swahler1

At Ford dealer now waiting to get battery replaced, there also fixing the leather trim falling off the doors and the window regulators. It pays to have the premium warranty for 1900. It sucks cuz I have a deductable of 100 bucks tho. Oh well..

Menace

These cars are slapped together with glue and a little hope. I have owned mine for going on 7 years and never been garaged. Has been in many places over the US for being in the Military and has less than 50k miles. Everything that has happened on these forums to other people has happened to me, and it will happen to everyone else because it's common faults with this car. Battery, alternator, water leak, fuel pump, separator plate, sagging door panels, and list goes on and on and I'm sure there are many things that await me.

07BLACKGT

I've been through 2 OE batteries, on my 2nd Optima yellow top, and my 2nd alternator. . needless to say the charging system is a massive weak point on these cars. I just upgraded to a PA alternator, so I hope that will last.

These cars do have parasitic drain problems for sure.. I had my shaker 1000 amps replaced under warranty... with the same ****ty shaker 1000 amps. Didn't do any good.

I've found that when the battery is no good, the car will start saying "driver door ajar" while driving. . which in turn sets off the alarm if you arm it. Also the shaker head unit will shuffle disks at random times. ****ing annoying. This last time was horrible.. I felt like ripping every piece of non-essential electronics out of the car.. and I couldn't believe my $200 optima had bit the dust. Thank goodness Optima has a 3 year warranty on the yellow top.

Derf00

How is the shop testing the battery? Voltage, load, etc?

I know the Ford test is pretty thorough so I would trust it and your hyrgrometer.

Yes OEM batteries are crap. I've gone through two on my 08. When the second one failed I bought a Duralast gold top. Dealership said I had to bring my car to them for testing since they replaced the last battery (i didn't carry it in, I drove the car in). Anyways, so far so good but it's only been a year.

Derf00

unfortuneatly the 05-06 models have more issues than the 07+. Maybe trade yours in and get a newer year?

mustang country

Usually, the summer heat does have an effect on these batteries, especially if you are living in a warm climate all-year round like Florida. From what I heard, the batteries that come from the factory don't last too long and taking it to the dealership to get it changed will probably cost you a good chunk of money. The best thing to do is take it to Goodyear or Pep Boys. It'll probably cost you some money but not as much as going to the dealership.

Art161

I don't know what the Interstate battery dealers use for the test, but if the equipment that Interstate requires them to use doesn't show a bad battery, the dealer won't warranty. I did take my car to a second Interstate battery dealer, and they also said the battery is good. I'm inclined to go back to a Motorcraft battery. I think my Ford dealer is more trustworthy than Interstate. Plus, my Interstate battery is worse than the Motorcraft batteries that I previously used.

Joenpb

What I noticed was how small the OEM battery was, as in only 32 lbs. It wasn't that long ago most batteries were around 50 lbs. That's a lot of power the OEM battery doesn't have compared to years past. I did notice the LED was out on the OEM battery, it was 1 year 7 months old. I replaced mine with an Odyssey that was basically the same size (1" taller, heat shield did fit), it weighed 45.5 lbs, & has 230 more CCAs.

Optima's aren't made in America any more (Mexico), but still have the made in USA price. Unfortunately now they're junk.

aaquib1992

Of everything you listed I've had only one (battery) problem occur... Seems like a pretty big generalization too since there are members with 100,000+ problem free miles on here.

Probably has something to do with the earlier model years too, but you must remember for every person that logs onto this site for help with an S197, there are probably 10 others who go problem free for the duration of their ownership.

Also OP, get a red top or other major brand with warranty and be done with it... Getting a free OEM battery is nice, but you don't want to risk your alternator lifespan for a $90 battery. I've heard poorly charged batteries are hard on the alt. and lead to an early death for them.

Menace

I don't think it's a big generalization at all... not to get off topic of the OP, but these cars do have a lot of faults. There are tons of people with issues that don't even visit forums... so I don't know where your argument is going? I'm glad you and a select few have had problem free miles, I hope it stays that way.