Battery kaput all of sudden.

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: bigjl

The only car I have had to replace a battery on was my 2012 XJL, and that was as a result of an alternator failure


A Jaguar with electrical problems? No way.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
Originally Posted By: CT8
A 6 year old battery is done!


LOL

My Sabre and the Corolla..are on the original batteries for sure...Its all about how they are treated and maintained.


No, it is all about the temperatures that the battery is exposed to. In Canada the temperatures are cooler so the batteries last longer.

 

[Hounds]

Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
. . . . A Jaguar with electrical problems? No way.

Now that's funny.

Good morning and thank you.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

I don't know if it will help diagnose before sudden failure. I just picked up a Solar-BA9 battery tester. Works on capacitance. Check the youtube videos etc. Kent Bergsma (mercedessource) has a good overview on the old school load testers and the new versions. Battery testing

Optima had the info with the CTEK chargers and how to recover a dead optima. Most chargers won't recover it and/or might cook it. Recover Optima AGM

I have a thread a few down as I was deciding between Optima and East Penn Deka AGM as wifes truck died.

Dealer last year tested with one of capacitance versions and told me I was at 60%. I did the CTEK charge randomly to keep it at as best as possible. It was still starting truck but slower and daughter killed it with a 20 minute radio listen. Powerall jumped it, recharged with CTEK again but was not where it should be so replaced it. Just for laughs I put the Solar tester on it and said I was at 16% capacity (9.5 year old Optima Yellow top D31). I had used my old charger a couple times over the years and probably cooked it some also.

 

[Errtt]

^Sequoiasoon
I used a Powerall to give myself the needed jump. It has given plenty of jumps to others in need, yesterday was the 1st time use for myself. Nice to have it at the ready. I bought some as gifts and a few Thanks Again came back when used to save the day.
Once home I threw the CTEK 4.3 MUS charger/maintainer on the new battery for the remainder of the day, just for extra measure.

The old battery was checked with a battery analyzer last May. I don't know any details about the analyzer, but tech mentioned the battery is still good, doesn't need replaced. Didn't give a percentage but would have been good to know then. Might check into one of those analyzers as it would be nice to know something more than just voltage checks on a periodic basis.

Today will do a voltage check before 1st crank/start, and will label the battery with label maker (year/month I installed) as the battery doesn't have any of those little pop-out's to indicate year/month. And will check its date code too.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: supton
That's how I lost a couple of batteries. Just one day it loses a cell and clicks. Happens more frequently as they get older, just one day a cell shorts out.



Lost the battery in my F150 like that. One day it suddenly decided it wasn't going to turn over.

 

[Panzerman]

I swear to God, AutoZone has the battery trade to a art. Where my batteries die a month before my warranty is out and I am stuck buying batteries at a pro rated discount from them for the rest of my life.

 

[RTexasF]

I'm on my fourth battery in seven years. None have made it past three years. The third croaked @ 35 months and was an over the counter exchange at Auto Zone, no prorating (Gold Series).

 

[bbhero]

This map by colt45ws is really quite accurate in it's battery life expectancy. Here in Virginia a battery usually lasts about 4 years on average without extra maintenance being performed. I just put a Deka battery in my Altima 3.5 SE. I have read so many good reviews if the Deka East Penn batteries that I went with this battery. I know Johnson Control makes some good batteries as well depending upon who they make them for. The Advance Auto batteries have not had the best reviews in the last couple of years. I found that rather interesting from reading the reviews from their own online reviews. Exide batteries are only good for weighing down a back of an empty pick up truck in the winter time with snow expected.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I swear to God, AutoZone has the battery trade to a art. Where my batteries die a month before my warranty is out and I am stuck buying batteries at a pro rated discount from them for the rest of my life.



That's not by accident.

 

[Excel]

did you expect a slow down?

when things die the DIE

 

[mcrn]

Excel....I expected mine to give me some kind of sign like slower cranking or something. I was mountain biking over 100 miles from home.....it started and I drove to publix and when I returned with my groceries it was dead....not even close to turning car over. My car was 2 years old from the time I purchased to almost the day. I ended up putting in a Deka battery that was a little bigger than the stock battery and it has already lasted longer than the factory battery. I was by myself and nobody else was in the parking lot where I was mountain biking so I would have had a hard time getting help. So now I keep this in y car...http://www.costco.com/Lithium-Jump-Starter-And-Portable-Power-Bank-.product.100312116.html

 

[artificialist]

This happened once in mom's 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee back in 2008. Car batteries in Florida often become questionable after 2 1/2 years, and dead not long after that. This doesn't apply to batteries mounted in the interior of the car.

Also, if your car has high underhood temperatures, expect to go through batteries more often. The 1985-1988 Nissan Maxima was such a car, and everybody I knew who had one were constantly dealing with prematurely dead batteries.

 

[007]

Originally Posted By: artificialist
This happened once in mom's 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee back in 2008. Car batteries in Florida often become questionable after 2 1/2 years, and dead not long after that. This doesn't apply to batteries mounted in the interior of the car.

Also, if your car has high underhood temperatures, expect to go through batteries more often. The 1985-1988 Nissan Maxima was such a car, and everybody I knew who had one were constantly dealing with prematurely dead batteries.


In FL you need to buy a battery that has removable caps on the cells so that you can add distilled water as necessary!

 

[DoubleWasp]

Here in FL, I only buy AGM batteries. Big waste, otherwise. I get full replacement in the first 3 or 4 years, even in the last hour of warranty, but rarely occurs.