HELP - '24 GT Convertible is dead

[Decio]

Same thing happened to my 24 GT vert. The car wants to draw so much power when charging from dead it never gets there. When it's this bad, you literally need to disconnect the battery from the car, then hook your NOCO up to the battery. My battery was fine after I charged it while disconnected.

The car won't like being disconnected and some systems will need to "relearn", but it's better than being stranded.

I have it stored now on a tender with updates, Wi-Fi and every other setting I can find turned off.

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[samson]

I have the NOCO 5, No need to go direct to the battery. Make sure you have a good connection on the red jumper post and the ground, otherwise it will stay on that first indicator and not charge. After it is connected properly it will still take about 5-10 minutes to show progress.

Thanks for the tip. I just went out to check on it. Still no progress. I left the hood up, re-did the connections, and turned it back on. I will check it again in a couple hours. If that doesn't produce results I will call roadside assistance tomorrow.

 

[samson]

Same thing happened to my 24 GT vert. The car wants to draw so much power when charging from dead it never gets there. When it's this bad, you literally need to disconnect the battery from the car, then hook your NOCO up to the battery. My battery was fine after I charged it while disconnected.

The car won't like being disconnected and some systems will need to "relearn", but it's better than being stranded.

I have it stored now on a tender with updates, Wi-Fi and every other setting I can find turned off.

Sheesh, that sounds like exactly what's going on. Will a jump start and a long drive charge it up you think?

 

[Decio]

Alternators maintain a charge, they're not designed to recharge dead batteries. Your best bet is to keep that extension cord going and keep the NOCO on there. If that's not going to work for your situation, literally remove the battery from the car and charge it in the garage up off the floor.

I have a NOCO 10 and it wasn't enough to charge the battery while connected to the car. Lots of clicking noises, but that was about it

 

[samson]

Alternators maintain a charge, they're not designed to recharge dead batteries. Your best bet is to keep that extension cord going and keep the NOCO on there. If that's not going to work for your situation, literally remove the battery from the car and charge it in the garage up off the floor.

I have a NOCO 10 and it wasn't enough to charge the battery while connected to the car. Lots of clicking noises, but that was about it

Understood. Appreciate the reply. I wonder if Ford would replace the battery under warranty if I take it in?

 

[Decio]

Might be an uphill climb on that one but you can certainly give it a try.

My battery was fine after I recharged it. No issues since. If you're worried about it take it to your local AutoZone or competitor and have them test the battery. If it feels then take it back to Ford.

I hate taking the car to a dealership and getting the "no problem found" report. I suggest charging and reassessing from there, but it's your call.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have the charger hooked up as instructed in the "jump starting the vehicle" section on page 280 of the manual. It's been going for three hours and still only the first red indicator is flashing on the charger and no power at all in the vehicle. I don't get it. Should I be charging directly to the battery or is it fine to connect this way?

It will likely take a few hours to charge the battery. Can you post a picture of how it's connected?

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Pull down back seat to get into trunk.

Not on convertibles. Read above.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Thanks for the tip. I just went out to check on it. Still no progress. I left the hood up, re-did the connections, and turned it back on. I will check it again in a couple hours. If that doesn't produce results I will call roadside assistance tomorrow.

It's entirely possible the battery is bad and has discharged past viability.

Understood. Appreciate the reply. I wonder if Ford would replace the battery under warranty if I take it in?

Yes.

But lots of people are speculating here. Let it charge for several hours and see what it does first. It takes a while, especially if it was really low.

You can also use a volt meter to check the battery charge. From there you can estimate a percentage and determine how low that battery is. And if it's charging.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

How many amps is your charger? That greatly affects the time needed. Though it might need a stronger charge to wake it back up, if it can be at this point.

Putting a jump pack on the battery isn't going to hurt anything. I've used one 3 times on my wife's Nautilus with no issues, (back when the car had an infotainment drain, which was resolved)

As far as I'm concerned having a Battery Tender on a modern car is just the way it is.

 

[samson]

Well I just checked it again and absolutely nothing. I'm going to call roadside assistance tomorrow. My plan is to drive it straight to the Ford dealer where I bought it and have them take a look. Will report back after.

Thanks for all the replies. They were very helpful. Hopefully I'll get this sorted out tomorrow. I'm bummed because I really love this car but I'll get through this.

 

[LouG]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have the charger hooked up as instructed in the "jump starting the vehicle" section on page 280 of the manual. It's been going for three hours and still only the first red indicator is flashing on the charger and no power at all in the vehicle. I don't get it. Should I be charging directly to the battery or is it fine to connect this way?

When you first tried to start it, did any dash lights, or anything, come on?
I've topped up mine using the aux contacts and it worked fine.

 

[LouG]

How many amps is your charger? That greatly affects the time needed. Though it might need a stronger charge to wake it back up, if it can be at this point.

Putting a jump pack on the battery isn't going to hurt anything. I've used one 3 times on my wife's Nautilus with no issues, (back when the car had an infotainment drain, which was resolved)

As far as I'm concerned having a Battery Tender on a modern car is just the way it is.

No, disagree. Our last 5 new cars did not give any problems at all up to 4/5 years old. Even when my wife's car sat at the airport for 6 weeks ( started and run for 10 mins every 3) it fired up first time no probs.
I think that the Mustang battery gets tired when it says hello every time we go near it.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Well I just checked it again and absolutely nothing. I'm going to call roadside assistance tomorrow. My plan is to drive it straight to the Ford dealer where I bought it and have them take a look. Will report back after.

Thanks for all the replies. They were very helpful. Hopefully I'll get this sorted out tomorrow. I'm bummed because I really love this car but I'll get through this.

When you say absolutely nothing, what do you mean? Is in not charging? Did you check the voltage?

If the battery is toast, roadside assistance isn't going to be able to help you. If you don't have a volt meter, I'd pull it out and take it to your local auto parts store and have it checked. Otherwise you're looking at a tow to the dealer, which is pretty unnecessary for a battery replacement.

I would call the dealer and use their mobile service, if they have it.

 

[MAT1955]

I store my 2024 Mustang GT convertible from November to April. It's in a condo garage that is protected that is usually about -10 Celsius but can get to -20 Celsius on the coldest days. I can not plug it in and condo charter prevents anyone from doing so anyway due to fire potential. So - I start it every 3 weeks (while it is stored) and run it until all temps reach normal which is easy to do with the gauges we have. I cycle through the transmission setting repeatedly and run the heater to move coolant through the heater core. I put gas additive in the tank and always use 91 octane and I also overinflate the tires to 38 lbs as they will lose pressure over the winter. So far, knock on wood, I have had no indications of battery issues. For your battery to be unresponsive in a couple of weeks, IMO, you either had a faulty battery, a ground short of some kind or left something on.

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