[stmar]

We live in the country so good tires, full tank of gas and strong battery are essential. How do you keep your battery charged? On my trucks I put the charger on them periodically, charge at 10 amps for a few hours to get them back to full charge. They do not have the amount of electronics as the MKC so I did not want to make a mistake in case the charging protocol was different. I do have a whole house surge suppressor in my main electrical panel so that should take care of surges/spikes.

 

[DRM]

I keep them on the 2 motorcycles, the quad and the tractor but I drive the cars enough that I don't feel I need it.

 

[stmar]

When we first got the MKC we spent some time playing with the options and setting things up without starting the vehicle. Low battery warning came on. Have driven it daily since then, some 200 mile trips. It sat idle for 4 days and when I went to start it the screen had a warning that the electronics had been shut down to save battery. It started right up so no problem. Is this normal or should I put an external charge on it to avoid issues?

 

[SubVette]

I put on about 4K miles a year. I keep the charger on my battery via the standard plug and attachment to the battery via eyelets. I use a charger on vehicles that don't get out often.

 

[countryguy]

No the message is not normal after sitting for 4 days. There have been issues with components draining the battery and there are TSBs to resolve the issue. Most of them are linked to the approach lighting detection. A car should be able to sit for several days, even weeks without the battery draining.

 

[DRM]

I put on about 4K miles a year.

If I only needed a car for 4000 miles a year I would not own one and just uber everywhere. It would have to be cheaper.

 

[SubVette]

If I only needed a car for 4000 miles a year I would not own one and just uber everywhere. It would have to be cheaper.

If I really needed $400 a month, I would use Uber. But I enjoy ownership and the convenience of just getting in and going. It's only a 7500-mile lease. I drive to my brothers who is 200 miles away a few times a year. As well I go to Charleston a few times a year.

Our leases are the only fixed monthly expenses we have and they don't add up to even 10% of our after-tax monthly income, so it is not a burden. I banked $36K selling my 4Runner and put that money to work in our investment account. My lease rate is 1.25% which made it a done deal

Driving a vehicle as nice as the MKC is well worth $399 a month. I paid nothing down to reduce the CAP cost. So it's pretty much $92 a week to rent. Can't rent any luxury loaded vehicle for that.

I was against leasing for years. We bought used and paid cash when we had far less income. Don't have to do that anymore. I paid cash for the 4Runner. That was a mistake even though it ended up costing me $428 a month to own

I don't think that it was financially prudent anymore to pay $42K Cash for a vehicle so we lease.

Since we will be possibly buying out the lease on the CRV, (because the CRV will be worth more than our payoff and the wife hates getting a new vehicle to learn). The buy out will be only $18K for a 2017 CRV EXL W NAV with an estimated 23K Too good a deal to pass up next year.

I will have the wife to drive the MKC more so we get to at least 6K saving the miles on the CRV . .
The residual on the MKC will be $28K. I definitely will not be buying out the MKC. I don't trust the long-term reliability on a used heavily optioned Ford or any domestic.

 

[DRM]

It's only a 7500-mile lease. I drive to my brothers who is 200 miles away a few times a year. As well I go to Charleston a few times a year.

LOL I drive to Florida 3 times a year for two or three weeks at a time. Each loop is about 2300 miles I would pretty much blow through your lease just doing that.

 

[SubVette]

LOL I drive to Florida 3 times a year for two or three weeks at a time. Each loop is about 2300 miles I would pretty much blow through your lease just doing that.

LOL and I am looking for every opportunity to drive and put miles on. Even having the wife use the Lincoln to keep the miles on her CRV lease down as we are buying the CRV.

I attached trickle charger leads to the battery and under the wipers where I connect it to the Charger. Don't want dead batteries from not running.

 

[stmar]

" I attached trickle charger leads to the battery and under the wipers where I connect it to the Charger. Don't want dead batteries from not running."
Any hints on doing this? When you say under the wipers is there a place to secure the plug without interfering with normal operations? Sounds handy, I have leads wired to my tractor and ATV batteries.

 

[stmar]

What amperage charger/maintainer and brand do you use?

 

[DRM]

What amperage charger/maintainer and brand do you use?

I have several like this that I have used for years. Walmart and tractor supply will have them. https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM-1562A-CA-Charge-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B0009IBJAS

 

[stmar]

I have several like this that I have used for years. Walmart and tractor supply will have them. https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM-1562A-CA-Charge-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B0009IBJAS

Wow, thanks for the tip. At our Tractor Supply the updated models are on sale for $20 and the reviews are positive.
Did you have to buy any additional accessories to wire it to the battery or were the supplied leads long enough? Is there a chase to get it from the battery/engine compartment to where you can plug it in without compromising the compartment? I have not looked at it yet but want to have an idea of what to look for. Most of our heater plugs come out under or through the front grill.

 

[stmar]

I had a chance to look under the hood. Did you run the cable from the battery between the rubber tubes/dampers to the wipers? That looks like it would not pinch the cable. Where and how did you secure the plug?

 

[DRM]

I had a chance to look under the hood. Did you run the cable from the battery between the rubber tubes/dampers to the wipers? That looks like it would not pinch the cable. Where and how did you secure the plug?

I don't use one in my car, just bikes, quad and tractors. IF I was going to use one on the car I would look for it to exit out the grill. I'm pretty sure you would need to extend the cord, I would use lamp cord.

 

[stmar]

It was SubVette that put one on his MKC.

 

[philmkc]

I have this problem with my 2015 MKC. Battery drains after a day or 2 of sitting. I've had it in to 2 dealerships 6 times, not to mention I've had to jump it about a dozen times over the last year.

No one has been able to figure it out yet. The last dealership, on the third time after replacing the control module on the second time, gave it back to me without doing anything at all to it. Told me they couldn't find anything draining the battery and to let them know if it happened again. Really? 2 weeks later it happened again. I'll be headed to a third dealership this week.

I've actually programmed an auto start on the vehicle twice a day now to charge it for 10 minutes morning and night. A huge waste of fuel and completely ridicules.

 

[countryguy]

I had the same problem with my 2015 MKC. There are a couple of TSBs for battery draining issues related to the approach lighting constantly trying to detect the key fob (a couple of modules located in the rear driver side door need to be replaced). Another issue is the rear hatch not cycling off after closing.

 

[SubVette]

I was told today the new batteries are AGM. I installed a charger lead that goes to my battery tender on the wall.

I ran the leads under the rear of the windshield where it cannot be pinched by the fender/hood seam. I ordered a longer lead to see if I can run it instead to the front of the vehicle.

I also ordered a faraday bag from Amazon to keep my key in since we hang them by the garage door. That shoul eliminate any communication back and forth to the MKC

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GDD35GH/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F1LVZRF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SP1297-Automatic-Battery-Maintainer/dp/B0756PV96N/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542678568&sr=8-3&keywords=schumacher+battery+tender

 

[SubVette]

Wow, thanks for the tip. At our Tractor Supply the updated models are on sale for $20 and the reviews are positive.
Did you have to buy any additional accessories to wire it to the battery or were the supplied leads long enough? Is there a chase to get it from the battery/engine compartment to where you can plug it in without compromising the compartment? I have not looked at it yet but want to have an idea of what to look for. Most of our heater plugs come out under or through the front grill.

You don't need to disconnect the battery to attach the charging leads. Just cut the ring and make a horseshoe out of the ring. Loosen the battery connectors and slip the ring between the connectors. The smallish rings won't usually fit the battery anyway.

See post above for my Amazon ordered items regarding a battery tender.