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Thread: Help with dead car battery

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by Bert Kemp View Post
    ...those places always have high priced battery's
    It should still have a pro-rated warranty...don't let them rope-a-dope you.

    Hopefully you're able to find a good mechanic that doesn't just throw parts at it on your dime...anybody can do that.

    Not sure what the big deal is about losing radio/clock settings...are we that spoiled?
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  2. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Henderson View Post
    Whereas mine, which was just in for work, didn't. I got it back with all of the settings retained. I guess it depends on the car.
    It could also depend on the person working on the car.

    Was it in for work that required them to disconnect the battery?

    Maybe they used one of the methods that keeps it from losing memory of settings when the battery is disconnected.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bert Kemp View Post
    [edited]
    Or maybe be3 bold and take it to auto shop and have them check it .My problem with that is they can always say its bad just to sell me a new battery and those places always have high priced battery's
    Most shops are honest and do not need to pull crap like this. Take it to a shop that will honor the battery's warrantee. Most shops have someone on board who can do some preliminary trouble shooting. They do not want to keep replacing a battery under warrantee if something else is the problem.

    We know your battery is less than a year from new. We do not know what kind of vehicle it is in. My Chevy Tahoe is getting close to its twentieth year. It is having various little problems. It seems it is time for me to replace the battery cable, but that hasn't been fully determined of yet.

    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 11-07-2018 at 7:28 PM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
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  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    <snip>
    All that said, the first thing I would do is remove both battery clamps and clean the inside of each and the both battery posts. A wire brush tool available at Walmart or any auto place makes this easy but I have cleaned them with coarse sandpaper or scraped with a screwdriver or pocket knife. A tiny bit of corrosion in the connection can keep even a good charging system from fully charging a good battery. I did this recently and "revived" a 15 year-old battery in my tractor.

    I would personally clean the connections even if I planned to take the car to an auto parts store for testing.

    JKJ
    Yup, clean the connections. I put a very thin coating of grease or oil on the connector. It doesn't seem to create any noticeable resistance and no corrosion. Perhaps the compound that is used for aluminum to copper connections would be better but I don't have any of that and do have wheel bearing grease soooo.....

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
    Yup, clean the connections. I put a very thin coating of grease or oil on the connector. It doesn't seem to create any noticeable resistance and no corrosion. Perhaps the compound that is used for aluminum to copper connections would be better but I don't have any of that and do have wheel bearing grease soooo.....
    That's a good point I forgot to mention. These days I put dielectric grease (silicone) on every battery terminal, light bulb, wiring harness connection, even on breakers in electrical panels, mounted outside or in. You get a little tube of it in an auto electrical kit or at the autoparts store or a much larger container at any electrical supply house.

  5. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    It could also depend on the person working on the car.

    Was it in for work that required them to disconnect the battery?

    Maybe they used one of the methods that keeps it from losing memory of settings when the battery is disconnected.
    It was body work that required them to remove the front half of the car for about 6 weeks. Got it back, all of the radio stations were intact.

  6. #36
    Yea not worried about those setting easy enough to put the code in and reset everything.
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  7. #37
    Update it is a bad battery. I charged it for a full day, let it sit disconnected for a day and then tried and failed to start the car.This is the second battery I had fail on me in under 2 years from batteries plus bulbs. Even if they will replace or prorate this battery its a hassel, as they want to test the battery themselfs for 24 hrs and their 40 miles away. So what do I do jump my car drive to them and let them test the battery for 24hrs while I sit in the parking lot.LOL NOT!. Think I'm done with them and will go to Wally World get an everstart that has a free 3 year replacement and 2 more year prorated
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  8. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Bert Kemp View Post
    Update it is a bad battery. I charged it for a full day, let it sit disconnected for a day and then tried and failed to start the car.This is the second battery I had fail on me in under 2 years from batteries plus bulbs. Even if they will replace or prorate this battery its a hassel, as they want to test the battery themselfs for 24 hrs and their 40 miles away. So what do I do jump my car drive to them and let them test the battery for 24hrs while I sit in the parking lot.LOL NOT!. Think I'm done with them and will go to Wally World get an everstart that has a free 3 year replacement and 2 more year prorated
    Walmart will test the battery and it will take 20 minutes. We took them my daughter's battery, they said it would be done the next day, then they called me and told me it was bad and we were still in the store. It's not a deep charge test, but many batteries don't need that to tell they're bad.

  9. #39
    Too bad about the new battery failing so soon on you. Just becareful running the car on a dead battery after a jumpstart. A depleted battery forces the alternator to run harder and hotter. It is common the for altenator to fail because of this problem. Just make sure your battery is charged as much as possible before running the car. I also suggest you get your charging system tested when you do get your battery replaced, JTBS.

  10. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Orbine View Post
    Too bad about the new battery failing so soon on you. Just becareful running the car on a dead battery after a jumpstart. A depleted battery forces the alternator to run harder and hotter. It is common the for altenator to fail because of this problem. Just make sure your battery is charged as much as possible before running the car. I also suggest you get your charging system tested when you do get your battery replaced, JTBS.
    Good advice. Electronics really don't like brown outs...low voltage conditions cause things to draw more amps to get the same job done & that doesn't work out well for a lot of things.

    Glad you found the issue ~ For sure get something near by with a warranty. I would take that 'old' battery to the store and leave it for testing the next time you are over that way. When they determine it's bad, get another one for only 1 year's cost & keep it as a spare on a trickle charger. You never know when you can use it for something else. It's always good to have a spare around for any number of things.
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  11. #41
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    Charging the battery

    If when you get it started take it for a long drive, a good 45 minutes to give the battery a good charge.

  12. #42
    Well last night my friend got home about 4:15pm I looked online to see the hours of the auto dept at Walmart which said 7am to 7pm so we jumped my car and off to Walmart I went, Dark pouring rain about 35degrees , I roll around back at 5:02 pull up to the garage door and shut car off(oops) as I get out to go in all the lights in the garage go out. I can't get out of my car very fast you know new knee and all but when I get to the door its locked and theres a piece of paper taped to the window says were closing at 5pm next couple of weeks I'm like ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I start pounding on the door to no avail.Well yep car won't start. So here I am sitting in the back lot . pitch black pouring rain. Noway can I walk all the way around the building to see if someone can get me a battery. Well I'm sitting there thinking of what to do a car pulls in and this women gets out and heads for the door, well I tell her she can't get in that way and I explain my situation to her and she looks and says you just had a knee replacement I says yea and she says your a Veteran ( I had a USMC Hat on ) I syas yes I am and she looks at me smiles and say I'M GONNA GO YOU YOU SOME HELP! I'm like oh awesome thanks a lot. So she takes off and I'm sitting there for like 20 mins and I'm thinking nobodys coming so I'm getting ready to call a tow truck for a jump so I can get home and suddenly the4 lights in the garage came on and a Walmart women comes out and say you need a battery, lets see what we can do.So I go in and she punch my car into the computer and of course the most expensive one they have to fit my car pops up, and I'm like I really don't want o spend that much on a battery I searched on line and it says this here battery will do. Then she says we can't put that one in your car because this it what the computer says your car takes and we can't be libel if something happens. I'm like ok what ever I can't be stuck here. Now she says I have to find someone to put it in as all the garage guys went home.I'm like I have no tools with me. She says hold on one of the guys working in the store tonight use to work in the garage I'll ask him if he will put it in for you. So he'sw say ok and start to do that job, Now she says how do you wnat to pay cash or credit I say I have a debit card, so off to the cash register to pay and she says I'm gonna let you have the battery for the price you wanted to pay for that cheaper battery for all your inconvenience I'm wow really your a sweetheart . So what started out as a terrible n ight turned out pretty good.
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  13. #43
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    So what started out as a terrible n ight turned out pretty good.
    Glad to hear it had a happy, if somewhat haggard, ending.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  14. #44
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    Any day you get to interact with TWO caring and helpful people is a great day! Thanks for sharing the story and I hope the new battery solves your car problem.

  15. #45
    Thanks I still need to get the alt checked just to make sure but my meter says its putting out.
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