The cold caught me the other morning and car wouldn't start. I do a lot of small journeys and while I try to fit in long runs, alas ... And as my car has been getting gradulally scratchier and scratchier at starting car for months now, I have lost faith in my cars battery.

So I have this old 'new' battery here, it's about 8-10 months old, was used for like 3-4 months and removed when I had my previous car scrapped. Is this a 'silver calcium' battery I see recommended? It just says 'calcium' on the label.

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/accessories-car-batteries/car-batteries/most-popular-car-battery/063-car-batteries/?444770631&0&cc5_993

But that isn't my main query: I was caught out on earlier cars replacing batterys due to the radio losing the code and not having it.

So my query now is if take the battery out of this 2004 Zetec 1.6, what else do I need to be wary of? Are there any immobiliser or key code issues? And if so, how do you avoid them?

My thanks in advance for any advice. Cheers

get your radio code mate, the rest should be ok, I think silver calcium is just fords name for it from what ive read around here

Not sure about the mk1 but on the mk2 Focus after disconnecting the battery you need to relearn the windows if you've got one-shot up/down - process is in the handbook.

Thanks for the help. I chickened out of replacing the battery and just went with using jumpleads off someones car. I have only one key with this car and I don't want to mess it up.

First morning that battery was flat, I could only get a sister to come with her newish Citroen Berlingo MPV. Lifted the bonnet and the rear 'minus' battery terminalon them is hidden by a metal plate with an electric bus bar on it! You'd have to take the car apart to put jumpleads on it!

You know when your desperate and you just want a simple solution? New cars are beeping horrendous... give me an old car that you can see both terminals ... one without key codes, immobilisers and all the other sxxt that gets a newbie into trouble.

Don't know if it's a legal requirement or manufacturers do it off their own back but if you were to read the handbook for the Belingo it probably identifies another location on the body or engine which you use as the negative connection when jump-starting.

Or it could be that the metal plate covering the terminal was actually ok to use instead of needing to access the terminal itself. Lot of new cars now have extra gubbins connected as part of battery monitoring systems they use in conjunction with Stop/start systems - if the battery voltage is getting below certain parameters they will inhibit Stop/start to give the battery an easier time.

1 key, very unsure about changing the battery.no radio code.

simple steps to change a battery

Use ELLE

Earth

Live

Live

Earth

remove battery holding strap 13mm bolt

I personally start the car at this point saves faffing about for codes/resetting windows etc.

have a second helper for safety if unsure

slack off 10mm nut and remove the earth/negative lead,

DO NOT TOUCH THE POSITIVE TERMINAL WITH YOUR SPANNER WHEN UNDOING EARTH/NEGATIVE LEAD !!!!

slack off 10mm nut and remove and hold out of the way the live/positive lead to avoid shorting out,

get you or your helper to lift away old battery and lift the new one in

positive/live lead on do up 10mm nut

negative/earth lead on do up 10mm nut

AGAIN DO NOT TOUCH POSITIVE/LIVE TERMINAL WITH SPANNER WHEN DOING UP THE EARTH/NEGATIVE TERMINAL !!

refit battery strap and do up the 13mm bolt.

job done

tools away,,,wash hands ...cup of tea/coffee and a biccy :D :D :driving:

I personally start the car at this point saves faffing about for codes/resetting windows etc.

If you're suggesting leaving the engine running whilst removing the battery this is a very bad idea. The battery acts as a very large smoothing capacitor. Without it there will be a lot of voltage spikes on the electrical system which can damage sensitive electronics like the ECU, GEM and instrument cluster. Also if the positive battery lead accidentally touches the chassis you could instantly blow your alternator.

If you want to avoid 'faffing about with codes' the best way is to connect a small battery across the leads before disconnecting them. That will maintain your codes and in case of an accidental short the small battery won't provide enough current to do any damage. You can make up a 12V battery from 8 AA cells using a battery box like this. I think it's possible to connect this using the 12V cig lighter socket as long as this is permanently live.

Im not saying anyone else do so , just stating what I do , no trouble for me so far ..

Not to mention that any sparks, when removing terminals, could ignite any fuel vapours that are being emitted by the engine... Kaboom!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Ford OC mobile app

If you're suggesting leaving the engine running whilst removing the battery this is a very bad idea. The battery acts as a very large smoothing capacitor. Without it there will be a lot of voltage spikes on the electrical system which can damage sensitive electronics like the ECU, GEM and instrument cluster. Also if the positive battery lead accidentally touches the chassis you could instantly blow your alternator.

If you want to avoid 'faffing about with codes' the best way is to connect a small battery across the leads before disconnecting them. That will maintain your codes and in case of an accidental short the small battery won't provide enough current to do any damage. You can make up a 12V battery from 8 AA cells using a battery box like this. I think it's possible to connect this using the 12V cig lighter socket as long as this is permanently live.

Hello all

so [ temporarily ] this is wiring two batterys [the 12v car + 12v battery pack] in parallel? I was there ahead of you but with using a drained car battery. I have all the parts here for the above 8 AAs battery pack idea so will do this.

So Mike you have actually done this yourself?

I was talking to someone and he said there was a method of plugging a power source into the cigarette lighter socket. I don't know whether he's ever done it or just heard about it.

p.s. the Berlingo has like 100% of the battery under a plastic cover, the metal ali plate is on the front face under a red plastic cover. Taking a brand new car apart or rooting for a manual at 8:40 am wasn't practical. Don't want to take this off topic but it's a known query on the Mk3 Berlingo, :

http://www.berlingoforum.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=456

Not to mention that any sparks, when removing terminals, could ignite any fuel vapours that are being emitted by the engine... Kaboom!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Ford OC mobile app

Well to be fair, the bonnet is up and it will be well ventilated if it's outside.

Replacing a cars battery isn't such a complicated issue but I just wanted at ask before I tried it so as to avoid issues. A new thread on a forum costing nothing, right? And a bit of social intercourse with other Ford owners is always welcome.

:)

And a bit of social intercourse with other Ford owners is always welcome.

I want to think that was an autocorrect... Considering the smiley though I think not!!

:D

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Ford OC mobile app

I watched a battery explode on a mechanic once doing the above luckily he was okay

you buy a memory saver plugs into the cig socket

So Mike you have actually done this yourself?

Yes, although I actually clipped a small lead-acid battery from a piece of portable equipment across the battery leads so I had to be really careful nothing shorted. I did put an in-line fuse in the positive wire though just in case.

As Artscot says a memory saver plugged into the cig socket is the most convenient and safest way.

Sorry for not updating this thread sooner.

I did make a 12v battery pack for when I went to swap the car battery. I connected the red to red and when I connected the black to the negative power lead, it started to crackle. I didn't think this was 'good' so I just removed this battery pack and put it to one side.

I then just swapped the battery ASAP with no hassle. The outcome was that everything was fine. I lost the saved radio channels but that was no big deal ASTHE RADIO STILL WORKED!

Last time I swapped a car battery it was off the car for about a day and the radio lost the anti-theft 'code'. Do you think it's because of the length of time the car was without power?

Just trying to understand