oskar27 Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 The battery on a 2016 Edge is located in a very inaccessible area. I don’t know if the battery is maintenance free or not but I want to check the fluid level and as far as I can see the only way to do it is to remove the battery. Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildisco Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 (edited) Never had a need to check the levels. If it's OEM, I'd start to look at a replacement as it's 4+ years old at this point. If concerned about it being low, you could throw a battery tender on it for at night or whenever you're not driving it for extended periods of time. Batteries don't last very long in newer vehicles. Mostly due to all the electronics on these things. I swapped mine out about a year after we bought ours new because the wife left the lights on all night. Didn't want to take a chance on a failure. Installed an AGM battery instead. I believe that on the 2015's & up there's a battery management system that only charges the battery at certain points while driving. That BMS module does need to be reset when you replace the battery so that the car knows the new battery & charges it accordingly. I also believe that there's different battery options too like lead acid & AGM you can change with FORScan Edited April 18, 2020 by lildisco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskar27 Posted April 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 Thanks for your post but your experience with batteries is different than mine and that is because there are a lot of factors involved regarding battery life. I had a few cars in my life and I never changed the battery in any one. My last car before the Edge (I leased a 2013 Edge for 3 years before my current 2016) was a 2001 VW Passat which I had since new and I never changed its battery. When I sold her, she had about 220K kilometers and still was like new. Perhaps I’m wrong but I feel as long as you take care of your battery it will last longer than the car. I agree that todays cars have much more electronics which tax the battery more than the older cars but on the other hand most lights on newer cars are LED’s which consume much less power and the electronics do not consume too much power. I had forgotten about the owners guide on my 2016 Edge and checking on it tonight I noticed that I have a low voltage maintenance free battery and that answers my question (I don’t have to check the liquid level). The only thing I have to make sure now is to check if the post are corroded and clean them if I have to. I only have 31K kilometers on my Edge because I don’t drive a lot during the winter but we take a lot of long trips in the summer. This driving habit helps to extend battery life since driving mostly in town, especially in the winter, taxes the battery heavily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildisco Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 I have a 2008 Mazda CX7 that I bought certified used from Mazda in 2011 with 37,xxx miles & Mazda changed the battery out before I purchased it. I currently have roughly 87,xxx miles on it. Since I rarely drive it, it goes on my battery tender after every use. I had to change my battery out 2 years ago (2018) because even though I barely drive it & leave it on my battery tender, it didn't have the amperage to start the car, nearly leaving me stranded in my mom's driveway in a spot that would have made it VERY difficult to get a jump. I get what you're saying, I was on borrowed time with my battery & I knew that. Changed to an AGM & haven't had any issues. Just for giggles, I threw our '16 Edge on the battery tender last night & within 2 hours showed solid green on the battery tender. I don't have a way to check amperage, but at least it's fully charged voltage wise. You would think that having a lot of LED technology in a car would help with a drawing voltage, & to an extent you're right. But there's WAY more sensors & other things going on while the car is on & even off compared, to your leased '13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omar302 Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 I think one of the issues causing short life with the Edge's battery is that they are still in the engine compartment with a flimsy heat shield! Friends who owned vehicles with batteries in the trunk or under rear seat easily got longer life. Guess with how new engines and how aerodynamic they are, heat is kept more in the engine compartment than before. Other makes I've seen at least had better shields around the battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskar27 Posted April 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 I don’t know of any car which has its battery elsewhere than the engine compartment. Dragging the positive terminal heavy cable from the trunk or under a seat to the engine compartment is an extra cost which a lot of manufacturers will try to avoid. But that is just my opinion. I would also like to mention, as far as I know batteries like heat but hate cold. So having them in the engine compartment is the most suitable place in a car for a battery. I don’t see any heat shield on the battery on my 2016 Edge but perhaps it location can be interpreted as a heat shield? The battery Is located in an enclosed area like a box with the front side off just behind the steering wheel. Very inaccessible area but I guess prevents direct engine heat to reach the battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 Many sporty cars have the battery in the trunk for better weight distribution like my 2000 Lincoln LS V8 sport. Or modified vehicles where there isn’t much room in the engine bay. But it’s not done for heat protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omar302 Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 2016 Edge Battery cover. The GMC Acadia has it inside. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handfiler Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 6 hours ago, oskar27 said: I don’t know of any car which has its battery elsewhere than the engine compartment. Dragging the positive terminal heavy cable from the trunk or under a seat to the engine compartment is an extra cost which a lot of manufacturers will try to avoid. But that is just my opinion. I would also like to mention, as far as I know batteries like heat but hate cold. So having them in the engine compartment is the most suitable place in a car for a battery. I don’t see any heat shield on the battery on my 2016 Edge but perhaps it location can be interpreted as a heat shield? The battery Is located in an enclosed area like a box with the front side off just behind the steering wheel. Very inaccessible area but I guess prevents direct engine heat to reach the battery? Actually hot weather is a bit harder on a car battery than cold weather. Cold weather just brings the symptoms of a dying battery to your attention on the coldest of days because of the reduced cranking amps. Cold vs Hot Weather Re. Battery Life 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskar27 Posted April 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 1 hour ago, handfiler said: Actually hot weather is a bit harder on a car battery than cold weather. Cold weather just brings the symptoms of a dying battery to your attention on the coldest of days because of the reduced cranking amps. Cold vs Hot Weather Re. Battery Life Thanks for the heads up, very good article! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oskar27 Posted April 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 1 hour ago, omar302 said: 2016 Edge Battery cover. The GMC Acadia has it inside. Good to know that a battery cover exist for my 2016 Edge, thanks. I wouldn’t like to drive a car with the battery located as shown on the GMC Acadia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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