Battery availability and cost

[Vincent998]

My 05 GT battery appears to be toast (solenoid just clicks when I try to start, and yes, I thoroughly cleaned the ground already), but it did last six years. Just checked with my local friendly and efficient Ford parts guy (he loves the GT) and learned that a new Optima lists at $449 (I would get a better price, but it will still be very expensive) and must be ordered from the vendor with delivery date unknown! There are none available that he could find. I don't mind the cost too much but am reluctant to order without a delivery date.

So: can anyone suggest a better source or a correct fitting replacement? I know there have been many discussions about Optima vs Odyssey vs DieHard etc. What are people using now?

Thanks in advance!
David

 

[twobjshelbys]

I went through that and needed a battery. Ford was on back order. Optima Red Top at O'Reilleys. In stock on the shelf and fresh. Same battery different sticker (which you can buy). 1/2 the price of the Ford.

 

[gtjoey]

4 YEARS is the max....put it on your calendar .
Red tip replaced the original black top. You can use the yellow.
They are everywhere. 200 plus that's all.
But every 4 years PLEASE just replace.
good luck.
GTJOEY1314

 

[NorthwoodGT]

search my video on the Optima battery change out on you tube by scott minch

 

[franimal007]

Is there an actual how to change the battery? Or is it like a normal car? Are there any problems?

 

[twobjshelbys]

Is there an actual how to change the battery? Or is it like a normal car? Are there any problems?

It's not complicated but it's not simple either

Step by step below. You'll want to have some mechanics fender shields on each side.

First, you remove the trunk liner. DO NOT LEAVE THE TURN LOCKS IN THE LINER!!! REMOVE THEM AND SET THEM ASIDE. If you don't do that chances are one will fall into the bowels of the front never to be seen again.

Removing the battery will cause the adaptive tunes to be lost. If you have OBDII based emissions testing you will have to run the complete drive cycle. To prevent this, plug in the Ford battery tender to the accessory outlet by the radio. This will keep the ECU alive enough to hold the memory. (I don't know if this works for everyone, but it did work for me.)

Remove the cables from the battery being extremely careful not to allow the positive terminal to touch any chassis parts. I wrapped mine in electrical tape.

While you've got the cables disconnected clean the chassis ground connection (and dressing it with the goop mentioned elsewhere is probably a good idea).

Remove the battery retainer carefully noting alignment. It's a blind mate to put it back and you have to have just the right angle.

Now comes the tough part, I contend best done with two people. Carefully lift the battery from the tray. Be extremely careful not to lean too heavily on the fenders as they are soft aluminum !!! Too much weight and the results won't be pretty.

Alternately, if you can't lift it yourself or find a helper, I suppose you could disconnect the trunk lid and lift the battery from the front.

Reverse the steps to replace...

 

[franimal007]

Thanks, I saw it was pretty basic, however, what do you mean by "drive cycle"? Do you mean I have to put about 100 miles on it to get it to pass inspection....Perhaps I just am thinking too much and the FGT isn't really that much different than a regular car. I got to think lifting it out is the tough part...

 

[Gary]

My 05 GT battery appears to be toast (solenoid just clicks when I try to start, and yes, I thoroughly cleaned the ground already), but it did last six years. Just checked with my local friendly and efficient Ford parts guy (he loves the GT) and learned that a new Optima lists at $449 (I would get a better price, but it will still be very expensive) and must be ordered from the vendor with delivery date unknown! There are none available that he could find. I don't mind the cost too much but am reluctant to order without a delivery date.

So: can anyone suggest a better source or a correct fitting replacement? I know there have been many discussions about Optima vs Odyssey vs DieHard etc. What are people using now?

Thanks in advance!
David

Got a replacement from a Sears store.

 

[wmjim]

If you drive the car a lot the Optima is great. I have one that is not driven near enough and the battery just doesn’t last more than 4 years. I’ve been worried about my gauges with a weak battery, so I went with a Braille lithium battery. Expensive, but I’m hoping it and my gauges last a lone time.

 

[gtjoey]

Don't pinch the wiper fluid hose up top when you put back the trunk tray.....
If so you pinch the squirter but also cock the tray and the door ajar light can go on...…..
Youll understand once you see it....

 

[twobjshelbys]

Thanks, I saw it was pretty basic, however, what do you mean by "drive cycle"? Do you mean I have to put about 100 miles on it to get it to pass inspection....Perhaps I just am thinking too much and the FGT isn't really that much different than a regular car. I got to think lifting it out is the tough part...

Yes, if the battery is disconnected and you don't back it up you would have to run the drive cycle to clear the monitor status (ie, return them to "ready") If you don't have OBDII based emissions then don't worry about it. If you do then I recommend you get a Bluetooth OBDII reader and the Torque Lite app (for Android, I don't think it does iOS yet). From it you can check the progress of the individual monitors. DO NOT USE A CODE READER! It will give you a P1000 code which says monitors not ready. You need to drill down to the status to get which are not ready. So start by driving 10-20 miles and see which go ready on their own. Then use the steps in this document:

Ford Motor Company Driving Cycle

to attack the remaining individual tests. Using this method I was able to bring my other vehicles "ready" in under 50 miles. (I saved the GT with the charger cord trick.)

But like I said, if you can battery back up the ECU using the trickle charger you'd be OK. Get the OBDII reader and check before you power down and then after. But it really only matters if you have emissions test and have to get it just after replacing the battery. A few drives should clear everything.

You are right that lifting the battery is the difficult part. It's fairly heavy and centrally mounted, so your leverage to lift is limited. Just don't lean on the fender.

Good luck.

 

[twobjshelbys]

If you drive the car a lot the Optima is great. I have one that is not driven near enough and the battery just doesn’t last more than 4 years. I’ve been worried about my gauges with a weak battery, so I went with a Braille lithium battery. Expensive, but I’m hoping it and my gauges last a lone time.

Rich/Denis replaced my battery in Oct 2011. It lasted until Dec 2018 (7+ years) and still had power to run but the charge light on my trickle charger indicated it was struggling to keep up. I replaced it then.

 

[FlagstaffGT]

Just replaced my 1st sears replacement with a new optima red top. Got 20% off oreilly, $170 something. Instead of the voltmeter running far left to the red zone on start, barely moves 1/4 to the left. Had one or two meter failures on start last couple of weeks, fixed with restart.

 

[jaxgt]

Does car lose custom tunes when change battery ??

 

[twobjshelbys]

Does car lose custom tunes when change battery ??

No, you will not lose the tune but you will most likely lose the "adaptives", ie, readiness indicators for the emissions ECU self-tests. Try plugging in the Ford charger into the inside accessory plug. When removing the battery be sure to shield the positive battery cable so it doesn't short to ground. I wrapped mine in electrical tape. The settings stayed. It only matters if you have OBDII emissions testing and need to replace the battery just before the test.

 

[PeteK]

Let me repost a reply I just put in another thread:

FYI, the 16 year old OE battery in my 2005 finally died. I know from participating in another car forum that the newer Optimas do not last anywhere near as long as the old ones. Those were very high quality batteries. The new ones are average quality. Expect 5 years or so, depending on how it’s used or abused.

 

[extrap]

Let me repost a reply I just put in another thread:

FYI, the 16 year old OE battery in my 2005 finally died. I know from participating in another car forum that the newer Optimas do not last anywhere near as long as the old ones. Those were very high quality batteries. The new ones are average quality. Expect 5 years or so, depending on how it’s used or abused.

That is amazing .. but for me also sad news since I just bought an Optima for my Titan; first Optima I've ever bought. Oh well. My Kubota tractor's OEM battery lasted from 2010 to 2019, never on a trickle charger, and I thought that was amazing .. but doesn't hold a candle to your 16 years!

 

[PeteK]

There are a few other cars with long lasting OE batteries. I don’t bother with a battery tender because I use the car frequently. I think the trick is to drive the cars regularly. I have 66Kmi on mine.

 

[Dan S.]

A previous owner installed a Motorcraft battery BXT90T5590 - I don’t know why that battery was chosen... I will be switching to an Optima over the winter.

As a side note, I've already got a Optima Digital 1200 charger/maintainer which has a special port and cable (w/ring terminals) strictly for maintaining a charge - not crazy about options for running the cables to the battery. Optima does not offer a cigarette plug option.

However, I found that the Battery Tender "Cigarette Plug Accessory Cable" ($7.95) will plug into the Optima cable, so now I can charge thru the cigarette port. Seems to be working; the battery came up to 13.2V and charger reduced to supplying 0.4 amps within a few minutes.

Dan

 

[2112]

I love smart chargers too, I use Optimate. I also preferred direct wiring to the battery and have the pigtail with a rubber boot easily accessible from the front of the car.