I replaced my wife's yesterday and my truck battery crapped out today. Heated garage didn't save us during the daytime. Going from warm to extreme cold probably doesnt help. Battery manufacturers are loving this cold weather!
Truck Battery
- Thread starter WildTurk
- Start date
Wait until it's your EV battery and it costs $25,000 for a new one.
I have worked in big box auto parts store before. I can tell you right now and for certain these things last 1 yr a lot of times and they say 2 or three yrs on them. it's getting so bad the auto parts stores are changing how they do warranties. used to be they were good for maybe 5 yrs. now they are lucky to get a yr and half or two yrs tops. do you guys recall 39 dollar batteries at wally world? then they hit 59 and then 79. when they crossed the 100 dollar mark I thought we were in trouble. now car batteries are near 200.
Get a battery tender for each of them. You can get ones that have a cord/cable attachment so you don't have to pop the hood to plug the battery in.
Desulfator is also a good option to extend the life of your lead-acid batteries (but would disconnect from car electronics before plugging one of those in).
Not exactly how that works. I don't have to replace that battery I just have to jump the car. Winter will certainly expose batteries that need replaced though. Electric cars also mostly have thermal management systems.
Those were the days. I used to get all of my car batteries at Wal Mart.
We just do foster care for Hondas until they can find a home.
there are two kinds of cars : a Ford and can't afford
I recently sold my 2004 POS Dodge Ram 1500. The original battery lasted 14 years. The battery that replaced the original was still going strong.
CSB
CSB
how old was the battery?
from my experience I can get 5-7 years out of them
I need to tear 2019 truck battery
from my experience I can get 5-7 years out of them
I need to tear 2019 truck battery
It was the OEM battery. 2019 Ford F-150
56,000 miles.
The new Interstate battery was $182 at Costco after bringing the old one in.
A new battery at O'Reilly was $270 and $262 at Autozone in Des Moines.
true, but the cranking power required in winter
simply voltmeter check will give you an idea of its going bad
I helped my buddy replace his yesterday on his old piece of shit Chevy Colorado. $248.
That's crazy. I remember when a battery cost about half as much as an alternator. Now a battery is more than double the price of an alternator.
He is pretty sure his alternator is toast too and buddy doesn’t have much money. He gave me an ounce of shrooms for helping him yesterday.That's crazy. I remember when a battery cost about half as much as an alternator. Now a battery is more than double the price of an alternator.
If the car is running and you pull off a battery terminal and the car keeps running the alternator is usually good. If it doesn't is probably not good.
We replaced the battery yesterday but it’s already not charging.
Option for your buddy, to make it thru winter (if alternator is working - likely that works, his battery is just super weak - he could use this also to charge in a garage vs a battery tender)
If alternator is dead, this won't help him
www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SJ1330-Jump-Starter/dp/B0789DLKB5
Smaller 600 CCA one is $55
Beast 1000 CCA is $75 w/ the coupon
Keep it stored in the house so it's warm, and top off with charge every night (I think they need a 2-prong extension cord, as the one I have has a pop out 2pin plug only for charging).
Yes, a pain to pop the hood every time to start, but it'll get you moving, and hold enough charge for several starts during the day. Just have to make sure you turn it off when done using AND bring inside to recharge daily.
I can't remember the last time I bought a battery. I prefer to waste thousands and thousands of $$ on new cars so I can save $200 on a battery.
I still do. My BMW's chew through batteries in roughly 3 to 4 years (which nowadays for more modern vehicles is roughly normal) - BMW's are notorious for being this way given the amount of electrical demands they have.
But one of my boat batteries crapped out on me in October, and the date sticker on it was 2015 (my trolling motor battery's sticker is 2016 and it's still doing fine)! Bringing in my boat batteries from sitting outside all winter (and doing a 2 amp recharge every 3 months) definitely extended the lives of them.
The thing vehicle owners have to realize nowadays is the electrical demands on modern vehicle batteries has climbed massively in recent years - so batteries are simply going to wear out quicker because the technology for them really hasn't changed all that much as far as your average ordinary lead acid battery is concerned.
Think of all the modern vehicle electrical demands...heated seats and steering wheels, power seats and windows, power rear hatch lift and side doors, heated power mirrors, all the instrument cluster and radio/infotainment gizmos, cell phone chargers, sunroofs...let alone all the electrical engine/transmission management they use on modern vehicles to squeeze out both power and MPG in them.
Yet the same old lead acid 12 volt batteries...
But yes, Everstart prices have indeed gone through the roof. I recently replaced one of my BMW batteries after darn near exactly 4 years (which is what I've been averaging over 11 years ownership).
The prior Everstart for it was $120...this one $180. And yes I checked out other retailers and they were all priced pretty much exactly the same if not much much more.
Yep
Makes sense to buy the biggest capacity option for your vehicle, as that will better-handle the higher electrical loads. Charge discharge rates are known as "C" for a battery, which is usually ~10% of the battery A-h capacity.
Battery ratings are in how many Amp-hrs they have (which can be different from the CCA rating, that is just a short burst number). A 400 A-h battery will generally be happy as long as you only draw a max of 10% of that capacity, (40 A or 0.1C). A weak or underpowered alternator will stress the battery further.
If your vehicle battery footprint/size has the option for a higher A-h battery, it is likely to last longer, because the vehicle will be drawing a smaller "C" from the battery - 40A for a 600 A-h battery is 0.07C vs 0.1C for the 400 A-h one.
Used to be able to buy batteries that had 4 yr or 5 yr warranties.
Not anymore that I can find. Nearly everything just comes with a 3-yr/36 month warranty
I think they just make them with the lowest grade lead plates and minimum material they can get away with, anymore. Not as durable as 10-20 yrs ago.
Get a desulfator to put on them 1x a year for a week or so, when you're recharging, and that'll help even more.
Battery tenders for the BMW's might also extend their life, if you aren't driving them regularly in winter or summer. Batteries like to be near capacity, and low charge starts to build up the sulfates on the lead plates.
I believe you can also trickle charge them at 0.2A up to 15-16V to assist with desulfation. I use the little devices that send higher frequency, higher voltage pulses to blast the sulfates off, and seems to do the trick for batteries not too far gone. But disconnect the battery from the car, as I doubt those desulfation pulses will do good things to your vehicle electronics.
Thanks Joe but apparently the alternator is indeed toast. He is a dasher so he needs that truck to make money. Gonna try to get it to our shop to get it changed.Option for your buddy, to make it thru winter (if alternator is working - likely that works, his battery is just super weak - he could use this also to charge in a garage vs a battery tender)
If alternator is dead, this won't help him
www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SJ1330-Jump-Starter/dp/B0789DLKB5
Smaller 600 CCA one is $55
Beast 1000 CCA is $75 w/ the coupon
Keep it stored in the house so it's warm, and top off with charge every night (I think they need a 2-prong extension cord, as the one I have has a pop out 2pin plug only for charging).
Yes, a pain to pop the hood every time to start, but it'll get you moving, and hold enough charge for several starts during the day. Just have to make sure you turn it off when done using AND bring inside to recharge daily.
I don't believe these are meant for charging a vehicle, just to jump it.Option for your buddy, to make it thru winter (if alternator is working - likely that works, his battery is just super weak - he could use this also to charge in a garage vs a battery tender)
If alternator is dead, this won't help him
www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SJ1330-Jump-Starter/dp/B0789DLKB5
Smaller 600 CCA one is $55
Beast 1000 CCA is $75 w/ the coupon
Keep it stored in the house so it's warm, and top off with charge every night (I think they need a 2-prong extension cord, as the one I have has a pop out 2pin plug only for charging).
Yes, a pain to pop the hood every time to start, but it'll get you moving, and hold enough charge for several starts during the day. Just have to make sure you turn it off when done using AND bring inside to recharge daily.
You could plug this in, in your garage, and then turn on & attach the terminals to your battery to work as a "tender".
It would not be perfect, as the typical float voltage for your 12v battery is 13.3-13.5v, and this might not be able to reach that level, but it'd be better than nothing. You would not want to use to "charge" your battery w/o plugging it in, because both of them will discharge over time.
Yep, got one for whichever is the last BMW I drive at any particular time. Say I drove the 325i last week - I'll then rotate it out for this week where it won't be driven for 2 weeks - that BMW goes on the trickle charger.
I own 3 vehicles, which means I try to drive each of them for a full week - then "rotate"! The S10 seems to take not driving it much better - I can go 2-3 weeks on it and it's perfectly fine (it also by far has the least electrical demands). I also try to drive it through extreme cold because of the below.
My BMW's (a 2002 and 2006)...I have to drive them regularly or crap begins occurring. And that's not necessarily talking electrical only. BMW's that are from say the late 90's to today - they simply do not like not being driven at all. The scary thing about them in extreme cold is their version of a PCV (they call it CCV). You HAVE to keep up on oil changes, and you have to let them get completely warmed up to where the engine internals burn off all condensation that might build up in them - if you don't that CCV valve or any of the hoses in the CCV system can freeze/clog up on you.
My X5, this system (horribly designed) has frozen up twice on me (2014 and 2020). What happens is the high pressure of the oil system - when it can't flow oil through the CCV system - blows out your cylinder head gasket leading to spraying oil over the entire engine compartment. The ironic thing is they in reaction to this poor design have "cold climate" versions of this system, and even they fail!
If you don't catch it in time, in 5 minutes your engine runs out of oil and that's it for your engine. Both times, $1500+ fixes. I haven't run it yet through this deep freeze as a result - I'll wait for it to warm up before I start it again. For whatever reason, the 325i hasn't had this issue even though the system is pretty much exactly the same.
So, winter time - I live about 3 miles from work - I deliberately drive to and from work out of my way to where the drive time is roughly 15 minutes just to ensure that the engine coolant and oil get completely up to temp where everything oil/coolant is circulated multiple times, I get a full running charge-up electrically...things like that.
Crazy. But, it's good "maintenance" insurance to do so.
I just did an alternator on a 2010 toyota sienna, $260 rebuilt , but I bet rock auto would have been way cheapThat's crazy. I remember when a battery cost about half as much as an alternator. Now a battery is more than double the price of an alternator.
