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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Should I replace my car battery pre-emptively?
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-10-2017 11:31 AM
Despite having only been in the car since August 5, 2015, and having only done 9,004 miles, my wife's car battery completely died last Thursday, and with no warning whatsoever. Everything seemed perfectly normal when she drove our son to his daycare and then on to work, but when she came to leave work about eight hours later, the battery was so dead that even the electric door unlocking wouldn't function.
Thankfully, I had just got home when this happened, and her workplace is only 1.1 miles from home, so we were able to get her started, get her home, and then go straight to the Honda dealership (in my car, obviously) to replace the battery.
Her car is a 2012 Civic, which is now on its third battery. The one that came OEM in the car died under almost identical circumstances (thankfully it was at home, in the garage, at the time), after two years and 11 months. It was at that point that we bought the one that died last week. Kudos to Spreen Honda, who swapped it for a new one under warranty and without any arguing.
I could really live without the same thing happening to me, only this time just after a service call 150 miles from home and with a three-hour wait time for breakdown service. My car is a 2015 Fit, bought just a week before her last battery went. Therefore, the battery in my car is of a very similar model (151R in mine, 51R in hers, but both OEM Honda batteries), from the same place and almost exactly the same age. It currently measures a steady 12.4 volts with the engine off (I've heard it said that below 12.2 is not good), but there again, there was absolutely no warning that hers was about to go, either.
My wife's usage pattern is a lot more brutal to batteries than mine: she does around 5,000 miles a year, most of it in journeys of 1-3 miles from a cold start. I do 35,000 to 40,000 miles a year, most of it freeway trips of 50-100 miles. So the alternator has more of a chance to keep mine properly charged than it does hers, but even so, I'm thinking that $150 is probably worth it for the peace of mind.
Thoughts? Is there any way of detecting an early warning sign of imminent battery failure without buying expensive test gear like the AAA guys have? A basic multimeter won't tell you, as far as I can figure out.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 09-11-2017 08:26 AM
quote: David Stambaugh
Have you tried a code scanner on it to see if anything unusual shows up? Also when a battery does die it can trigger many fault codes from modules all over the car. Those fault codes really should be manually cleared if possible.
The check engine light didn't come on, so it didn't occur to me to do this, but I do have a scanner (albeit a cheap, no-name Chinese one from Ebay), and so will hook it up and see what it says - thanks.
quote: Rick Raskin
I'd have the battery tested at an auto supply store. [...] I'd also test the alternator to be sure it is putting 13.5 volts charge on the battery.
I handed the dead battery over to the Honda dealership when they replaced it, so that's not an option. The alternator did occur to me, though a cigarette lighter plug-in voltmeter is saying 14.4 with the engine idling, which would suggest to me that the alternator is not overcharging. Will measure its output separately, though.
quote: Buck Wilson
Is there any chance she left an interior light on or something?
No, but she does lock the car and arm the alarm overnight, even when it's in the garage, and I've heard that an armed alarm system is a significant power drain. For this reason, I don't with mine. I figure that if a burglar breaks in (which would require physically breaking two locks on either the front or back door, or a double-pane uPVC window), makes it into the garage and is that determined to steal one of our Hondas, then that will be the least of our worries. Besides, without the radio keyfob (which I keep a significant distance from the car, not in the garage and in a non-obvious place), they can't start it anyways. We do live next door to San Bernaghetto - oops, sorry, -dino - but even so, I figure that the risk of a dead battery outweighs the risk of making it easier for someone to steal the car. I'd arm it if I had to park it out on the street, though.
quote: Jason McMillan
Living in Texas where in the summer it can get over 100F/38C multiple days in a row, I replace my car battery every 3 years. They're not that expensive and I'd rather have the piece of mind as I've had too many of them fail on me when I was younger.
I'm thinking exactly the same thing. We've had sustained daytime temperatures in three figures since the weekend of June 17-18 here, and the last two summers have been similar. And although one doesn't tend to think of Southern California as a place that can get seriously cold (at least I didn't, before I moved here), the overnight lows in January-February can hit the low 30s, and very occasionally down into the 20s.
quote: Jason McMillan
It seems most car batteries are either made by Johnson Controls or Exide. The consensus I've run into in car enthusiast circles seems to be that batteries made by Johnson Controls are much better than Exide.
I can't see any clue on the Honda-badged ones as to who actually made them.
I think I am going to go ahead and replace it, but get the existing one load tested, and if it checks out OK, keep it as a good spare. Thanks, folks.
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