I just bought a 2002 Ford Escape yesterday. Didn't experience a single problem when I checked it out but of course as soon as I take it home a problem pops up. It drove perfectly fine, parked it in my driveway, couple hours later went to start it and it didn't even turnover, just made a clicking sound. Tried a few more times, also turned on the headlights and they were blinking and basically dying. So I figured it was the battery. I jumped it, it started, I let it run for maybe 15 mins, check the voltage of the battery using a multimeter while it was running and it said about 14.3V. Couple minutes after I turned off the car, voltage was 12.78V, hour later 12.65V, couple hours later 12.58V; which made sense to me because of course it will have a higher voltage right after turning it off vs. a couple hours later (or am I wrong?). Checked the voltage in the morning and it was 12.41V consistently throughout the morning. It started just fine, so I drove it about 10 mins, left it parked for 2.5 hours, came back to start it and it turned over a couple times then just kind of died, tried a couple more times and it was just clicking, no turning over. Got it jumped and it started, drove it home, checked voltage right after turning off and it was 12.9V, and now I'm writing this. Is this clearly just a bad battery or could there be something else at play? The battery seemed to hold its voltage decently well after jumping it and leaving it overnight, but it seems to die after driving it and trying to start it again a couple hours later. Also I didn't experience any lost power while driving it, which would suggest the alternator is good. Thoughts?

Thanks

 

As you know a battery can show nice voltage , but as soon as you put any kind of load on it, the voltage can drop faster thn normal which could indicate a possible charging system problem or a questionable battery. If possible why not try to have the battery tested after having driven the vehicle a while on the way to the test place.
You could always just install a new battery and then have the charging syst checked.
If cold weather is around the corner where you reside, a new battery should provide some piece of mind. If the charging system is questionable the new battery will eventually go down too.