My battery needs replacement under the hood. Should i get Motorcraft or after market! Battery is only at 325 cold cranking amps should be 500.

It defiantly needs replacement in the near future.

Any thoughts?

Is there anything I need to do other than pull the old battery, like pull any fuses under the hood.

1st time replacing battery in this car.

Just want to make sure I don't damage the car when replacing the battery!

 

I bought an aftermarket battery and installed it myself. Just make sure that it fits right. CCA mean nothing on a hybrid. You might want to plug in a small battery to the cigarette lighter so you don't have to reset your radio presets.

 

Ford has a rebate until 3/31 on their batteries. Check http://owner.ford.com/servlet/Conten...iceCouponsPage (near the bottom) for details. I just replaced mine and am waiting for the rebate. Cost after the rebate will be about $100 (installation included). I coudn't find a better price for a decent battery, so I went with the Ford Motorcraft one.

 

The 05-08 FEH uses a BCI size 96R battery, there are a couple of aftermarket brands now that sell them like Sears DieHard and Interstate. Careful not to let a shop sell you a bigger battery for a regular Escape, it won't be secured properly in the tray. Since you've had such good luck with the stock battery, you probably don't need to spend extra $$$ for an gel-cell/AGM battery.
If you're feeling extra spendy Motorcraft I believe sells a couple grades of their 96R batteries.