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Strange how battery just dies quickly!
Topic Started: Mar 31 2014, 04:56 PM (539 Views)
yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

Here's a rundown of what happened.

Battery is a Everstart 525 amp battery dated 5/11 (May 2011).

Wednesday - car starts up fine. Took road trip 250 miles from PA to NY.
Thursday morning - car starts up fine. Drove 11 miles. Shut off, turn on again to drive back home 11 miles.
Friday afternoon - car starts up fine. Drove 8 miles. Shut off, turn on again to drive back home 8 miles.
Saturday night - drove to see friends 15 miles away, shut off. Then went to bowling with friends, 5 miles away, shut off. Snowstorm hits. Dropped off friends, shut off engine, start engine, drove home 15 miles. I had 1.5 gallons left in the tank (if that matters).
Sunday - Parked all day, didn't use.
Monday afternoon (today) - would not start. Indicator lights on, barely fully lit, radio could work. Time reset repeatedly to 1:00. No cranking sound. Inspected terminals, a little bit of rust but nothing that would prevent it from running! Had to push start the car. 12 miles later, parked in a parking lot at a shop, turned off engine and tried again, no start, same result. Had to ask someone to help jumpstart it. Drove to Advanced Auto Parts just .5 miles away, shut off, won't work again. No crank sound, light indicator fading away.

I gave up, I jumpstarted it, drove to Wal-Mart to see if I can get a replacement. Out of warranty. Replaced it with a new battery @ $70 (2 year warranty). Now it starts up fine three times now.

IS THIS A TYPICAL SIGN OF A FAILING BATTERY? Or is there something else? A drain? Alternator just not feeding the battery anymore? I have a job interview tomorrow and I'd HATE for this to happen to me tomorrow morning.

Guy at Wal-Mart told me that batteries typical fail between 3 to 5 years... mine was kind of close to it. But I have a feeling that it has to be something else...

Any tips?

Thanks.
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Hotrodray1
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Over Educated parts guy

Normal battery's last average 4 years. When they go lots of time with no warning.
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doviatt
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You can run it by a car parts store and they will usually run a quick free diagnostic on your battery and charging system.
It will check for battery charge capability and the capable amps for starting. The alternator can also be tested passive and under load and voltage regulator.

Good luck with the car and more importantly the job interview. :thumb
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Car Nut
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Its a Walmart battery. They have it figured out almost to the month how long they will last. They very seldom go much past their warranty period. We recycle batteries and get a lot of Walmart batteries. We also trash a lot of them because they wont recharge or whatever, even being only 18-24 months old.
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yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

Thanks for the replies.

Reporting back that the new battery is still rocking it today. No problems starting up and going. I guess it's the battery! :)
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Old Man


battery in my:
Ford Ranger lasted 9 years.
Ford Focus lasted 7 years.
Geo Metro is 3 years and counting.

You get what you pay for.
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awames76


walmart batteries are junk. my factory battery in my gmc truck lasted 11 yrs, our chevy van lasted 8 yrs replaced both with oem batteries [ac delco], the walmart batteries ive had in the past last 2 or 3 yrs, ive got a rural king battery [farm store] made by exide so ill see how long it lasts. got it on sale for $43 normally $50.
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Hanuman
"The Almighty Grounds Cleaner"

i average 5-7 years on wallmart batteries.......in the past, now i just desulfate the batteries and keep going.
the toyota battery was so bad it needed a jump every morning.....gave it a total of 24 combined hours of pulsating dc at 1/4 amp 56 volts. its been 1.5 years battery still acts like its brand new.

the 97 geo i just bought had a brand new battery, but the battery had sat dead and frozen for 8 months. i thawed and jumped the car, drove the 70 miles home. when i shut the car off the door chimed twice and faded out on the 3rd charm....battery dead.
i charged the battery for 3 hours and the car would start after 5 hours. after 12 hours the starter cranked to slowly to start before it died. i charged it for 12 hours and the car sat for 1.5 weeks then started right up. i havent had any problems since.....battery is good as new.
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yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

Hanuman, I just read up about sulfation at Battery University (http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it) and I've learned something new! I'm a battery newbie and usually thought these were only replaceable, not repairable.

What desulfating machine / tool do you use? Since I still have the battery in the hatch, I could give it a go!
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Hanuman
"The Almighty Grounds Cleaner"

yiffzer
Apr 2 2014, 03:04 PM
Hanuman, I just read up about sulfation at Battery University (http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it) and I've learned something new! I'm a battery newbie and usually thought these were only replaceable, not repairable.

What desulfating machine / tool do you use? Since I still have the battery in the hatch, I could give it a go!
http://geometroforum.com/topic/5030656/1/
on page 3 ive given some updates on batteries.
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