2000 LS Symptoms Fixed by Replacing the Battery

[cirelle]

The following symptoms were fixed in my case by replacing the battery.
Hopefully this might help someone else because my initial thoughts were the car was falling apart just by sitting in the garage

2000 LS V8 Sport 126K miles

The following symptoms occurred over an approximate 30 day period in mostly city driving and under about 600 miles total driving.

Symptom #1:

Car would drive fine till stopped and turned off at destination, in this case to buy cigars which took no more than 10 minutes.

Get back into the car and it would just turn over and not start.

Temporary remedy, get out, using the key lock the door, set the alarm, then unlock the door
Get back in and the car would start.


Symptom #2

Car would die while driving for no reason.

* All lights in the instrument cluster would light up as they would when first starting
* Some lights would illuminate others would not
* Message center would indicate Check Adv Trac or Gear Select Data Error (appearing to be erroneous)

Car would restart in Park or Neutral and run fine until it stalled again, usually in a day or 2.


Symptom #3

Message center MPG would drop to 0 MPG then gradually return to a usual MPG reading after several miles. This would happen periodically


Symptom #4

At low speed when cold, transmission would want to down shift (under no load or acceleration), there would be a slight rev in the engine (as the engine was not in gear), letting off the accelerator would allow the transmission to re-engage. Within several miles, the car would die as in Symptom #2


Symptom #5

Alarm would inadvertently set while car was unlocked. This would prevent starting until the car was locked and then unlocked. Similar to Symptom #1


Symptom #6

While driving at night at low speed (30mph), turning on the fog lights would induce stalling.


Symptom #7

Locking the car would result in the locking sequence (noticed by clicking sound) would repeat until the car lock was initiated again, then would finally lock.


Symptom #8

When unlocking the car from fully secured, locked and alarmed, not all lights would blink. Typically the rear lights would blink but not the fronts (in my case) and no horn chirp.


Symptom #9

Charging the battery (4 hr 10A quick charge) would last just over 1 day. 2A over night charge would last about 2 days then one or more of the above symptoms would start occurring again.

 

[G-RELL]

interested if this turns out to be an alternator issue also

 

[joegr]

interested if this turns out to be an alternator issue also

I suspect that it will. It would be best to check it and fix it now, before it damages the new battery.

 

[cirelle]

Battery was 2 years out (mfg Feb 2007) replaced Dec 2011, and alternator puts out over 14V. I guess anything is possible, but I guess it's a wait and see situation at this point.

I think the battery was seriously at fault as an out of the car charge (both quick at 10A and over night at 2A) had little effect.

The RC of the battery dropped to 50% quickly (within a day).

The other thing I keep tossing over is the car doesn't get driven on long drives (more than 1hr) very often.

Gonna keep an eye on it, as the car is 12 years old

 

[1LoudLS]

the longer the car was driven on a failing battery, the harder the alternator had to work. it wouldn't take long to cause damage to the alternator.

usually when one goes out, it takes the other with it, sometimes right away, sometimes shortly after.

this is not a good sign

The following symptoms occurred over an approximate 30 day period in mostly city driving and under about 600 miles total driving.

i would at least have the alternator properly tested, and be ready to replace it AT THE FIRST SIGN OF FAILING, or another battery may be in your future.

 

[G-RELL]

what would you replace it with... Can you get a motorcraft alt. with a warranty longer than 12 months???

 

[LDM]

Suggestions from previous posts are to get a Motorcraft Alt. I got a Motorcraft Alt from a Lincoln dealership and was told all are remanufactured now, no new ones available. If you have Lincoln put a Motorcraft Alt in, then the labor is covered too if the Alt goes (don't know how long the warranty and labor coverage is). Call Max to see what he can do and inquire about warranty.

 

[Kumba]

If you are lucky enough to live near an alt/starter shop you can look into having them reman your alternator. They all will (should) do a better job then most of the junk you get off the shelf at autozone and the like. Napa might be trust worthy, or just go for the MotorCraft Alt and hope you get a good pull.

Unfortunately, in my experience, all remans somewhat suck regardless of brand. If you take it to an alt/starter shop, even though it might cost the same or more and take longer, they will usually spend more time thoroughly testing it and give you back a better unit. Some of them can also retrofit better components in to give you things like longer life or higher amperage. The one near me will even warranty it on the car if you pay for them to install it.

I guess the next "mod" for these cars is seeking out an upgraded output reliable alternator swap from some other car. Good luck whoever wants to head up that project.

 

[G-RELL]

max said fords remains are good for 12/12... Not sure if the parts stores are any longer. i seem to remember autozones Duralast had a limited lifetime, not sure what all that entails though. If it does last longer than fords, thats a tough decision. fords might last longer, but parts store might have a longer warranty...

I'm moving by subs over from my truck next month so i'll be putting plenty of stress on it, just hate to have to BUY a new one every year...