Ford Not My Favorite Today

[A Sturdy Beast]

To whoever at Ford thought that replacing a battery must involve taking out the entire air filter housing.... I hope you are no longer employed. Have you ever seen a vehicle before designing that? The battery is a consumable and should always be easy to swap out.

Be glad it was only the air box. On some GM’s you have to remove the front fender. I never owned one that required it, but that is the reason why I have not owned a GM in 30 years.

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[Fibrepunk]

The Maverick battery is under the rear seat, so no removing the air filter.

But need to lift the rear seat to access the battery.

 

[vandeda2024]

Only on the hybrid.

Oh ... Oops, didn't consider the 2.0, my mistake. Then I agree ... it seems too often that maintenance ease doesn't seem to be taken into consideration when it should.

 

[Chops]

There is a fix for your problem, the Hybrid Maverick.
Easiest 12vdc battery change tons of room under the back seat, even your 5 year old could do it.
Its the universe telling you what you already know ya gotta do...trade in for hyyyybbbriiiiddddd

Tons of room under the back seat? You need to trade in your hybrid for a 25 EB. Battery easily accessible under the hood where it belongs

 

[BLUEOVALRACER]

I had a Sebring, the battery was in the fender and required wheel and fender liner removal to replace it. A month after replacement the new battery failed, Batteries + refused to take it back because I didn't have my paper copy of the receipt.
My Grand Cherokee has the battery under the passenger seat, that wasn't a fun one to change either.

X2, I was going to mention the Dodges with the battery in the fender. My uncles Equinox I couldn't even test the battery and see what the CCA was supposed to be because the Fuse Box was mounted on top of the battery.

 

[jcs]

Yeah, it is a big issue for the people that have to change the battery every day

 

[smoreho2]

I bring this up here because the Maverick has the same stupid design.

Start rant....
My son's 2020 Escape still had its OEM battery. It needed to be replaced because even after leaving it on a charger to 100%, I would get the "battery saver" message immediately after he turned his Escape off. So, I took it down to the local auto parts store and bought a new AGM for it.

To whoever at Ford thought that replacing a battery must involve taking out the entire air filter housing.... I hope you are no longer employed. Have you ever seen a vehicle before designing that? The battery is a consumable and should always be easy to swap out. Given that the AGM in an of itself weighs 100 pounds, why are you adding additional steps to get it out?

Seriously, there is almost a foot of free space behind the battery. If you would have moved it back two inches, no one would have to remove anything but the battery to get it out.

...End rant.

Fortunately, the Expedition is, as my daughter calls it, "a truck with a roof" and it appears to be built like one with the battery front and center with nothing but the bracket holding it down. But I guess I need to keep in mind what it took to swap out the battery in the Escape when my Maverick inevitably needs a new one.

I had a dodge stratus back in the 90’s that you had to literally remove a tire completely to get to the battery. I know how you feel!

 

[Bret Grabber]

I bring this up here because the Maverick has the same stupid design.

Start rant....
My son's 2020 Escape still had its OEM battery. It needed to be replaced because even after leaving it on a charger to 100%, I would get the "battery saver" message immediately after he turned his Escape off. So, I took it down to the local auto parts store and bought a new AGM for it.

To whoever at Ford thought that replacing a battery must involve taking out the entire air filter housing.... I hope you are no longer employed. Have you ever seen a vehicle before designing that? The battery is a consumable and should always be easy to swap out. Given that the AGM in an of itself weighs 100 pounds, why are you adding additional steps to get it out?

Seriously, there is almost a foot of free space behind the battery. If you would have moved it back two inches, no one would have to remove anything but the battery to get it out.

...End rant.

Fortunately, the Expedition is, as my daughter calls it, "a truck with a roof" and it appears to be built like one with the battery front and center with nothing but the bracket holding it down. But I guess I need to keep in mind what it took to swap out the battery in the Escape when my Maverick inevitably needs a new one.

As a retired Advance Auto Parts guy, I've replaced a bunch of em! As easay as the air filter box is to get out, we went ahead a did em as long as the customer agreed if anything broke it was at their expense.
Have you ever seen where the battery is on some late 90's/early 2000's Chrystler products? Yup, behind the left front wheel in the fenderwell. Those need to be jacked up, wheel removed and then you can get to the battery!

 

[MaverickDragon]

Tons of room under the back seat? You need to trade in your hybrid for a 25 EB. Battery easily accessible under the hood where it belongs

Well, it may be easily accessible under the hood, (opinions vary) but as far as belonging there...
It is a traditional location, but considering that heat is a battery's mortal enemy, putting in the cabin where the temperature extremes are minimized can contribute to battery longevity...

 

[CajunMick]

On escape, try hooking up jumper cable when battery dead.

Lucky for me battery dead when car in garage. I made a wire harness with alligator clips to connect to battery post clamp so can hookup a charger. Lucky it started, took to dealer, let em deal with exchange.

 

[Chops]

Well, it may be easily accessible under the hood, (opinions vary) but as far as belonging there...
It is a traditional location, but considering that heat is a battery's mortal enemy, putting in the cabin where the temperature extremes are minimized can contribute to battery longevity...

Didn’t think of that. And living in the desert - I guess I’ll be happy if I get 3yrs of use…

 

[sajohnson]

I have a Mercedes Sprinter diesel who has its 12v underneath a panel under the driver's floor mat. I'm scared to even look at that.

We have an RV with a Sprinter cab-chassis. Same design. I've replaced the battery once, it was no problem. Maybe 4-6 machine screws that secure the cover and otherwise it's typical.

Lifting the battery up and out of the compartment is a bit difficult because of the position you're in, and the fact that it's a larger than normal battery because the Sprinter has a V6 turbo diesel.

 

[sajohnson]

I was being facetious. But the AGM feels a lot heavier than the old lead acid... or maybe I'm just getting old...

From Google (FWIW):

" AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) batteries are generally slightly heavier or comparable in weight to traditional flooded lead-acid batteries of the exact same group size (like Group 27 or 31) because they use thick lead plates and fiberglass mats for structure, though some compact AGMs might feel lighter for the same power. However, when comparing for the same capacity (Amp-Hours), AGM batteries can often provide more power in a smaller/lighter package than a standard wet-cell, with lithium being significantly lighter overall. "

 

[710-oil-614]

This is the same for Honda Odysseys and Honda is notorious for using batteries that are barely enough for the vehicle system they support and you're looking at 2-3 years life on any of them.

I cannot wait for the day to sell our Odyssey.

 

[gjallen3]

Well, it may be easily accessible under the hood, (opinions vary) but as far as belonging there...
It is a traditional location, but considering that heat is a battery's mortal enemy, putting in the cabin where the temperature extremes are minimized can contribute to battery longevity...

Cabin temperatures can far exceed ambient temperatures on a sunny summer day.

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