Motorcraft Batteries - Better Quality?

[ford46guy]

You can buy a JC battery at Ford, Walmart or Advance, they pretty much look the same. But a Motorcraft supplier told me they have a much higher quality control to get the the Motorcraft label. He also said Ford has intellectual property that goes into them, even if they are made by the same supplier.

A bad Ford battery can cost Ford an hour of Labor, while it is not such an issue in a big box store. Ford has a vested interest to create a high quality battery.

 

[901Memphis]

I will say it's entirely plausible. Everytime I have helped someone with a Motorcraft battery it's always been super crazy old like 8+ years needing a jump. Every other under hood battery I seem to run across has issues before they make it 5 years

 

[UncleDave]

Pretty sure they are standard Johnson controls stuff- no secret sauce.

UD

 

[CarbonSteel]

I am not so sure about that. The MC battery in my 2010 died in early 2013 and I replaced it with an AAP battery that had a much better warranty (Ford offered nothing towards pro-rating and I had a code that saved me $50 at AAP). It did not give me any problems even when cranking in -17F temperatures in Colorado right up until the time I traded the truck on the PSD.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've had insane life from my MC batteries. The battery in my dad's '03 Town Car is still original! I've gotten 8-9 years out of many of them.

 

[exranger06]

My 9 year old (actually if I remember correctly it was actually manufactured late 2005, so it's really 10 years old) Ford Ranger still has its factory original Motorcraft battery in it and it still works fine.

 

[eljefino]

My dad got 9-10 years from the original MC battery in his Fairmont and he junked his Escort at year 10 with the original.

When the Fairmont's battery died, though, it was without warning.

 

[Tdbo]

I have had excellent life out of every Motorcraft battery except for the original on my Mustang. However, I take the blame for that because I accidentally left the dome light on all winter while it was stored (didn't have a charger on it at the time.)
I also had excellent life out of Delco Freedom batteries as well, back in the day, and would use them in many non GM applications.
May be something in their specifications for the battery, even though they source them from Johnson Controls.

 

[vssjim]

I think you will find out that all Johnson Controls batteries had better life back when they were made in the USA. Now most units being made in Mexico failures have started to climb in numbers so paying extra for a battery labeled M/C not worth it paying extra from what I see in the shop daily.

 

[JR]

MC batteries are jc sourced. I am told they (FoMoCo) mandates better then run of mill. MC batteries serve extremely long life's, 8-10yrs in normal.
I have to admit I had one fail young, around 175k/7years. 7yrs was short in my experience.
The only two that run with mc in life/power is interstate and optima.


Harvey

 

[hemitom]

i have the orignal battery in my 2004 mustang Gt. date code on the battery is march 2004. Car has been setting for 8 days untouched i just went out to test the voltage after seeing your post it tested at 12.65 volts. my daily driver in comparsion with a two year old hyundai battery tested at 12.47.

 

[Rand]

MC batteries changed manufacturer's from GNB to JC

most of you listing good experiences with them have the older GNB manufactured units.

Time will tell how the newer MC batteries last.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Rand
MC batteries changed manufacturer's from GNB to JC; most of you listing good experiences with them have the older GNB manufactured units. Time will tell how the newer MC batteries last.
If my 2010 was any indication, they do not last anything like they once did.

 

[walterjay]

The MC battery in my 2006 F150 failed at 3 years old.

 

[Kool1]

You can buy a JC battery at Ford, Walmart or Advance, they pretty much look the same. But a Motorcraft supplier told me they have a much higher quality control to get the the Motorcraft label. He also said Ford has intellectual property that goes into them, even if they are made by the same supplier.

My friend who worked at Honda told me the same thing about Honda parts. He said the Gates belts and hoses used by Honda are built to a Honda spec whereas the regular Gates products are built to universal aftermarket specs which aren't the same or equal to Honda specs.

 

[JimPghPA]

Notice that the post with low battery life come from Texas where the average ambient temperature is higher than the other posts.

Average temperature plays a HUGE role in battery life expectancy. For every 10 degree Celsius (18 degree Fahrenheit) increase in average temperature you can expect any given chemical reaction to be twice as fast.

Such as any given battery exposed to a life of the average temperatures seen in Texas will last much less than a similar battery used in the average temperatures of Canada.

 

[crazyoildude]

Mo Mom got 10 yrs out of a motorcraft battery on her Mercury Grand Marquis and it was still ok when it was replaced not perfect but ok. I changed it so the alternator would not work so hard and of course i did not want Mom to get stuck..
Auto zone batteries have been good to me... Advance seems not as good but ok also

 

[njohnson]

I believe that. My brother has a 97 Civic, and about 4 years ago he had the timing belt changed at the Honda dealer. The drive belts were changed at the same time. I help him with the maintenance on the car, oil changes, spark plugs, etc.. I check the condition of the belts as I do so, and the last time I change the oil, which was a couple months ago, I was impressed. The belts are holding up better than any other belt I have on our cars. I bought a Gates belt from the auto store and put it on our SUV but even it has not been as good as the Honda belts.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Kool1

You can buy a JC battery at Ford, Walmart or Advance, they pretty much look the same. But a Motorcraft supplier told me they have a much higher quality control to get the the Motorcraft label. He also said Ford has intellectual property that goes into them, even if they are made by the same supplier.

My friend who worked at Honda told me the same thing about Honda parts. He said the Gates belts and hoses used by Honda are built to a Honda spec whereas the regular Gates products are built to universal aftermarket specs which aren't the same or equal to Honda specs.
ROFLMAO to both of them.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: walterjay
The MC battery in my 2006 F150 failed at 3 years old.
I replaced both batteries in my 06 F350 PSD after 3 1/2 years.