good battery, bad car
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From: the rose city, OR
Got in the car this morning, it started just fine, and the gauge stayed just under 14 all morning.
So, I went to Napa today, to have them check my battery and alt, and they sent me to one of those battery shops that checks your alt and battery for free. They ran the check on the system, and checked the cells on the battery. I told them what had happened, and he said the alternator and cells of the battery were fine, but the battery was totally discharged, and he couldn't run any checks on it. (I didn't tell the guy that I had the car out on the highway for about a half hour beforehand, he thought I just took the battery from the charger, put it in the car, and drove over there)
Is this a bogus line, since he found out that both my battery and alt are covered under warranties, and he wasn't going to make any money? (I'm a small woman, and have found that some shops give up on me when they find out they can't gouge me) As we were talking, some guy showed up and wanted a new battery, so I'm not sure if he was chasing me out to help the other guy or not.
What do I do next?
So, I went to Napa today, to have them check my battery and alt, and they sent me to one of those battery shops that checks your alt and battery for free. They ran the check on the system, and checked the cells on the battery. I told them what had happened, and he said the alternator and cells of the battery were fine, but the battery was totally discharged, and he couldn't run any checks on it. (I didn't tell the guy that I had the car out on the highway for about a half hour beforehand, he thought I just took the battery from the charger, put it in the car, and drove over there)
Is this a bogus line, since he found out that both my battery and alt are covered under warranties, and he wasn't going to make any money? (I'm a small woman, and have found that some shops give up on me when they find out they can't gouge me) As we were talking, some guy showed up and wanted a new battery, so I'm not sure if he was chasing me out to help the other guy or not.
What do I do next?
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From: the rose city, OR
I went to Napa to have them check both this morning. I got the alt from Napa, and the battery is an Interstate. Napa sent me to this battery shop, since they can't check either one while it'* in the car. The battery shop said that my alt was fine, but to take the battery home, charge it, and bring it back tomorrow so they could test it.
I don't see how I could have driven around for a half hour in a car with a working alt and not have charged the battery back up. The battery shop said that the battery was too discharged to test, and that my battery charger probably wasn't good enough. But they also checked all the cells of the battery and said that it was fine. My alt gauge never dropped much below 14 all morning.
So, I'm not sure what to do next. If they're saying that my charger isn't adequate to recharge the battery, then how am I supposed to recharge it and bring it back to them tomorrow? Wouldn't driving the car around for a while recharge the battery too? It'd be almost the same price to buy another battery instead of buying another charger.
I don't see how I could have driven around for a half hour in a car with a working alt and not have charged the battery back up. The battery shop said that the battery was too discharged to test, and that my battery charger probably wasn't good enough. But they also checked all the cells of the battery and said that it was fine. My alt gauge never dropped much below 14 all morning.
So, I'm not sure what to do next. If they're saying that my charger isn't adequate to recharge the battery, then how am I supposed to recharge it and bring it back to them tomorrow? Wouldn't driving the car around for a while recharge the battery too? It'd be almost the same price to buy another battery instead of buying another charger.
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Thats gets tricky... But it almost sounds as if the battery is bad... I had an interstate in my 91 LE a long time ago... I could not let that car sit for 2 days... If I did it would slug like mad trying to turn the engine over... It was sad... And it was always like that...I never did figgure it out... I finally got to the point where I was not comfortable with a battery that wanted to die after 2 days... I replaced it with an Everstart MAXX, 970 amp... I left Florida for a hurricane( 127 mph reported gusts ) The car sat for 9-10 days.... At the time I was in trying to move into the new property, and decided not to leave the bonnie at the apartment complex, too many trees to fall on it... Theday after we got back into town we ran out to the property and picked up the bonnie... After sitting 9-10 days and through a hurricane, old faithful fired right up...LOL
I'd like you to do something for me... Get a multimeter and test to see what the voltage is at the battery terminals with the car running to see what charge the alt is putting out.... If you are seeing roughly 13.5 - 14.5v, the alt is charging fine... After the car has sat for a while the batt voltage should be 12.5v or so... If its dropping to 11 or 10v you either have a junk battery or a drain in the system..
But a Load test should reveal a problem.. And just because the Cells look ok, doesn't mean that they are...
How old is that battery? where did you get it?
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I'd like you to do something for me... Get a multimeter and test to see what the voltage is at the battery terminals with the car running to see what charge the alt is putting out.... If you are seeing roughly 13.5 - 14.5v, the alt is charging fine... After the car has sat for a while the batt voltage should be 12.5v or so... If its dropping to 11 or 10v you either have a junk battery or a drain in the system..
But a Load test should reveal a problem.. And just because the Cells look ok, doesn't mean that they are...
How old is that battery? where did you get it?
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From: the rose city, OR
I looked over at the machine that the guys were testing my system on while the car was running, and it was clamped to the 2 terminals. It read between 13.7 and 13.9 volts. They throttled it, and it jumped up a little bit. (It'* raining outside right now, otherwise I'd go check again.)
I got the battery about 6 months ago, when the old battery died and my dad insisted that I take it into a shop. I wouldn't be surprised if it sat somewhere for a while before I got it. I'm about ready to give away this battery, and go get a nice maintenance free battery that can sit for a week without being cranked. At this point, I don't trust it. It dropped down to just above the redline last night when I drove it with the headlights on, and that was just after coming off 12 hours on an automatic 10 amp charger.
Should I just get a new battery?
I got the battery about 6 months ago, when the old battery died and my dad insisted that I take it into a shop. I wouldn't be surprised if it sat somewhere for a while before I got it. I'm about ready to give away this battery, and go get a nice maintenance free battery that can sit for a week without being cranked. At this point, I don't trust it. It dropped down to just above the redline last night when I drove it with the headlights on, and that was just after coming off 12 hours on an automatic 10 amp charger.
Should I just get a new battery?
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It sure sounds like the battery is bad. If it was 2-3 years old I wouldn't hesitate to recommend replacing it. It must be pretty rare to have a battery fail after just 6 months. Was this car driven through the winter or was it just sitting? If it sat through the winter how was the battery stored?
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From: the rose city, OR
It wasn't parked for the winter(there'* not really winter here- just 6 months of rain). I only drive it about once a week, because I take the bus to work. I'm going to get a new one, because I'm pretty sure this is the culprit, and I don't want to kill a perfectly good alternator. Hopefully that'll solve my problems.
Thanks for all your help, guys
Thanks for all your help, guys
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If you have the $$$ go for the Optima Red top...
If not A duralast Gold( Autozone ), Die Hard ( sears ), Everstart Maxx( Wally Mart )... All good batteries and made By Johnson controls... I think all of these batteries need some water from time to time... But I have gotten well over 4 years out of two of them with no issues... The Mitsubishi once in a while sits for a month before I go crank it up... Starts every time
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If not A duralast Gold( Autozone ), Die Hard ( sears ), Everstart Maxx( Wally Mart )... All good batteries and made By Johnson controls... I think all of these batteries need some water from time to time... But I have gotten well over 4 years out of two of them with no issues... The Mitsubishi once in a while sits for a month before I go crank it up... Starts every time
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I have seen intermittent battery problems caused by the battery terminal post cracking or breaking contact INSIDE the battery. This would cause an intermittent charge/no charge situation. It'* often temperature related. Gets worse when hot.
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