Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan Battery won't hold charge

exner60

Two Mondays in a row, I've gone out to start my car to head to work only to find a dead battery.

Last week, my local Ford dealership theorized that it was a result of corrosion. They cleaned things up, and I was able to drive the car to work on Thursday and Friday.

It's back at the dealership. In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar. NOTE: I don't drive the car on weekends.

explorerx4

what car do you have and how old is it? newer cars have a battery saver feature.

exner60

It's a 2007 Mercury Milan Premier. The dealership called today to tell me that it's not the battery. They're still trying to find why, if not driven every day, it won't start.

milkman1

My Mazda 6 is a 2003 and I am on my 3rd battery. There has been more corosion at the connection points than I have had on earlier cars, but the battery has been dead each time it ran out of charge. 1st time under warranty and recently outside of warranty. Similar set up to the Milan.

andy59

My car was parked at the airport for three days and when I got back the battery barely started the car. The valet brought the car up, turned it off, and left the radio on. The car would not start immediately but after taking the key out and waiting 5 minutes the car started. Seems like a car with only 20K miles and in use for a little over a year would not have a bad battery.

Did you get an answer to your question about the battery not holding a charge?

Also, it seems like places like Sam's, AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts do not carry a battery that will fit in a fusion. Any alternatives other than the dealer?

blumstein

If the battery is under warrantee, then the dealer is certainly the best choice. Of course, you should have the electrical system tested in case it isn't the battery. BTW, have you added anything to your car that might draw current when the car is off, like an alarm system?

akirby

It's under warranty - let the dealer check the entire system and replace the battery. Shouldn't be an issue.

kwaklinus

Did you ever find out what was wrong with you car? I have the same problem right now.

exner60

It was apparently caused by the XM receiver that I had plugged into the auxiliary outlet. It's no longer a problem since I canceled XM but kept Sirius.

akirby

To coin an IT phrase - PEBSWAS (Problem Exists Between Steering Wheel and Seat)!

njtom2

My mother in law owns a 2007 Mercury Milan. It has had repeated problems with holding a charge on the battery. It has been to the dealership three times and they say it is because she does not drive it enough. She has owned the car over a year and driven only 1000 miles. Does anyone else have a similar problem? Is there a solution?

Thinking about installing a trickle charger in the engine compartment to maintain the charge if this is not covered by warranty.

Looking for someone with the same problem and what can be done about it.

stephen987

The problem you describe would occur with any car that receives so little use. It is extremely unlikely that this would be covered under warranty.

A trickle charger would be a possible solution.

jeffyscott

This article: http://www.ehow.com/how_4897932_trickle-charge-car-battery.html
indicates loss of up to 2% per day, so it would seem like even starting once per month would be sufficient? Of course, then the question is how long does it need to be driven to get back up to near full charge? I'm guessing that driving once per day for 3 miles is probably more of a problem for a battery than driving once per week for 20 miles.

Maybe a charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter/accessory socket would be a fairly convenient solution?

akirby

Trickle charger for sure. That's just not enough driving to keep the battery charged. You should be able to wire it up so it can be plugged in through the front grille without opening the hood.

belmere

After sitting36hrs, the mercury Milan won't start. We replaced the battery last week and took it to the dealer when it happened again two days later. We have no added features such as alarms or satellite radio beyond what came with the car. The car is less than a year old. The dealer could not find the problem. Any ideas?

akirby

Could be a short or a bad radio, etc. Turn everything off and wait at least 30 minutes. Then check the current draw. If it's more than 0 start pulling fuses one at a time until it stops. That will tell you which circuit is drawing current. If pulling fuses doesn't stop it then it's a short somewhere which is harder to find.

crkyolfrt

"That will tell you which circuit is drawing current. If pulling fuses doesn't stop it then it's a short somewhere which is harder to find."

That is good advice, but i would add that to pull more than one fuse on related circuits, if pulling one at a time doesn't work.
i.e. - on the ESP, it may be related to the ABS circuit.
- mirror heaters related to rear defogger
- if it has speed sensitive wipers or volume on the radio, then check the ECM speed sensor against the wipers and/or stereo circuits

etc

A competent dlr would know this. I would go elsewhere, then go back and tell them that a dif dlr fixed it by troubleshooting the obvious. Then I would write Ford and ask them why one dlrship was able to fix it right away, yet the other says we don't know.

I guess my patience is wearing thin with so-called mechanics and service/wty depts that are paid really really good wages (at least the dlr charges high rates of 80 to 90 an hour and more) and are educated on the very brand they work on, yet are so quick to offer the corporate excuse "we don't know where the problem is" or the other famous BP raiser..."they all do that"..

explorerx4

Recently, I read that the car should be run at least every 30 days, otherwise the battery can be depleted.
There a lot of electrical systems still active even though the car is off.

robo9

Try removing the bulb from the trunk light - my light was staying on due to a faulty switch and draining my battery slowly; had a dead battery when not driving for a few days... use a camera in the trunk with the video recording to check.