From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel,alt.trucks.ford
Subject: Re: Battery Maintenance on 2005 F350 diesel
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:19:43 -0500
Message-ID: <r83mq2tkqcframkordjdebtea0eo2qlmvu@4ax.com>

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:09:18 -0700, rvfulltime
<rvfulltime@_removeme_isp.com> wrote:

><Rant On>
>1.  Why does Ford say in the user manual that the battery
>is maintenance free, when it is not?
>2.  Why does Ford cover one of the batteries with a plastic
>housing that in order to be removed one has to disconnect
>the battery?
>...  These are rhetorical questions  ...
><Rant Off>

Could it be that someone replaced the batteries before you got the
truck? "Someone" includes folks like the dealer.


>Am I right in thinking that I should be disconnecting the
>negative terminals (both of them) before disconnecting
>the positive terminal on the driver side battery?  Doesn't
>this mean the mechanic was wrong?

It doesn't matter one bit either way.  The practice of removing the
negative cable is rooted in the desire to prevent dropped tools from
causing a short.  If the positive cable is removed, the positive
battery post is still hot relative to the vehicle.  Drop a wrench
between the post and the chassis and a short results.


A related hazard is bumping against the chassis with the wrench while
it's on the positive terminal's nut or bolt.  Again, a direct short.

Remove the negative cable and the only short path is directly across
the battery posts.

(presumably) since you're not going to be working under the hood with
the vehicle in storage, either cable can be removed.  I'd pick the one
easiest to get to.  If you pick the positive, just be sure not to bump
the wrench against anything.

Everything I own uses traditional top posts and almost all cable ends
use a 1/2" bolt (or 13mm, the same thing).  I have an old combination
wrench that I cut the box-end off of and applied heat shrink over the
shank.  Only the jaws of the open-end are exposed.  That's my "battery
wrench".

What I love about buying used tools at the flea market.  I don't mind
mutilating a tool for a special job like I would one that I paid real
money for :-)

John