Walmart tried to sell me a T5. I stayed with the 94R. I like my 800CCA. I think the max for a T5 is 650 or 700A.

 

Do you have any pics of how the 94R fits in your Fusion Sport? Did you need to use a different hold down or does the stock 90/T5 hold down work fine? Did you have to move that wire harness a bit by the airbox? I'm still undecided on whether I want/need the extra capacity for 20 lb. of extra weight.

 

My car came with a H7/94R battery. It fits fine in the tray. You have to take the air filter box out in order to get the battery in and out. The negative terminal sits way back under the wind shield cowl. The battery retainer that you mentioned above works perfectly with this battery. I currently have the DURALAST H7-DLG. I would have put in another EVERLAST but Walmart did not have any available and I needed a battery that day, as my old battery was a gone-er.

 

Has anyone bought a hp5z-10718-c battery hold down recently (for the 17-20 MKZ 3.0)?

I ordered them and they arrived in sealed Ford bags but they are the wrong part. They are stamped GD9B-10718AB which seems like it is the engineering part number for GD9Z-10718-A which is the Continental 3.0 battery hold down. It is 110% the wrong size/design for the Fusion/MKZ, with one corner bent upwards and no hole provision for that 1 harness retainer.

It would seem odd for Ford to supersede the MKZ Group 94R hold-down with the Continental bracket when they clearly do not interchange.

 

So I was right. I looked up the Continental 2.7/3.0 battery change procedures in the service manuals and they clearly show a different bracket (GD9Z-10718-A with the curved end and multiple bolts) versus the MKZ 3.0 battery bracket (HP5Z-10718-C) which is flat and is a direct-drop in for the Fusion.

Ford's supply chain system must have screwed up and packed the Conti brackets into the MKZ bags. There is NO WAY the Conti brackets could supersede the MKZ bracket. It doesn't fit. I checked and tried.

 

Just an update: Ford parts dealer just wants me to return them for a refund and to pay for return shipping, so I'd be spending more to ship them back. Still can't find a way to buy the MKZ battery hold down.

That said, forget about Group 48 (Continental 2.7) and Group 94R (MKZ 3.0)...

I'm not sure how I missed it, but Group 47 / H5 is a perfect drop-in replacement for Group 90. Group 47 is slightly taller, but is the same height as Group 48 (Continental 3.7) and Group 94R (MKZ 3.0/Continental 3.0) which will fit in the Fusion since the Fusion uses the same battery tray as the MKZ 3.0 but a different hold down.

They even sell Lithium Group 47, although I am not sure anyone wants to pay $800 to shave 15 lb of weight at a reduced 40 Ah vs 60 Ah capacity...

However, I would totally go for an AGM battery at a price premium because I had a Group 90/T5 explode in the factory trunk location for my Cobalt. The AGM would have been a lot easier to cleanup... but I sold the Cobalt so its a moot point. I would still like to have the AGM for the Fusion though just to prevent over boiling in the summer heat with all that turbo heat so close to the battery.

It just seems odd that for Group 90 to be so popular on performance cars (C6 Corvette, Viper) that no one made a drop-in AGM or conversion kit to use Optima's for those vehicles. And Group 47 would totally fit into almost any application that used Group 90.

If someone asks you what year/make, the 2019 Fiat 500 uses Group 47 / H5.

 

After much back/forth with the parts dealer they cannot locate the correct parts in the system. They admitted it is a manufacturing screw up by Ford. While I was research AGM batteries I have found on Consumer Reports and other testing that the AGM doesn't provide anywhere close to the advertised cranking amps when cold. I know AGM performs poorly (worse) than flooded batteries in the deep cold (-40) but didn't realize they were worse even below 32F. The flooded batteries had more cranking amps. So I think I'll just stick with Group 90/T5 for the lightest battery setup.

 

Great news... I decided to give hp5z-10718-c a try again, and this time these parts manufactured January 2023 were the correct part. The previous brackets that were wrong (they looked to be the Continental brackets packaged/labeled incorrectly) were dated June 2021. Probably during the whole COVID19 labor shortage/parts shortage fiasco. Perhaps Tasca contacted Ford's parts distro warehouses because January 2023 is when I contacted them and let them know the parts were wrong.

Anyhow, I may give the H7/94R a try - still undecided. These Costco Interstates are coming up on 3 years now.

 

Interesting your mention of 3 years on the Costco Interstate battery. Lot's of previous discussion here, but vehicle batteries used to last far longer, even in extreme cold or extreme hot environments. I have started putting my Sport on a trickle charger/maintainer most of the time I am not driving it. That supposedly could double the battery life or more. If it doesn't it is a big hassle for nothing...

 

The only time I ever got 12+ years was a 2000 Mercedes - the factory battery went that long with zero battery tender support, and probably 5K miles/year. But that was before all the electronics. It never failed, I just replied it thinking it could not go on much longer. You know a lot about batteries, obviously. Here is a random unrelated question that I have a hard time figuring out. Have a deep discharge 12V Interstate battery for a little RV we store outside. Just added a solar charger/maintainer - they are cheap as dirt. Supposedly has overcharge protection built-in. I let it run a week and get it reads 12.9V resting (and disconnected from everything). I know 12.6V is typically the fully-charged number, so wondering if the solar charger is overcharging a bit? I know the multimeter test is not the best, but my old specific gravity water tester seems way off. What's your guess on overcharging?

 

I've had bad luck with maintainers that aren't made by Battery Tender. It has to do with how much current is applied and the float charge during the maintenance cycle. A lot of "tenders" tend to float up to 14.7 VDC which boils the battery over time. Battery Tender is the only brand that floats at around 13.2 VDC with 50mA-150mA or as much as needed to fight parasitic draw and help keep the battery charged enough without damaging it. The fact I've gotten two car batteries to last 10-12 years sitting on a Battery Tender is a pretty good testament to its performance. I've had quite a few batteries toasted by other brands and overcharged.

I'd say your solar charger is fine. 12.9 VDC at rest is fine at most temperatures. How much current is applied to the battery during charging? Unless it is a huge solar panel, I'd say it is just trickling in current and that's fine but probably not enough to fight parasitic drain if there were electronics attached.

I recommend the waterproof Battery Tenders and I run them everywhere on every battery (mower, motorcycle, etc...)

I upgraded to a Shorai Lithium Ion battery (LFP to be exact) and run the Battery Tender in LFP mode once every 2 months versus leaving it on indefinitely. The Lithium Ion batteries have almost no self discharge. It's amazing. 13.2 VDC at rest in 0F ambient winter in a detached garage is pretty interesting.

 

Very helpful - thank you! I also use Battery Tenders for places I have 110v, and had great luck over the years. The RV is in a remote offsite location with no access to 110v. I am trying the Solar maintainer so I can leave the battery in the storage lot, and keep it charged (while disconnected). So zero parasitic drain. Battery Tender does make a Solar maintainer IIRC, but it was 2x or 3x the cost of the $40 solar unit I got. I believe the small solar panel I got was rated at 420ma output, and on a semi sunny day it was delivering 200ma. Supposedly has overcharge protection, and very highly rated on Amazon for this application. I measured the panel output at around 14v-15v I believe. Admins, sorry for hijacking the thread 🙂

 

With the information here I decided to switch out the T90 flooded that just died with a 94R AGM. Ordered the p5z-10718-c hold down bracket. Couple hours work. Have to remove the air filter box, pop the 2 wire tie downs to install the new hold down bracket. Change battery type in Forscan, and bumped up the State of Charge from 80 to 90. The voltage is definitely inline with AGM voltage now.

Snug fit but I'm happy, thanks for the inspiration. Especially@metroplex for the parts research.