What to do with 3 year old unused battery?

[ziggy]

2019,had had my car towed. Don't remember exact time I bought new battery, I'm guessing a year year and a half at most.it was a car quest silver one. For a 98 lesabre. Turned out,the coil pack needed replacing. Car wouldn't turn over. But I had bought a new Napa battery.
So! The car quest battery has been sitting backseat if my car since 2019. It was still kinda new,when using it. Tested it with a volts tester on a ohmeter..it was reading 7.39 volts. Tested it 3 times.same number. Its clearly way undercharged.
I park outsude,so it has been exposed,too 17 degree temps winter here,and humid 97 degrees and pressure temps back of car.
Is that battery,still worth keeping? If I recharged it,could it still be usable?maybe an emergency backup kinda thing? My worry,is acids might a built up,corrected plates by now.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

See if any stores are still giving you something for bringing it in. For awhile, the parts stores were giving you money or a gift card for bringing in an old battery

 

[skyactiv]

Some places buy old batteries for the valuable lead content. I drove by an Interstate Battery Store recently that has a sign posted "buying old auto batteries $7".

 

[Braapdaddy]

Autozone will give you 10$

 

[Rand]

you can try charging it but anything under 10volts is past dead.
it could have also frozen if it was discharged in the cold.

 

[stangguy]

Personally I would try to put a looooong slow charge on it and see what happens. I am sure it will never be a great battery, but if it takes a charge, it would probably be good for some purposes. I once had a classic vehicle that had a draw on the battery that wasn't a problem when used almost weekly, but when I left it sit all winter it got so dead it wouldn't even light a small bulb. I charged it up, and used it another year or more.

 

[eljefino]

Charge it up and test it.

My dad bought a new Interstate battery for his ford escort and kept it in his basement for five years (!) before giving it to me.

I got a deal on a hyundai accent with bad voltage regulator, always overcharging, boiling the battery dry. So I changed that and put dad's battery in, which worked great.

The chemical reactions that degrade batteries kick into high gear when the battery gets used.

 

[Chris142]

It's sulfated. It's a core now

 

[Dinoburner]

A charger maintainer would possibly bring the OPs battery back. Its worked here more than once. The oldest I have is in the welder/generator that sees little use.

 

[Jethro_Bob]

Check to make sure it isn't swollen before attempting to charge. I would try to chasge it while the low voltage is bad, I would have expected it to be much lower

 

[JMJNet]

You can charge it and load test (not voltage) test to see if it is good.
There are charger that can remove sulfation but it will take a few weeks.
Depends whether it is worth to buy such a charger because it is more than what you get if you throw the battery away.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Doesn't hurt to try charging it, then a load test. If that doesn't work:

Do you have a metal scrapyard / recycling center in your area? They pay by pound for lead acid batteries and when I did the math, it was a much better return than any other place near me that pays for them, sometimes more than the core charge for a new battery. They also take (and pay by weight) the VRLA/gel batteries like you'd find in a computer UPS or kids' powerwheels, etc. Wish I had known that a couple years ago, I all but begged several places to take them for free (all the places that I knew accepted lead acid batteries) but because it wasn't a car battery, they all refused.

 

[atikovi]

Is that battery,still worth keeping? If I recharged it,could it still be usable?maybe an emergency backup kinda thing?

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but why don't you just try and charge it first?

 

[Cruisin'n5thgear]

Possible to bring it back, if it works out you'll want to keep it on a trickle charger or put it in use right away as it will likely drain back down again.

 

[zrxkawboy]

Turned out,the coil pack needed replacing. Car wouldn't turn over.

Are you saying a bad coil pack prevented the engine from cranking? I don't see how that could be. Prevent it from starting, yes, but not from cranking

 

[wlk]

Got an Autozone $10 giftcard today from my kids dead battery he left in the bed of my truck. I'd try charging it on a slow charge and test it once it is done. Then test it in a few days to see if it drops. If it holds about 10 keep it.

 

[paulo57509]

Chances are it's beyond help.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Lead as a commodity has been fairly level.

 

[JHZR2]

It’s dead. If it would take a charge, capacity will be way low and cranking under load will be compromised. Use it as a core, or sell it to a scrap dealer.