Inclined parking killed battery?

[aualtima3.5]

I replaced the battery on my partner's truck in May with a Costco battery.

All was well, until he parked it on a hill for over a week. Probably 30* incline, nose down for reference.

Went to start it - dead. It jumped off and was OK but wouldn't start later... diagnostic was dead cell.

Was the hill parking for a long time the root cause? I have parked on hills but only for a short amount of time. There was some water leaking out of the battery upon replacement from the covers.

 

[stephenbrown22]

no

 

[901Memphis]

Probably just time for the battery to go and sitting for that long made it go faster. Sometimes even a weak battery will keep going if you drive it enough each day to keep it charged enough to start it in the morning.

It could be a slow parasitic drain that again showed itself more over the longer period of time. Once the voltage gets drained low enough the cells are much more likely to short.

Ofcourse there is always the possibility he just left something on and either didn't tell your or didn't notice. It would only take 1 little thing to drain a battery over the course of a week+

 

[gathermewool]

dead cell? Sounds like a defective battery.

 

[eljefino]

Chevy Vegas took it okay. And they weren't the peak in automotive engineering.

 

[Donald]

Defective battery. Should get a free replacement under warranty.

 

[Chris142]

Naw. As long as the acid didn't spill out it didn't cause it to fail.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

Chevy Vegas took it okay. And they weren't the peak in automotive engineering.


I'm guessing they shipped those cars dry of fluids.

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp

I'm guessing they shipped those cars dry of fluids.


Nope. They modified batteries, washer fluid bottle and more to do this.

 

[DoubleWasp]

How did they get the engine oil to stay in the crankcase?

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
How did they get the engine oil to stay in the crankcase?


A specially designed baffle.

 

[Gasbuggy]

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/01/vert-...k/#slide-159312

 

[Kira]

Ahhh...The Vega....another building block in GM's reputation of quality.

The Japanese showed us how to build small cars and we responded by building junk.

All the while the Big Three owned ~1/3 of each of the Japanese companies.

Do you think they grew their foreign assets at the expense of their US trade? They must've known that was happening!

Pretty evil I think. Kira

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Kira

All the while the Big Three owned ~1/3 of each of the Japanese companies.


Did they really? I know today they all have their hands in each others pockets (never would have guessed at the joint GM-Ford transmission venture!) but didn't expect it back then.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: Kira

All the while the Big Three owned ~1/3 of each of the Japanese companies.


Did they really? I know today they all have their hands in each others pockets (never would have guessed at the joint GM-Ford transmission venture!) but didn't expect it back then.


At one time Ford owned a 33% stake in Mazda, Chrysler 34% in Mitsubishi Motors and GM owned a 20% stake in Subaru's parent company. The rest of the Japanese brands may have had a smattering of investment percentage from the Detroit brands but only Mazda with Ford's big stake had any controlling input from Ford in day to day operations and long term marketing. Detroit mainly used their investments in the Japanese companies as leverage for joint development and production programs.

When the 2008 recession hit, those percentages dropped to pittance amounts when the Detroit Big 3 where looking to gain liquidity.

 

[Gasbuggy]

So in other words no, they didn't.

 

[Ducked]

I've heard "somewhere" of a case where a boot (trunk in 'merican?) light was controlled by a (mercury?) tilt switch (presumably in the lid) which was activated by parking on a slope with the boot closed, draining the battery.

Dunno if its true.

 

[SHOZ]

Originally Posted By: Ducked
I've heard "somewhere" of a case where a boot (trunk in 'merican?) light was controlled by a (mercury?) tilt switch (presumably in the lid) which was activated by parking on a slope with the boot closed, draining the battery.

Dunno if its true.
Mercury switches have been outlawed since the mid 90s.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: SHOZ
Originally Posted By: Ducked
I've heard "somewhere" of a case where a boot (trunk in 'merican?) light was controlled by a (mercury?) tilt switch (presumably in the lid) which was activated by parking on a slope with the boot closed, draining the battery.

Dunno if its true.
Mercury switches have been outlawed since the mid 90s.


I suppose that would be expected due to toxicity (and MAYBE IED use) but, as I wrote above, not sure if it was claimed to be a mercury switch. Presumably other implementations of a tilt switch are possible, as are cars built before the mid 90's.

 

[kb27]

If the electrolyte was low, tilting the battery would just exposed the top plates, and killing it.