Car battery MK8

[tef89]

Looking for some advice (as usual).

After about 6 months of short journeys + leaving the car for days (longest was 6) without being used the car refused to start last week.

AA (Ford Recovery) were there in 20 minutes, got the car started and 'checked' the battery was working OK.  Advised to run the car for half an hour or so every week to avoid the same again.

Just wondered if anyone had replaced their MK8 battery yet ?  If so any recommendations, just in case it happens again, as Euro Car Parts is showing a Bosch for about £160 after discount:

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/bosch-efb-100-car-battery-3-year-guarantee-444779018

The Bosch is 65Ah and 650CCA - I was under the impression the Ah should be the same ?

Also is it just a case of swapping the battery over ? Or is there some extra config with it being an EFB type.

It's been starting OK since but I just wanted to pre-arm myself with some info in case the battery is damaged.  Start/Stop hasn't worked since but I'm not worried about that.

Original battery that is fitted pictured below...

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Not had to buy a new battery (yet), Gary. Had the car in last week for service (car now done 10,000), all good on the inspection sheet except amber warning on battery charge - showing 11.96v as against 12.35v at last year's check. Advised to "give it a good run to the coast" - yeah, with having a named storm every week at the mo I'm really up for unnecessary trips! I do most of my mileage March - October going up the dales during our caravan season so hopefully it will get a boost before long!

Puzzling though as to what it is with the Mk 8 that seems to hammer the battery. My pattern of use has not really changed in some years and I've never had this flagged up on previous cars. Even the Mrs's SEAT Mii which has done 8,000 in 6 years (!) got the ok at it's last service.

[tef89]

I'm not sure either.  I guess it's not like the old days when you could turn unnecessary things off if you knew you were only doing short runs etc. 

For the last few months I'd been really careful too, disabling start stop and auto lights for each journey etc.  Even turning the screen off too. 

Now I'm running it without the dashcam (hard wired,  this would shut down when the car was off anyway), putting the alarm in reduced and generally trying to give it a run every 5/6 days. 

Trouble is the extra petrol is more expensive than a new battery every year lol. 

[TomsFocus]

You will need to have the BMS reset after changing a Stop Start battery.  Not sure if there's a simple button sequence on the Mk8 (like there was on the Mk3 Focus) or if you'll need a diag tool to do it.

I used to rave about the Bosch S5 batteries, but quality seems to have declined in recent years and they're often no better than other branded batteries.  4 year warranty is all well and good if it fails at home when you don't need the car, it's not so useful when you're stranded miles from home on a Sunday night with no phone signal...

Do you use the Ford Pass app btw?  I'm sure I've read switching that off/disconnecting it can extend the battery life.  6 days of inaction after a short run isn't going to be good for any battery though. 

[tef89]

Thanks for the reply Tom.  No, not using the Ford Pass app.

I agree, months of short runs + inactivity was always likely to give me a problem.  Had a different job until recently, now I'm based in the same town or working from home.

My local trusted non-ford garage has quoted me for a replacement Ford OEM / Varta battery and fitting for about £30 more than the Bosch one so I might just get them to do it if I have another problem.

[williamweb]

Have you considered a Ctek battery charger. Probably depends if you have off road parking.The comfort connector fits on to the battery, plug in and trickle charge or there is a connector that can be plugged into the aux/cig port.I use my car once a week at the moment and works well👍

[tef89]

12 minutes ago, williamweb said:

Have you considered a Ctek battery charger. Probably depends if you have off road parking.The comfort connector fits on to the battery, plug in and trickle charge or there is a connector that can be plugged into the aux/cig port.I use my car once a week at the moment and works well👍

Thanks for the suggestion Richard.  Unfortunately I'm stuck with on-street parking for now.  I'd looked into trickle chargers like yours and they seemed ideal.  We're looking at moving in the next few months when the house sells so I'll keep that in mind for the future.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

22 minutes ago, williamweb said:

Have you considered a Ctek battery charger. 

I was thinking I may have to consider using a charger to keep mine topped up. Haven't used mine for years (even if I can find where it's hidden!) so may be due for a new one anyway. The Ctek looks good but there seem to be several different versions which would seem suitable just for trickle charging. Any recommendations?

[williamweb]

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I was thinking I may have to consider using a charger to keep mine topped up. Haven't used mine for years (even if I can find where it's hidden!) so may be due for a new one anyway. The Ctek looks good but there seem to be several different versions which would seem suitable just for trickle charging. Any recommendations?

I bought the mxs 5 because i've a relatively heavy duty battery.Yes they do a good range.Within the range there is a test mode for starter and alternator function at a premium price but i decided to keep it simple ha ha, didn't think i would use that mode very often.If you want the aux/cig plug for convenience  then that will have to be ordered separately👍

[DaveT70]

If you're doing really short journeys and using lots of accessories (HTD screen, Lights etc etc) then it may be best to consider upgrading the battery to the one fitted to the diesel version

[cjay1]

i do lots of short journeys so swapped to a slightly larger agm battery. i then used forscan so the car knows an agm battery is fitted. agm batteries have a faster charge acceptance so ideal for short trips. 

[Scorpion993]

Hi!! I argued with my MK8 battery for a month, because start stop just doesn’t work, because battery almost failed just after 2 years.

Well, changing it isn’t very difficult, and for resetting the BMS I suggest a cheap OBD with Forscan on windows, but you can check a manual procedure on this thread: https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/112820-mk8-auto-stop-start-battery-monitoring/ I don’t know if it works because I used my OBD.

Last but not least, take a look for the battery, because yausa,Varta,Bosch, suggest a kind of battery that isn’t compatible with the MK8 one, because the original ford battery it’s height is 195cm! But all of the battery suggested is...175cm. I failed because of that, and had to buy the original ford replacement. 

Theorically with that height you can put in an AGM battery (Such as a “Yuasa YBX9096”), but I really don’t know if it’s compatible or you can have problem because the weight of the battery is a lot higher. But yeah, with an AGM battery you can’t have this problem, or at least, is a lot better than the EFB stock battery.

[tef89]

Thanks guys that's really interesting.

I do like the sound of switching to an AGM battery if it's going to be more robust for shorter / infrequent journeys.

Looking at the one Elio suggested, I can see the specs are obviously different from my OEM.  I understand the CCA can be higher without issue but I thought the AH figure is where a problem might lie.  Does anyone know if that is indeed a problem, and if so, is that something that the reconfig procedure on forscan / manual setting fixes ?

[Tizer]

Having a lower CCA figure would not normally be a problem unless you lived somewhere really cold or put thick oil in the engine. Having a lower Amp hour figure would be a problem because it is a measure of how long a sustained power draw would last.

You can't reconfigure these, but it is vitally important that you check whether FORScan can the configure the Charging System on your particular car because the two different types of batteries have different charging regimes and you may either ruin the AGM one or end up worse off.

[cjay1]

the agm battery i fitted was slightly taller 190mm vs 175mm  so had to modify the top retaining bracket to make it fit. you probably wouldn't ruin an agm battery by not updating the car  but you would be no better off if the car does not know it could safely charge the battery faster / had a higher capacity. 

[tef89]

5 minutes ago, Tizer said:

Having a lower CCA figure would not normally be a problem unless you lived somewhere really cold or put thick oil in the engine. Having a lower Amp hour figure would be a problem because it is a measure of how long a sustained power draw would last.

You can't reconfigure these, but it is vitally important that you check whether FORScan can the configure the Charging System on your particular car because the two different types of batteries have different charging regimes and you may either ruin the AGM one or end up worse off.

Thanks everyone for your input, it's helped me make a decision about what to do.

I really appreciate the advice.  I don't have access to forscan or an ODB reader so I'm gonna forget the AGM option. 

I've done a bunch of reading over the last week or so and I've come to the conclusion I bought a new car so I wouldn't have to worry about this stuff lol.  I accept my usage pattern has contributed to me being in this position.

I'm beginning to disappear down a rabit hole of complexity with this issue so I think I'm gonna just stick to an OEM battery, like for like if the problem re-occurs.

[Scorpion993]

You're welcome!

By the way...personally, I replace my Ford Motorcraft battery (the stock one) with an identical battery bought by a ford retailer, I paid it 140 euro, yeah it's a little bit too much but it's perfectly compatible with the battery bay of the fiesta MK8. Furthermore, it has just 3 months from production date and I checked some values with a battery tester and it seems to have better specs than that it's written on the battery (60Ah, 600A, but the tester showed me a value of 700A). 

If you'll move next months, with the possibility of using a charger, I guess you won't have any problem. I usually charge my battery every month or two, just to keep it at the best. I suggest you a "CTEK CT5 start & stop", it's a specific charger for AGM and EFB battery, I'm really cool with it.

[tef89]

Thinking about it, I bought my car via Ford Direct so it could well have sat somewhere for weeks on end, then had the battery charged once it was ready to be moved through the system etc.

So it might not all be my fault 😁

Will definitely look into the CTEK charger setup once we move.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

16 minutes ago, tef89 said:

Thinking about it, I bought my car via Ford Direct so it could well have sat somewhere for weeks on end, then had the battery charged once it was ready to be moved through the system etc.

That's quite possible. As I've mentioned in another thread, one of the Ford Direct cars I had (Fiesta) was not up to snuff and I suspected similar, as well as less than careful driving by the previous user.

I've rediscovered my old charger but as I think it was last used in 2001(!) I reckon it's probably unsuitable for modern electrics so am looking into a new one. Research has thrown up a few negative comments on the CTEK though, mainly relating to the mode button jamming, but also of the "not as good as they used to be" ( what is?😀) variety. I have seen a few good comments about the NOCO Genius equivalent which is similar in features and price - wonder if anyone had tried them.

 

 

 

[Jim H]

If you are buying a battery and thinking of getting one online, I'd recommend:  https://www.tayna.co.uk/  I've used them for 3 or 4 times for buying batteries for all our cars, and had great service from them. Once ordered they come within a day or 2, with an allocated time slot for delivery. They are also far cheaper than ECP.  In most cases I bought Varta Silver ones as they were cheaper than Bosch with the same spec. However those batteries are probably not suitable for Start/Stop.

 

I too have a CtEK charger which I've had for 10 years or so and does a very good job.

[Scorpion993]

I used Tayna too sometimes! They're very good, selling batteries with max 3-5 month from production date. Just check the compatibility with the MK8, because, for example, the Yuasa battery website gives MK8 compatibility for the Yuasa YBX7100...but...nope ahah. It's shorter than the stock one, I attach you a pic. Fiesta MK8 requires a 195cm battery.

 

By the way, I bought a Fiesta MK8 in september 2018, and battery failed last month using it for long travels everyday. I guess they left the car stationary for months and damaged the battery. So...everything is possible.

[tef89]

Thanks again everyone.  I'd seen a few people mention Tanya previously as well so I appreciate the recommendation.

Had a look and the one they advise as compatible is 175m:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/exide/el652/

I also notice that every battery I look at has a higher AH figure than the 60AH on my OEM one.

😐

[Scorpion993]

Yeah, also bosch-varta-yuasa website says that 175cm battery it's compatible with MK8.

Maybe the fiesta mk7/mk7.5 with ecoboost had a 175cm battery and they're stick with it...but mk8 is different, or at least, italian mk8 has a taller battery ahah. I live in italy. I guess all european mk8 it's like that.

[tef89]

1 minute ago, Scorpion993 said:

Yeah, also bosch-varta-yuasa website says that 175cm battery it's compatible with MK8.

Maybe the fiesta mk7/mk7.5 with ecoboost had a 175cm battery and they're stick with it...but mk8 is different, or at least, italian mk8 has a taller battery ahah. I live in italy. I guess all european mk8 it's like that.

Doing a search on tanya.co.uk using the dimensions, CCA and AH now 😉

[Scorpion993]

Yeah, if I do a research using the correct dimension it gives me compatibly (for example) for the Yuasa YBX7096, that's also a lot more efficient than the stock one..it's a 75ah / 700A, not bad.

By the way, I made  a mistake ahah, it's  not 195cm but 190cm.