Battery Goes Dead

1999 Windstar LX with around 60K. The battery has gone dead just sitting several times since we purchased it in November of 2002. We left it sit for 7 days this last time with all the doors secured and the light control wheel on the dash in the competley off position. Got in it to start it and the battery was completely drained. Haven't done anything as far as trying to find out what is draining it yet. Always thought we were leaving the rear hatch ajar, but not the case this time for sure. We got a friend with the Limited Edition 2001 model and it is doing the same thing. I am aware of the #6 fuse pull if left sitting for a month or more. Anyone here got any ideas or previous experiences whith this? Thanks for any replies.

Is it the origional battery? If so, I suspect that you need to replace it as 6 years is a long productive life for a car battery. Perhaps you should at least get the battery tested. Most places do this for free.

If the battery is new, then it's time to try to isolate the drain. Maybe you can start pulling fuses.

Replaced battery in March of '04 with the biggest I could fit in there, a 880 CCA unit. That was after it had done it two or three times on us. Was hoping someone had experienced this problem and could point it out to me without the hassle of isolating. Going to take time as it only sits when we have to make a long run with the 'big truck" or something that keeps us away for an extended period, which isn't often. Seems strange that ours and our friends do pretty much the same thing. Would think there would be others out there and with any luck will see this and give me a hand. Thanks for the reply.

Are the interior lights not turning off a couple of minutes after closing the doors? Does the door ajar light stay lit until you reach about 20 mph? Does the interior light remain on until reaching 20 mph or while driving?

If so could be one or more door sensors are bad. Just replaced 5 of 7 on my 98, $70 P&L at our local dealer.

There was a TSB that covered 99-2000 Windstars on battery drain, any idea if yours got this done?

http://www.cartrackers.com/Forums/live/fordwindstar/1363.html

I KNOW THE PROBLEM.

For over two years my wife's 99 did the same thing. I put on a battery brain and everything to help it.

I decided to replace the alterator. Really easy.

Once I did that there were no more problems.

Those alterators when they go bad still give enough juice to keep the car going for a while.

Try this.

Charge the battery all the way up and run it for a day or two. Charge the battery again and see what kind of charge it has.

To replace the alterator is pretty simple. I can get some pictures together if you want.

You will need:

Jack
I think 13 mm wrench
Pipe about two feet long - to put the wrench in the pipe to add length
Clamp - I used one of those sears wood working clamps to hold the pipe to a tie rod when I used it to loosen the belt.

Loose:
Three bolts and one connection.

BOOM !!!! Done...

I hope I helped some.

before you just go and replace the alternator, why don't you disconnect it first and see if you still get a drain. Alternators are fairly common to cause a key off drain.

The only way to test this condition is with an ammeter connected between the negative battery post and the negative cable (while it's disconnected from the battery). You should have almost no amps with the key off. If it drains the battery in 7 days, it's not a very big load, maybe a third of an amp, so you'll need a digital meter really to check it. Either that or guess ... the alternator is a good guess, from someone who's had it happen even, but it is just a guess. With the money it costs to buy an alternator, it might be worth just taking it to an auto electric shop. Leonardi's maybe ... (that's where I work)

Thanks, everyone, for taking an interest and offing some good advice. I called the "Ford Store" a couple of months back and asked them about that TSB you mentioned, lewisnc, (What's the nc for? North Carolina? If so, there's a guy over on the TDS (The Diesel Stop) site that has a little ditty in his signature. Goes like this: I'm Tar Heel Born and Tar Heel bred and when I die I'll be Tar Heel dead. Kinda cute.) and they told me it would cost $60 just to hook up the machine. Seems like if that were my problem (alternator not programed to output the proper amount of juice) it would go dead more often. I've checked the doors and the driver door goes out about 25 seconds after closing and the rest go out immediately. I'll have to do a search and rescue on my digital meter. Recently relocated to Arkansas and things are pretty much hiding from me. The alternator seems like a good candidate for causing this type of problem. Their doesn't seem to be a charging problem as I can drive all night with everything running and it keeps on truckin. It could, however, be allowing current flow when not operating. I'll be watching and if I can get to the bottom of this I'll be sure and post back with the results. Thanks again.

I don't think it is the alternator. If the alternator were shorted, you would run the battery down over night If you have a test light, you can do the same thing as an ammeter. n ammeter is more accurate as to milliamps. I believe your vehicleshould have around .050a after the GEM turns off all accessories. This can take up to an hour. You need to let the vehicle sit at least an hour before you try to do a current draw. Use a jumper wire between the battery terminal and the cable. Hook up ammeter then remove the jumper. Do not break the connection with the jumper wire before the ammeter is hooked up or you may have to wait another hour. If the current draw is much more than .050a, pull fuses one at a time until you isolate the circuit. Then trace down the componet that is causing the draw.

I have similar problem. Having everything switched off the power consumption is 240mA. First I disconnected the alternator (one nut at the side of it) but it didnt help. Taking out fuse 29 (interior illumination) from the fuse box under the stering wheel the current dropped to 40mA. Now I need circuit diagram but can't find any - can anybody help? Does anybody have pdf's for Windstar 3.0 97r. to share?

Gobowiec :-)

Beginning in '99, the Windstars became loaded with electrical relays. Good stuff, except for the fact that the relays are not hermetically sealed and can fail with the contacts stuck together. I just mentiion this as one of many possibilities of excess battery drain. After several batteries, and a lot of searching for excess drains ... using a meter ... my '99 has settled down, haven't had a problem for a year or two. (Knock on wood!).

Model specific electric diagram books are avail at helminc.com for about $50.

Problem with buying anything in US is that I'm from Poland. Finding anything for Windstar is quite difficult here, not to mention to find a service knowing Windstar (and a trustworth one to leave your car)
:-)

See if this is any help. It is for your fuse #29. If it helps any, print it out and let me know so I can delete it from site. Space is at a premium. Good luck.
http://members.troublecodes.net/way2old/fuse29.gif

See if this is any help. It is for your fuse #29. If it helps any, print it out and let me know so I can delete it from site. Space is at a premium. Good luck.
http://members.troublecodes.net/way2old/fuse29.gif

That diagram won't work for me, but it may help our friend in Poland. My '99 has no fuse 29. It has a slot for it, but no fuse and the manual says it is not used. Thanks for the reply. I'm a little short on time just now so it may be a few days before I can get a chance to really dig into it.

Thank's! I have the printout. Next week I'll be busy, but a short view shows I have to check much more than I thought. I'll let you know if it helped. For now I have found:
primo - that power windows in my Wini don't work without the fuse although the diagram doesn't indicate any connections to them.
secundo - only drivers door handle puts the coutesy lights on - according to the diagram both handles should do it.
tercio - after about 10s of lifting the handle I can hear a click form a relay, and after next 5s another - with the lights going off.
Any suggestions?

Gobowiec :-)

Here's an update on this post from nearly a year ago. I was recently forced to take action on this as it was dying all the time and very unreliable. The last straw was when I went to pick up a 500 gallon propane tank some 100 miles from home. I had shut the van off at the pick-up site and when I started it to leave it almost did not start do to way low battery. I had been checking it from time to time trying to figure out what in the world was going on. At times I would have 14 volts at the battery while idling and then other times I would only have 12 volts or less. Don't use it a whole lot now that we have a Contour for errands and such. Use it mostly when we have to haul a large amount of goods or when we have visitors and go for a ride. Anyway, I finally extracted the alternator and took it to CarQuest for testing. Much to my dismay/delight it tested fine. I had pretty much assumed a flaky alternator due to the erratic readings. I put it back on and began testing in ernest. I found I had 14 volts when I read from the alternator output post to the alternator case all the time. If I read from the alternator output post to the negative side of the battery I would read 12 volts and once in a great while close to the 14 volt output. I thought it was the fuseable link in the alternator to battery connection. Checked it out and it seemed to be fine. I must have accidently bumped the negative battery cable at some point and got a 14 volt reading across the - to + terminals. I don't recall exactly how I found it, but I did find the culprit. The - battery cable was loose on the end that connects to the engine/transmission via a double stud that holds the transmission to the engine. The tranny was replaced in May of 2005 and I can't say if the mechs loosened it and then left it that way or if it came from the factory that way. It is a double stud and the end holding the tranny to the engine was tight, but the end with the battery cable attached was loose. The nut itself was not loose ( I had to use a torch to heat it so it would break loose) and that is why I wonder who left it loose in the first place. Seems strange the mechs would use an open end wrench (that is what they would have had to use to tighten it to the engine) and leave the cable loose. It was a strange one for me and just wanted to make anyone having like problems aware of this possibility. I've still got an unlock problem with the driver side rear door where the lock will not unlock and will drain the battery if I don't lock it or fully unlock it. This is a hit or miss situation too. Whew! Hope I didn't bore you to death with this.