kemo6972

I had this happen to me 2 times, once while going down the highway (it did just like you described) and once after it was parked, it would not even turnover this time, waited about 5 minutes cranked fine no problem, so i go to purchase a new battery and get under the hood and guess what on the positive side of the battery I could take the cable off by hand it was just laying on the post, on my 2006 the positive cable has a crazy little block type clamp that tightens the cable to the battery post it had worked itself loose, anyway I had the battery checked it was good so i tightened that crazy ford connector down tight and no more problems. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

Burrosito

Just dropped the car off at the dealership. This is how the morning went down:

Got in the car and it started just fine. Got half way to work and the light deal started happening again. Strange thing is, the headlights never turned off except for one time. Otherwise, the dash lights/warning lights did their flickering deal again and turned off and on, but the car/performance never acted up.

So I get into work and check the cable connections to my battery. Everything is clean and tight, but I notice a slight unusual wiggle with the negative connection. So I undo it to get a better look and the bottom part of the connector is cracked in half. Sort of hard to explain, I wish I had taken a picture. Sort of looks like a "D" connection, but was cracked so it was only a "U". Bah, wish I took the pic.

Anyway, so since it's raining cats and dogs and it's a slow day, I take off to the dealership. The warning lights and dash guages do their thing like I figure, but think it's just the loose negative connection. Anyway, I let the service dude know all this info, even what to look at. They'll call me later when they look at it. Doubt it'll be anytime soon since I didn't make an appointment.

S281 E

sounds like a connection issue, but have it checked anyways. I have had good luck with optima red tops, but plan on trying a brail battery next.

Burrosito

So the dealership tech just called me and said that the alternator is overcharging the system, which is causing the instrument cluster to go all wacky. Before they can do any work though, a CarMax inspector (I bought my car used at CarMax, and therefore am under their warranty) has to come out and check it out to make sure the work and repair is covered (which I don't see why it wouldn't). Unfortunately, this won't be for another 24 to 48 hours. Boo.

Anyone wanna back up this claim and say it's feasable?

mstngsule68

the lights and stuff are most likely from the bad connection, but it overcharging?..... you should have been frying stuff left and right, unless you actually did... but it can depend on how much it was overcharging

brad281

I'm currently charging my battery. Car's been stored for the winter and we finally have some 50 degree weather here in Illinois. What a waste this year's been already.

Burrosito

Ok finally got my car back, and the short drive home it seemed fine. We'll see in the long run.

They replaced the alternator (stated that was overcharging...), replaced the instrument cluster (said it shorted out due to overcharging...), and replaced my battery cables (said that the resistance was now bad blah blah etc). Thank goodness for warranty otherwise this would have been an $800 ordeal...

mstngsule68

call them and find out how much it was actually charging for curiousity. cuz you might have more stuff burned up....

Burrosito

Initial Idle Problem After Receiving My Car: This is for anyone who searches the forums for this similar problem, which I resolved by doing the search myself:

After driving it all day yesterday, I realized that it had the idle problem some people usually get after the battery has been disconnected. Basically, at an idle, instead of the normal range of about 750+ rpm, it was dropping down to about 500 and bouncing back up to 750 every other second. Pretty annoying. And when I would turn on the A/C, it would drop so low the engine would shudder before bouncing back up.

So I unplugged my battery for 30+ minutes. After hooking it back up, I followed the manual's steps. Turned the car back on with all accessories off, and let the car idle up to normal operating temp. Then I turned on the A/C and let it idle for over a minute. I then took her on a nice drive. The first 20+ miles were strictly highway, mostly cruising in 5th gear. Then, I decided to run some errands so I took her on about 30min. of normal traffic. Stop and go and whatnot.

That should have been enough for the car to relearn the idle process, same with my transmission. She sits at an idle now about 750rpms, and does a small drop when I turn off the A/C. No more bouncing.

I'm assuming the dealership techs didn't follow the proper steps after hooking up my battery. Shame. But not surprising. Hope this helps anyone in the future with the similar problem.

157dB

Holy Cow Manure BatMan.
DoNT Do tHIs PcM WilL frY@!!@!!@!!