Should I replace the 12v Battery?

[Chuck]

Background: My car is a 2021 Job 1. It's 3.5 years old with 29k miles. I've owned many cars and 3+ years is about when the 12v battery should be changed. I hear that the same holds true for the Mach E.

So, with that in mind I bought a new 12v battery from Ford Parts using my loyalty points. But it's been sitting in the garage for a couple of weeks. Why? Because I'm not sure if I should install it yet. When I look at my status on the Ford.com web site my current 12v battery has never been below 70% and is often at 100% when I have the car plugged in for the day. Right now it's at 90% (see photo).

My question: Should I just go ahead and replace it anyway? If no, then when should I? Is the clock ticking on the new battery sitting in my garage?

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[grein002]

Note that the web site is showing you the HVB status, not the 12V status. This changed a couple of months back.

 

[Teslaeata]

Wouldn’t have wasted my money on a new battery and mine’s a June ‘21 car with 98,500 miles.

However, now you have it I’d fit it.

Discharge & recharge is best for batteries, leaving it standing idle will do it no good.

Is only my view, as a Level 4 EV TechSafe and vehicle examiner but I’d have it fitted and programmed in properly to battery management.

Continue to enjoy the ‘Stang?

 

[Chuck]

Note that the web site is showing you the HVB status, not the 12V status. This changed a couple of months back.

So, there's no way to determine the 12v battery?

 

[grein002]

You would need to use an OBD dongle and software such as ForScan or iPhone app to see 12V SOC

 

[HuntingPudel]

I am at just past 35 months in possession of my MME. Its 12V battery so far seems solid Based off of random readings. ?‍?

 

[Gene Bank]

I had been thinking the same thing. I am retired and don't drive much. I also live in NH with cold winters. My MME is an early 2022 so I decided to not wait for the 12V to fail and just have a new battery put in. What should have taken no time at all ended up being in the shop for over a week. When the new battery was installed, they kept getting a charging error message. They told me the car is fine and to just ignore the message and it will probably just go away. I said no and their response was that they don't build the cars. I became angrier by the day. They finally got the message to clear. I'll never use Nucar Ford in Plymouth NH again. Jerks!

 

[rhougey]

Background: My car is a 2021 Job 1. It's 3.5 years old with 29k miles. I've owned many cars and 3+ years is about when the 12v battery should be changed. I hear that the same holds true for the Mach E.

My question: Should I just go ahead and replace it anyway? If no, then when should I? Is the clock ticking on the new battery sitting in my garage?

I don’t know if I’ve owned “many” cars, but I have owned a bunch in 50 years of driving. In California, it is my experience that the “starting” battery in an ICE car generally will last 5-8 years unless abused in some way. An AGM “starting” battery has the potential to last even longer. The Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM group 49 battery in my truck is over 6 years old and doing fine.

My Mach-E is a Feb 2021 build that I put into service April 2021 in California. It now has 58K miles on it. It has not yet begun to exhibit any of the strange gremlins that some people have reported just prior to failure. That being said, I have also been pondering my best course at this point in time. I’m thinking I will put the LVB on my fancy AGM specific charger with desulfating capability (again), and then verify the state of charge looking for a minimum of 12.7 volts or better. My Car Scanner app doesn’t have a 12v LVB SOH reading. From what I’ve read, 13.3 volts on an AGM after fully charging would equate to a 100% SOH, while less than 12.7 volts would indicate replacement.

I think your new battery began its usable life when it was manufactured, so you might as well install it.

 

[Options]

I replaced my 12 volt battery at 37 months. A small expense to avoid a major inconvenience.

 

[GrantK]

I'm thinking the same. My '21 Job 2 is just about 3 years old (I got it in Jan '22) and it is just a few miles short of 40K.

I was wondering if I should just ask for a new battery at next service

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