Should I return this EverStart Platinum battery, or put it in service

Fwiw, I have an EverStart Platinum in group size 24F that is over a year old and it will test higher than the label listed CCA.

Now about another battery.... three weeks ago I had two failed starts (a week apart) with a 4 and 1/2 year old AZ Gold battery. I removed it from the car and charged it; and then tested it with my battery tester. It showed bad and less than 200 CCA.

I took that battery inside to WM and went to select another battery from the shelf. I proceeded on to the WM auto service desk for purchase and to exchange my old one for core; when the attendent said they could test my old one. I was all but certain I needed the new battery so was going to decline the offer but then I thought, why not see what it shows? Their new looking fancy Midtronics battery tester showed my old battery was "good" at ~550+ CCA. I was very surprised. I put the new battery back on shelf and left with my old battery and it just so happened I drove by an Advanced Auto store within a few blocks so I stopped there and had them to test it. They wanted to put it on their charger first so I left for about an hour and returned. When I returned, their test said it was a bad battery.

I then purchased the new battery as originally planned and the car has started perfect now for three weeks. The comments above about a WM battery having to test less than 50% of CCA to get warranty replacement now have me wondering considering how my test went there three weeks ago. Their test showed well above 50% on the bad battery.
 
2010Civic said:
Walmart wouldn't be my first choice of places to buy a car battery.
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It's a crap shoot now. Walmart used to sell a fairly premium battery.

As the people who know what they are talking about above had said, return it. Before I would, I'd verify that the readings are correct. Stop at a parts house and let them test it too.

Walmart doesn't even test the darn things around here. You can take it back. If they put a tester on it and tell you it's good, go all Karen and tell them you "don't give a snot, it dies overnight". I go to the one that doesn't have a tire and lube attached to it.

My 2018 F150 with the original H6 consistently tests above 800CCA - a couple of testers have shown it at or close to 850. It gets a spin on the same .75 amp tender you have at least once a month, but now that it is getting older I try to do it a couple of times a month.
 
Many places (not only Walmart), now insist on doing a battery test before they'll agree to warranty a battery. The problem with this is there's all sort of little issues that could arise, such as mechanical issues/leaks that will still pass their test...which is just a glorified conductance test. The customer service reps that work there are usually trained to strictly follow the checklist instructions that corporate gives them, so will not be able to use any critical thinking skills in handling these scenarios. Atleast not without manager approval. They're just following what the machine tester tells them.

Your best bet is to try and do the warranty service at a place that does NOT have an automotive service department where chances are they'll just do an exchange without testing. Also be polite, and try to find the most apathetic looking guy that works there.
 
I bought an Everstart Platinum AGM H5 for my Brat earlier in the year from WMT. It came dented on one corner; packed very well, so must have left the factory in that condition. WMT had no issues ordering a replacement. They even covered return shipping. This was my first ever auto battery purchase at WMT. The battery has been just fine. For a long time now however, I have charged up BN new batteries prior to putting them into service. Even if the battery is date coded current, it might be a good idea to charge it up fully prior to use. I am confident that if I have a genuine issue within 4 years of purchase, WMT will honor their warranty on the battery.
 
From your pictures your testing at 13+ volts - meaning the battery still has residual overvoltage from the charge cycle - and your test is Not correct. Put a light load on it for a bit and test again, you need to pull that over voltage off and get it back to cell voltage - which is around 12.6V or so.

Additionally, your testing CCA, which isn't accurate unless the battery is at 0F. Change to CA. There should be that rating on the top of the battery for CA - its usually about 20% more than CCA.

Having said all that - it may or may not improve things. If things are still the same, I would take it back and swap it if they will let you.
 
I would try to find a German made Varta...they are private labeled under Walmart (some markets), Interstate and AC Delco. Varta is oem to most German made cars. My 2018 BMW M550iX has two BMW/Varta batteries as oem. When the time comes, I will seek out a Varta from a third party seller.

I currently have a German made Varta AC Delco agm in m 2001 BMW 540...its 4.5 years old and still exceeds its 900CCA rating on my battery tester.
 

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aba4430 said:
I bought an Everstart Platinum AGM H5 for my Brat earlier in the year from WMT. It came dented on one corner; packed very well, so must have left the factory in that condition. WMT had no issues ordering a replacement. They even covered return shipping. This was my first ever auto battery purchase at WMT. The battery has been just fine. For a long time now however, I have charged up BN new batteries prior to putting them into service. Even if the battery is date coded current, it might be a good idea to charge it up fully prior to use. I am confident that if I have a genuine issue within 4 years of purchase, WMT will honor their warranty on the battery.
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Yep - easy to deal with and so many towns have a Walmart …
In most cases they last 3-5 years for me - don’t want them past that
 
f355spider said:
I would try to find a German made Varta...they are private labeled under Walmart (some markets), Interstate and AC Delco. Varta is oem to most German made cars. My 2018 BMW M550iX has two BMW/Varta batteries as oem. When the time comes, I will seek out a Varta from a third party seller.

I currently have a German made Varta AC Delco agm in m 2001 BMW 540...its 4.5 years old and still exceeds its 900CCA rating on my battery tester.
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I was excited to find a Varta made in spain group 24 battery at walmart.. I know I've mentioned it before.. that sucker is still testing perfect after a year! Just like what you're saying about your germany made Varta.. I'm happy that walmart ran out of north american made ones when I got mine! cool! (y)
 
I had the same experience with a Costco, and at the time, Costco had the free replacement so I simply replaced it and never looked back.

Today, my understanding is that Costco is a prorated deal from 0, too many people had lifetime batteries as even seen on forums.

The same scenario happened with a friend's mom's new CR-V and they even went to Honda, who did nothing.

So...conventional wisdom is passes a load test, it's good to go. But in the old Costco scenario, problem = replace.

If I wanted total piece of mind, I'd replace, but does a load test lie? Not really.

24F's used to be $79.99 at Costco and now $120 I think--nuts. On the other hand, my wife's group 48 is the same as pre-pandemic...
 
I had the same dance with Costco twice. They took the battery back twice without any hassle, but that was within 60-90 day period. WM used to have quality battery lines, but seems to be slipping here as well. Believe it or not, the best battery I found was an EFB battery from Autozone. An EFB battery may be beneficial for your stop-start Porsche. I charge it on regular charge setting per CTEK advice.
 
You can't "return" a battery under their normal return policy. You can tell them it was never used but you know how often they hear that when it's not true ? To actually return. it, they will test it, and just based on your own testing, it will pass and they'll refuse a warranty swap.

2010Civic said:
Walmart wouldn't be my first choice of places to buy a car battery.
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Walmart sells the same batteries as any auto parts store and probably has fresher ones. You will also pay a fraction of the price for the exact same battery that Autozone, AAP, etc sell.
 
Bladecutter said:
So what do you think?
Should I put it into service, or should I return it to Walmart, and hunt down a better one instead?

As you can see, this it the South Korean version of the battery, and I'm not convinced I'm going to get a long service life from this battery.
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Did you keep the battery, or return it?
 
pbm said:
I used to think that those little stickers on the batteries (in the OP's case 10/23) were the legitimate date of manufacture but I'm not so sure anymore. I've read that stores 'update' those stickers so who knows. The reason I bring this up is the battery may be older than you think especially since I doubt many Porsche owners buy their batteries at Walmart. Having said that I've had better luck with Walmart batteries than with any other brand.
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As an FYI, the H6/Group 48 size is used in a lot of German and Italian cars...and many others. So its pretty common.
Some other applications:
  • ACURA - MDX, RDX, TLX
  • AUDI - A3, A4, A5, Q3, R8, S3
  • BMW - 128i, 135is, 328xi, Z3
  • BUICK - Allure, Enclave, Regal, Verano
  • CADILLAC - ATS, Escalade, STS
  • CHEVROLET - Avalanche, Camero, Equinox
  • FERRARI - 360, 430, 458, 488
  • FORD - Edge, Focus, Transit
  • GMC - Sierra, Yukon
  • HYUNDAI - Elantra, Sonata, Tucson
  • KIA - Optima, Rio, Sportage
  • MASERATI - Coupe, GranSport, Spyder
  • MERCEDES-BENZ - AMG, C250, C300, Metris, SLK350
  • MINI - Cooper
  • SAAB - 9-5
  • SATURN - Outlook, Vue
  • VOLKSWAGEN - Atlas, Beetle, Golf, Jetta, Passat
  • VOLVO - C70, S60, V60, XC60
 
After a week of arctic temperatures in north Idaho, the battery rack at my local Walmart is only 1/3 stocked. Saw only a single Platinum AGM battery in stock, an H6 size. I'm interested in a size 35, but none of the 4 Walmarts within a 20 mile radius have it in stock. The Platinum in size 35 is not even available to order online. Somewhere on the ocean, there is a container ship with thousands of batteries from South Korea, destined for Walmart stores.
 
SubLGT said:
After a week of arctic temperatures in north Idaho, the battery rack at my local Walmart is only 1/3 stocked. Saw only a single Platinum AGM battery in stock, an H6 size. I'm interested in a size 35, but none of the 4 Walmarts within a 20 mile radius have it in stock. The Platinum in size 35 is not even available to order online. Somewhere on the ocean, there is a container ship with thousands of batteries from South Korea, destined for Walmart stores.
Click to expand...
Will a 24F fit? Its 1.25 inches longer, the other dimensions are the same. Around here they seem to have a lot more 24F stock.
 
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