[jcanavera]

I bought one of these cheap battery tenders: Black and Decker BM3B battery maintainer. $20. Just plug it into the Power port in the middle storage area between the seats. Took about 14 hrs to charge fully. Works great. I don't have anything plugged in that is draining the battery. I'll see how the car behaves for the next week or so with our normal driving. Too bad they don't supply a better battery. To be frank, I didn't really care that much that the Stop/ Start wasn't working, but I want the car to run as intended. I wonder if that starting and stopping all the time can be hard on the starter motor? Hopefully Ford took that into consideration. Thanks.

Checked with a mechanic and was told that they don't see starter failures due to stop start engines. They have been engineered to handle that. However they are rough on batteries and the start stop takes it's toll. He noted that usually these cars are equipped with better batteries to adjust to the start stop frequency. Nevertheless he did note that cars with this feature usually see their batteries fail sooner than cars without that feature. We are in the process of purchasing a used 2007 Escape and I plan to turn that feature off. I just came back from a trip where I rented a Jeep Compass with start stop and I found that car uncomfortable to drive in city traffic and during heavy start stop traffic. At the time we needed air conditioning and I found that it didn't take long for the interior of the car to become uncomfortable since the Jeep internal fan started blowing warm air fairly quickly after stopping.

I did some looking for replacement batteries for the Escape and many of the battery sites that allow you to put in your car information have a question as to whether the car has stop start technology. If you answer no, they recommend a 96R battery. However if you say yes, they always recommend the better AGM battery. Obviously if you are running with a 96R and do a lot of city driving, start stop will take it's toll on the stock 96R battery. All the more reason for me to turn this feature off.