error message did not come on and that they checked it out and no problems. I go pick up the car Tuesday afternoon and as soon as I turn on the car the light and message appeared. "That's odd, we didn't get the message before" is what they said when I pointed it out to them so again they kept my car. I honestly don't believe they even checked! How could it be??!! So the rest of the week I have been playing phone tag with the service writer and I desperately need my car back this weekend so I can trade it. I'm done with this mustang!!!! I'm running out of ideas and I honestly feel like I'm not getting the service I deserve and paid for. What would you do if you were in my shoes??

Maraman

At this point you need to take your car to a different dealership. It sounds to me like that one in particular does not know what they are doing.

It also sounds like you are letting them ring you around, if you would let them keep your car for almost a month, and still pay the deductible something is wrong, especially when you get it back wit hthe same issue. I would tell them to make your car payment, or call Ford directly about the issue.

Call Ford customer service and talk to someone that seems like they know what they are talking about, explain them the entire story, I would also mention that this is your first Ford and that after all of your troubles you probably wouldn't buy another one. Tell them that the dealership that you have been working with is unable to solve your issues. After that you won't even have to talk to the dealer anymore because coporate will be on their asses about it, and they will get your car fixed and returned in a timely manner. Keep us posted.