'07 Freestar: fairly new battery. Very cold out, and everything's gone dead. No horn or lights. I'm thinking voltage regulator. Any other ideas?

 

Need a lot more info. Battery needs to be charged first, but do NOT charge it if it's frozen. It can explode.

 

Our other Freestar needs a battery, so we'll buy a new one tomorrow. There's no reason for a 10-month-old batttery to die,though. I think the problem is something else. Stay tuned.

 

You can't test the voltage regulator unless it is running.

 

Didn't know that. Is there any other component that, if it fails, will kill all power to the vehicle? Like a relay or something? I've pulled the battery, brought it in, and will let it warm up overnight, then put a new battery in tomorrow. But if nothing was left on last night, the battery should not be dead.

I checked the battery connections, tried the lights and radio, nothing. The alternator is good. There was no indication of the alternator dieing. On the other hand, who knows? We'll test everything tomorrow.

Nice to see the "sticky' on the tailgate. We had it fail once on the '04, and twice on the '07. The dealer response was laughable. Other than that, this is a good van.

 

Do you have a voltmeter so you can be sure whether the battery is discharged or not?

 

I've got a voltmeter somewhere in the house, but one of our other cars needs a battery, so we'll try the new one in the dead Freestar.

 

Let us know how it turns out.

 

Took the battery in to the store that sold it to me - Canadian Tire - they tested it, found it totally dead, and gave me a new one. The battery was 11 months old. It registered 7.4 volts or amps? and didn't hold a charge.

In my 50 years of driving I have never had a relatively new battery die. Goes to show you that they just can't make them cheap enough.

Put in the new one, and everything worked.

I still can't believe it.

 

Glad to hear you got it fixed.