New battery time!

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Thermo1223

Thermo1223

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I kinda knew this winter would be the nail in the coffin for the '09 Forester's OEM battery.

The previous cold snap caused it to start a lot slower than I expected. This past weeekend with 2F or below night time temps did it in.

I know a multimeter would have been preferred to measure voltage but I was curious what the ECM saw during starting. It was not happy turning over and the lowest I saw via OBDII port from the ECM was 6.06v. That explains why the solenoid came back and the starter started freewheeling. It barely made but it did start. The serpentine barely squeaking just a tad from the full load of the alternator.

The rest of the day's starts weren't fraught with such drama but off to Sam's I went to get a Duracell battery, cheaper than Walmart I might add. $91 OTD Group 35 which is worlds bigger than the tiny Panasonic that was in there.

Almost sprung for an AGM but with 3yrs free/2 yrs prorated I am technically covered so longevity isn't a factor.

Hopefully I didn't overly stress the alternator too much in the past week.
 
I would go for a MAXX. Yes a few dollars more but its a JCI battery and many more places in the country for a warranty replacement.

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.

A 2009 battery now failing is a little soon. I suppose it could have been made in 2008, so a 6 year old battery.

(I should say a MAXX is a JCI battery in my Walmart.)
 
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I have an optima yellow top that is 11 years old based on built date. She tuned over a little slow this morning but it was -10 and the car had been sitting for a week.
 
Battery life depends on a lot of things, including the vehicle. We replace the batteries in our Jeeps every 3.5 years, after having them (batts) quit on both vehicles after 4+ years. OEM or aftermarket, doesn't matter for ours.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I would go for a MAXX. Yes a few dollars more but its a JCI battery and many more places in the country for a warranty replacement.

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.

A 2009 battery now failing is a little soon. I suppose it could have been made in 2008, so a 6 year old battery.

(I should say a MAXX is a JCI battery in my Walmart.)


+1

The MAXX batteries were rated very well in consumer reports as well. My 2007 still has original battery with 115k miles and battery still tests as full..im a bit shocked by it though. Was expecting to replace it...
 
The panasonic that comes with the forester in 08' was gutless. Died the summer of 2012 after it got drained a little too much by our trailer fridge.

Got a kirkland brand (costco in canada) for $75 and the cold starts have been much better since.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.



He did test it in a practical way. 6.06V is too low, but not unexpected for lead in such temperatures. The battery may have even frozen if it wasnt at full SOC beforehand. The freezing point of the electrloyte goes way higher when not at 100% SOC.

Changing may be somewhat premature, but if its a tiny battery and he did an upgrade, its a good situation...
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Donald

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.



He did test it in a practical way. 6.06V is too low, but not unexpected for lead in such temperatures. The battery may have even frozen if it wasnt at full SOC beforehand. The freezing point of the electrloyte goes way higher when not at 100% SOC.

Changing may be somewhat premature, but if its a tiny battery and he did an upgrade, its a good situation...


Well in its current condition the voltage is too low I agree. Problem with charging system? Left dome light on? Only drove to end of drive to get mail for the last week? Or bad battery?

It needs a valid test. AC charge overnight is always good followed by a test.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
I use Costco batteries, change them every 4 years regardless. No issues and the price is right.


I always schedule our cars for battery replacement at four years.

Waiting until the battery fails is for folks who live and drive in good neighborhoods and don't go out at night.
 
With deep regret I recently replaced my 13+ year old Diehard. I hope the Whatever Gold battery AAP sold me lasts half as long. I always had good luck with Diehard, although dealing with Sears in Green Acres Mall sucks, so I used the coupon code from AAP and went with their battery.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
I use Costco batteries, change them every 4 years regardless. No issues and the price is right.


I would if they carried the right sizes. Their selection is sparse!
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Donald

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.



He did test it in a practical way. 6.06V is too low, but not unexpected for lead in such temperatures. The battery may have even frozen if it wasnt at full SOC beforehand. The freezing point of the electrloyte goes way higher when not at 100% SOC.

Changing may be somewhat premature, but if its a tiny battery and he did an upgrade, its a good situation...


Well in its current condition the voltage is too low I agree. Problem with charging system? Left dome light on? Only drove to end of drive to get mail for the last week? Or bad battery?

It needs a valid test. AC charge overnight is always good followed by a test.


Chemical reactions are governed by Arrhenius as well as ionic diffusion. All these are a strong exponential function of temperature. just like battery degradation rates double for every 8 degree increase, so do the reactions that create and move the ions do the inverse and get much slower...

So that cold, the ability for the reaction to proceed is MUCh slower. Thus the impedance is higher, which means that the voltage drop is higher, and thus the voltage will go lower.

the battery is undersized, so its operating at an unacceptable c-rate for those conditions.

Seeing the voltage drop tells me the electrolyte was slushy and the battery was nearly frozen.

At regular temperatures it may still be fine... but it sounds like its tiny and way undersized, so if one can uupgrade, now's the time.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Donald

But you should get it tested, load is best, or conductive.



He did test it in a practical way. 6.06V is too low, but not unexpected for lead in such temperatures. The battery may have even frozen if it wasnt at full SOC beforehand. The freezing point of the electrloyte goes way higher when not at 100% SOC.

Changing may be somewhat premature, but if its a tiny battery and he did an upgrade, its a good situation...


Well in its current condition the voltage is too low I agree. Problem with charging system? Left dome light on? Only drove to end of drive to get mail for the last week? Or bad battery?

It needs a valid test. AC charge overnight is always good followed by a test.


I tested & charged(equalized too) over the summer and again in he fall. Worked great for a while and seemed better but eventually started wearing down. Never really short tripped either. It is driven daily for no less than 1 1/2 hours so it should be fully charged when shut off at night.

It was never drained as far as I know when we owned the car, doesn't mean the previous owner didn't.

OEM CCA & CA ratings were low too, barely 400 CCA's on a new battery from what I've read.
 
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