OT - Ford starting

[Bill in NorthCentral PA]

Sorry for the OT post. My wife"s 2003 5.4L Ford Expedition (100,000 miles) won"t start first thing in the morning. I jump the battery, and it starts fine all day. I had the battery tested and it showed 11.4 to 11.6 volts -replaced the battery (under warranty). The next day, it turned over just fine! We haven"t gone anywhere for two days. This morning, same condition. The car shows no sign of power to anything when this happens. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Bill

 

[El Toro]

It sounds like you may have a drain on your battery. It could be the regulator in your alternator. You probably need to charge the battery. I would remove the battery and charge it
where its not so cold. Once you get the truck started take a volt meter and check the charging voltage at the battery. Should be around 14.5 volts. Remove the ground cable when finished driving for the day and reinstall the next day.
Then see if the engine cranks ok and starts. If if starts ok I would have the alternator checked
at your local auto machine shop where they repair starters, generators and alternators. It may be cheaper to buy a rebuilt alternator. It was 6 degrees here in MD this morning. Hal

 

[Bill in NorthCentral PA]

Thanks. I'll do the negative cable idea. I appreciate the help. What's strange is that when she drives to work, the car sits for 8 hours, then fires right up - no hesitation at all. Possibly the drain takes overnight to do it?

Thanks again.

Bill

 

[bustedknuckles]

Bill,

always check or do the easiest thing first. Before attempting Hal's method I would make sure your interior lights/ glove box light, and radio is powering down when you turn your truck off. Then if Hal's Idea does not work you will have to check for parasitic drain. This involves hooking a meter between the battery and battery cables and start pulling fuses to see what ciruit is causing the drain. Hopefully its something inexpensive and easy to fix.
Good luck.

 

[RayP(MI)]

I had a similar problem, took a lot of tracking to track it down. New regulator in alternator would be OK unless someone opened passenger door after car was shutdown. Regulator would sense voltage drop due to dome lite, and switch field coil on in alternator. 8 Hours later car wouldn't start. Three new regulators in a row were bad, finally dug old regulator out of trash, put it in and solved problem.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Dont forget that most newer cars have a full time drain to run clocks,radio presets,alarm systems etc.A 1/4 amp drain is normal.