Factory battery life ?

My motorcraft batteries have lasted over 10 years in all my vehicles. I wonder why you guys are only getting 2 years out of them? Are you running off the batteries a lot with the truck not running?
My thoughts exactly, maybe Texas heat is really that bad but that still sounds extremely ridiculous for lead acid batteries to last only 2 years. Costco interstate batteries if I recall have 3 year free replacement warranty and Ford replacement batteries have the warranty below

When my truck battery finally goes, I'll probably build my own battery with some LTO cells. I already replaced my computer UPS SLA batteries with lithium batteries LFP cells when they fail and it's not really all that different.


Motorcraft® Tested Tough® PLUS

  • 18-month free replacement period*
  • 84-month limited warranty*
  • Economical, reliable performance
Motorcraft® Tested Tough® MAX

  • Authorized as original equipment replacement for all Ford Motor Company vehicles
  • 36-month free replacement*
  • Limited warranty for 100 months with unlimited mileage*
  • Reduced charging time
  • Long-life alloys that provide excellent performance in high-heat applications
Replacement labor and towing is covered when the battery was installed at a Ford or Lincoln Dealership.


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They're putting FLA batteries in these still? Weird my 2019 expedition came with AGM, apparently I naively assumed they were putting in better batteries all around, esp. on vehicles that typically work hard and run accessories more.
 
They're putting FLA batteries in these still? Weird my 2019 expedition came with AGM, apparently I naively assumed they were putting in better batteries all around, esp. on vehicles that typically work hard and run accessories more.
If your Expedition had the Auto Stop/Start feature which I’m almost positive it did. That is probably the ONLY reason that it came with an AGM battery, as they can handle the constant on/off duty cycle that particular feature produces. Otherwise I’m sure the bean counters wouldn’t go for that extra expense. Haha!
 
Maybe I’m weird but I am more interested in reliability than warranty. And there is the question of do you you use to failure or replace proactively on your terms. I’m sure there is no correct answer for all the different situations and preferences.

I hope to report back here in 4 years that the batteries I chose are still working and have not left me stranded anywhere.

I do wonder how much the the Ford Pass link to the truck uses? Has anybody installed a small solar panel to charge the batteries?
 
Maybe I’m weird but I am more interested in reliability than warranty. And there is the question of do you you use to failure or replace proactively on your terms. I’m sure there is no correct answer for all the different situations and preferences.

I hope to report back here in 4 years that the batteries I chose are still working and have not left me stranded anywhere.

I do wonder how much the the Ford Pass link to the truck uses? Has anybody installed a small solar panel to charge the batteries?

I placed a solar panel on my dash in an older car that I had that would just sit outside. I plugged it into my 12v cigarette lighter since that circuit was always live. It worked great, but one important thing is to make sure you add a diode to the solar panel wire so power can only flows in one direction and not bi-directional. If not you can and will drain your battery during periods of darkness or low sun intensity.
 
Maybe I’m weird but I am more interested in reliability than warranty. And there is the question of do you you use to failure or replace proactively on your terms. I’m sure there is no correct answer for all the different situations and preferences.

I hope to report back here in 4 years that the batteries I chose are still working and have not left me stranded anywhere.

I do wonder how much the the Ford Pass link to the truck uses? Has anybody installed a small solar panel to charge the batteries?
I’m on the same page as you, I’m more concerned about reliability and I like to replace parts proactively. Waiting on parts to fail is an exercise in Murphy‘s Law, it can and will fail on you at THE most inconvenient time and place. Just my way of thinking.
 
If your Expedition had the Auto Stop/Start feature which I’m almost positive it did. That is probably the ONLY reason that it came with an AGM battery, as they can handle the constant on/off duty cycle that particular feature produces. Otherwise I’m sure the bean counters wouldn’t go for that extra expense. Haha!
It does have that.
 
The past month or so I’ve been getting a Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery warning the next day after driving a significant amount of time. This makes me think that something isn’t charging or staying charged but I have had no physical indications from the truck that anything is wrong. The truck starts right up and no other problems.
The problem is batteries degrade over time and the BCM (battery control module) compares your current "full" charge level to the information originally stored when the battery was fully charged. My guess is the BCM probably has a table it references regarding "expected" battery charge degradation over time, however, if yours is degrading slightly faster, yet is still operating sufficiently, this may be why you are having this message routinely pop up. Once a year (winter) when changing my oil I reset the "full" % charge memory in my BCM by unhooking my battery, fully charging it overnight with my Noco battery charger, then hook the battery back up to the truck and reset the BCM using the service function in Forscan. Doing this procedure makes it so I rarely see the "Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery" warning anymore. Plus I upgraded that crappy Motorcraft flooded-cell battery to an Odyssey AGM battery, and that helped as well. Just remember if you upgrade to an AGM battery, you must use Forscan, or have the dealership, change the BCM setting from Flooded to AGM because the two different battery technologies charge differently when the truck is running.
 
The problem is batteries degrade over time and the BCM (battery control module) compares your current "full" charge level to the information originally stored when the battery was fully charged. My guess is the BCM probably has a table it references regarding "expected" battery charge degradation over time, however, if yours is degrading slightly faster, yet is still operating sufficiently, this may be why you are having this message routinely pop up. Once a year (winter) when changing my oil I reset the "full" % charge memory in my BCM by unhooking my battery, fully charging it overnight with my Noco battery charger, then hook the battery back up to the truck and reset the BCM using the service function in Forscan. Doing this procedure makes it so I rarely see the "Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery" warning anymore. Plus I upgraded that crappy Motorcraft flooded-cell battery to an Odyssey AGM battery, and that helped as well. Just remember if you upgrade to an AGM battery, you must use Forscan, or have the dealership, change the BCM setting from Flooded to AGM because the two different battery technologies charge differently when the truck is running.

What had to be changed when you switch to AGM and why does it need to be changed?
 
What had to be changed when you switch to AGM and why does it need to be changed?
Just a guess on my part because I am not the poster, but typically AGM require a slightly higher voltage than FLA to get to a complete charge
 
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What had to be changed when you switch to AGM and why does it need to be changed?
There's a setting in the BCM that must be chaged with Forscan or a dealership programmer.
 
The problem is batteries degrade over time and the BCM (battery control module) compares your current "full" charge level to the information originally stored when the battery was fully charged. My guess is the BCM probably has a table it references regarding "expected" battery charge degradation over time, however, if yours is degrading slightly faster, yet is still operating sufficiently, this may be why you are having this message routinely pop up. Once a year (winter) when changing my oil I reset the "full" % charge memory in my BCM by unhooking my battery, fully charging it overnight with my Noco battery charger, then hook the battery back up to the truck and reset the BCM using the service function in Forscan. Doing this procedure makes it so I rarely see the "Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery" warning anymore. Plus I upgraded that crappy Motorcraft flooded-cell battery to an Odyssey AGM battery, and that helped as well. Just remember if you upgrade to an AGM battery, you must use Forscan, or have the dealership, change the BCM setting from Flooded to AGM because the two different battery technologies charge differently when the truck is running.
I have been to 1 dealerships and they say they have no way of changing the battery type. One told me they don’t support modifications to the truck and since it didn’t come with an agm he considered it a modification. The other dealer said he put an agm in his truck a year ago and hasn’t had any issues yet. He asked where I heard about different charge profiles for agm. I told him every AGM manufacturer of AGM batteries. Any had a dealer change there battery type?
 
I have been to 1 dealerships and they say they have no way of changing the battery type. One told me they don’t support modifications to the truck and since it didn’t come with an agm he considered it a modification. The other dealer said he put an agm in his truck a year ago and hasn’t had any issues yet. He asked where I heard about different charge profiles for agm. I told him every AGM manufacturer of AGM batteries. Any had a dealer change there battery type?
2 dealerships
 
Talking to our fleet guys at work, it seems batteries have been going dead like crazy lately with all of our work vehicles. They've replaced a bunch that were 1-2 years old. F150s, F250s, dodge 1500 & 2500...
 
I have been to 1 dealerships and they say they have no way of changing the battery type. One told me they don’t support modifications to the truck and since it didn’t come with an agm he considered it a modification. The other dealer said he put an agm in his truck a year ago and hasn’t had any issues yet. He asked where I heard about different charge profiles for agm. I told him every AGM manufacturer of AGM batteries. Any had a dealer change there battery type?

Not sure where in TX you are but if you are in DFW, more than likely you are on your own. I havent found a dealer yet that will not complain about any type of modifications.
 
What had to be changed when you switch to AGM and why does it need to be changed?
Sorry for the delayed response. AGM batteries need to be charged differently than a flooded cell battery. An AGM battery cannot take overcharging like a flooded cell battery (the factory % of charge setting was set at 120% for the Motorcraft flooded cell battery) … plus what GodzillaDude said regarding a high
per voltage requirement to achieve the last 10% of charge capacity … and the discharge limit settings where charging kicks back in are different as well (flooded cell batteries can be ruined simply by discharging too low even once, however, AGM’s are more tolerant to excessive discharging without ruining the battery). As you can see, all the nuances are why the need a separate battery module just to manage all these different settings.
 
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I have been to 1 dealerships and they say they have no way of changing the battery type. One told me they don’t support modifications to the truck and since it didn’t come with an agm he considered it a modification. The other dealer said he put an agm in his truck a year ago and hasn’t had any issues yet. He asked where I heard about different charge profiles for agm. I told him every AGM manufacturer of AGM batteries. Any had a dealer change there battery type?
Precisely why I don’t let dealerships touch my truck unless it’s for a significant warranty fix. Sad part is it’s right there in their scan tool to switch the BCM battery type to flooded or AGM. I’ll try to remember to take a screenshot next time I have Forscan hooked up and post it to this thread.
 
Precisely why I don’t let dealerships touch my truck unless it’s for a significant warranty fix. Sad part is it’s right there in their scan tool to switch the BCM battery type to flooded or AGM. I’ll try to remember to take a screenshot next time I have Forscan hooked up and post it to this thread.

If the dealership (or somebody else) does this is it possible to check to make sure they flipped the switch to AGM
 
If the dealership (or somebody else) does this is it possible to check to make sure they flipped the switch to AGM
You would need to download Forscan and purchase an OBDII to usb converter cord for your PC, which cost me about $63. Then you can go into the BCM settings and easily verify & change the setting.
 
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