My car is over 4 years old, which means the stock Motorcraft battery is probably 4.5+ years old. No problems yet, but I notice some slow cranking on very cold days and the voltmeter readout in the cluster shows the voltage dipping to ~9.5V when cranking. I don't know where the voltage measurement is being taken, but I'm guessing it's at the voltage regulator / near the alternator.
At any rate, since this is my DD and I don't want to be screwed some cold morning, I took this as an excuse to blow some holiday money and get an Odyssey AGM battery.
For those who are interested, the 3.7L takes the PC1200MJT battery. This battery is not an exact fit (about 1" shorter in the long dimension), so there is a bracket available to make it fit the factory battery tray without modification. Since the new battery is smaller, I suspect I'll fold over a bit of the battery blanket and zip-tie to keep it snug.
Battery and bracket should arrive next week; if there's any interest, I can snap a couple of photos and do a quick write-up of any issues encountered.
Benefits of an AGM battery: longer service life, holds charge better if car is left unused for a while, less prone to sulfation, no danger of liquid spills.
Downsides: more expensive, weighs ~6 lbs more than the factory battery.
At any rate, since this is my DD and I don't want to be screwed some cold morning, I took this as an excuse to blow some holiday money and get an Odyssey AGM battery.
For those who are interested, the 3.7L takes the PC1200MJT battery. This battery is not an exact fit (about 1" shorter in the long dimension), so there is a bracket available to make it fit the factory battery tray without modification. Since the new battery is smaller, I suspect I'll fold over a bit of the battery blanket and zip-tie to keep it snug.
Battery and bracket should arrive next week; if there's any interest, I can snap a couple of photos and do a quick write-up of any issues encountered.
Benefits of an AGM battery: longer service life, holds charge better if car is left unused for a while, less prone to sulfation, no danger of liquid spills.
Downsides: more expensive, weighs ~6 lbs more than the factory battery.