8 Month old group 24 700 CCA Costco battery drained, reads 4.66 volts, is it toast?

[Owen Lucas]

Knowing that I have a short somewhere in my Scion, last time I used it I forgot to disconnect the battery, for a month. I'll get around to it when more important projects / work is finished as the Scion is more of a backup / project car.

I think with such a low voltage the battery is damaged internally at this point and not salvageable, replace?

 

[Furious]

Charge it up fully and have it tested to verify for sure.

 

[JRed]

The battery in my Subaru hit ~6v several times and sat that way for a week or two and it's still working just fine. Probably about the same age as your battery too.

 

[JMJNet]

You need a LOAD tester not volt tester.
Regardless of age, battery can fail or have a short.

With that in mind, judging from your description, it is probably toast but you need to load test it to be sure.
Or bring it to Costco and they will load test it.

 

[atikovi]

Another Battery Minder rescue in progress

Parked the car in March and left the battery in it. Yea stupid. Anyway, decide to take it out before freezing temperatures kill it. It reads 4 volts and 43 CCA. Hooked up a Battery Minder on Wednesday. By Friday it was at 12.5V and 186 CCA. This morning at 13.2V and 274 CCA. Hopefully it will go...

bobistheoilguy.com

 

[wpod]

Return the battery.

 

[bullwinkle]

If it’s not toast, it’s likely damaged since it’s not a deep cycle nor designed to be drained that low. I would exchange it (if Costco lets you).

 

[atikovi]

Return the battery.

Unlikely they will take it back. They will charge it and it will test good.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Unlikely they will take it back. They will charge it and it will test good.

Costco swaps out the battery under warranty with no questions asked. Easy peasey.
Only place I will buy a battery nowadays.

 

[michaelluscher]

Costco swaps out the battery under warranty with no questions asked. Easy peasey.
Only place I will buy a battery nowadays.

Costco is good at switching batteries out
Shame their 24F has a weird case that doesn't fit my cars right 🥺

 

[atikovi]

Costco swaps out the battery under warranty with no questions asked. Easy peasey.
Only place I will buy a battery nowadays.

So after 2 years and 11 months you can take it back and get a new one? For all your cars if you have 3 or 4? Can't imagine that will last.

 

[JeffKeryk]

So after 2 years and 11 months you can take it back and get a new one? For all your cars if you have 3 or 4? Can't imagine that will last.

I forget the warranty period, but yes, as long as it is under warranty they pull a new one off the shelf and put it in your cart.
On wifey's TSX, I brought back the tiny 51R. I had no receipt and told then it was probably past. The guy looked it up on his computer, said you have x weeks left. It was definitely under a month. Replaced it no problem.

 

[atikovi]

So basically they are selling lifetime batteries? You can do this every 2 years 11 months after getting a battery?

 

[RoadDukie]

So basically they are selling lifetime batteries? You can do this every 2 years 11 months after getting a battery?

That's right.
They did wise up a bit recently. The "No Questions Asked" warranty used to be 4 years....

I always write the purchase date right on top of my batteries with a yellow paint pen. That way, I see it enough to start getting critical of the battery performance when nearing the end of warranty period.

To date though, I've never had to replace any batteries with Costco within the warranty.

 

[brianl703]

Last time I returned a bad battery to Costco, they refunded the purchase price and gave me a Costco cash card with that amount on it, which I used to purchase a new one.

But that was around 8 years ago. No idea how they do it now.

 

[bullwinkle]

So basically they are selling lifetime batteries? You can do this every 2 years 11 months after getting a battery?

No, it will only have the remaining warranty from the date of original purchase. $60/year (or MORE) membership should be good for something!

 

[Owen Lucas]

Costco is good at switching batteries out
Shame their 24F has a weird case that doesn't fit my cars right 🥺

Costco swaps out the battery under warranty with no questions asked. Easy peasey.
Only place I will buy a battery nowadays.

Agreed, last time they covered the battery under warranty twice, you are supposed to only get one exchange under warranty but the lady at the return counter made an exception for some reason.

The group 24 battery is hard to find, not the F model just the regular. Had to call around different Costcos.

 

[JeffKeryk]

So basically they are selling lifetime batteries? You can do this every 2 years 11 months after getting a battery?

No; warranty period based on original purchase date.

 

[atikovi]

No; warranty period based on original purchase date.

So why would they replace it during the warranty period if it tests good?

 

[Owen Lucas]

So why would they replace it during the warranty period if it tests good?

Costco doesn't test batteries on return. Maybe because their techs are too busy replacing tires? Maybe they just don't care in the name of customer service.

Wouldn't be surprised if they did an internal study to see the cost benefit, testing the batteries that came back that were good vs productivity lost of testing all batteries.

The tire center of every Costco I've been to is always running around like crazy and sometimes you have to wait for a tech to come back from the shop to help you at the tire counter.