going to proactively change car battery

this was a post I started. So much has happened since the post, especially in the last week.

Anyway, I did get the battery at Costco around XMAS 2021. The shop was slammed and I waited 45 min to check out. The kid kept saying I've asked management for help but they won't send any. I'm sorry. There were like 7 ahead of me and 5 behind!

That battery is fine, going strong. I debunked the costco free batteries for life program.

A guy on the car forum said he gets a new battery every 2 years at costco, under warranty. We all said how does that work, it doesn't make sense.

I decided to find out. Took the battery out of my wife's SUV and went to Costco. It was already replaced once under warranty. The mgr stated you can get as many replacements as needed, but the original warranty follows each one. I said that makes sense. A guy on the internet claimed you can get a free battery for life at costco, that the warranty resets with each replacement. Now I know he was gaslighting.

The garage queen, battery is now 11. Still fine, drove the car today.

Now to my wife's.

Last Thu, when temps were dropping, took my son to McD's after karate, and we go to leave, car is dead. Meaning nothing happened except a whirr when I tried to start. Lights don't dim, lights are bright incl. headlight. Called my wife and she came with the jump pack, didn't work.

Now, I know it works, because I started a Nissan that had been sitting for 3 years in our driveway (YouTube piqued my interest). Tried 2 more things. Because her battery is under the floor and rear pass' feet, I jumped directly to the battery, from the pack, a good battery with cables, and the other car. Nothing changed, so I knew it was not the battery. Plus, the battery passed a load test.

I was so thankful that I canceled AAA in 10/20 after years of nothing but paying them annually lol

The funny thing was I was really impressed by the tow co. It cost $135 and courteous every step of the way, including driver and dispatch. They send a thank you card the next day? Strange, I thought it was a predatory business.

Got the car back and really paid a lot. $350 labor (one cat has to come off to access the starter), and $371 part. The part is $155 online (genuine GM).

Here goes. If I supplied the part, the car wouldn't be back yet. I would save $216. There would be no warranty, as opposed to the 2/24 now. Worth it? Probably not--that's how even if shops allow customer parts like the old days, they win.

I try to look at the bright side. We broke down 3 miles from home, not in VA where we were the weekend before. And I'm living proof that AAA should always be canceled sooner than later!

Now that I have seen a jump pack in action, I'd always have one. Yes, it's likely not needed, but you can help others too. Got this one for $125, and then I bought a $7 box to store it (doesn't come with one)

https://a.co/d/aAejgvy

https://a.co/d/hzybuS9

First time I saw a jump box in action I bought two, one for my Jeep and one for the wifes. They are most definitely game changers. Last year I went to the ER of a local hospital and ended up being admitted, spent a week there. Upon discharge came out to find the battery dead, because I left the dashcam on and it was very cold I suppose. Whipped out the jump box and I was on my way. I do have AAA and could have called for a jump, but then I would have a much longer wait to finally get out of there.

I got the HULKMAN Alpha 85 2000A Jump Starter, which can also power/charge USB devices with a type A or C port. It also has a deep jump cycle for really dead batteries. It also has a built in flashlight, better to have and not need than to need and not have. I've found they hold their charge for a pretty long time too, I do top them off every once in a while.

They're called power ports these day, not sure they are the same as the old cigarette lighter ports which needed to get really hot to light your smoke.

Well, when the first big cold of the season comes, that tells me how much longer the battery will last. I pay close attention after the car cranks a little slower in the colder temperatures. With a good, strong battery, the car cranks the same all year.

I don't gamble, so I use Interstate batteries. Always get far, far more life than expected.

Clean the terminals every spring and fall. This is crucial. Cruddy connections at the terminals impacts battery life, and starter behavior. Keep the terminals clean.

But thanks to climate change, my wicked old batteries are doing just fine!!

I've seem them specified as "accessory outlets".

They are still 12V, and still have the same not-very-good form factor, which means some pairings of sockets and plugs don't actually make good contact. As to maximum current--you'll need to check your car. I think 15A fusing is common, but the trunk outlet on my 2002 Audi was fully 30A.

My 2022 Tesla Y and 2023 Tesla 3 have such outlets, but because the "12V" battery is a small lithium-ion one, they are commonly called 15V. Of course your 12V socket is not actually at 12V when the engine is running--more like 13-14, and mine don't get above 15.5, so the difference is not so very much.

Come to think of it, I don't know what mine are fused at--I've not even spotted a fuse box in the Teslas yet. I should look into that.

For clarity, "John of PA" didn't do the quote thing correctly, I do not have a Tesla, and that was not my comment he quoted.

Another reason these forums need a “delete” option and a longer duration for which you can do an edit which seems to be 2 hours.

I commend folks doing a "quote reply" who pare down the quoted part of the earlier message to just the part of the text on which they wish to quote.

The risk in doing this is that by removing the quoted section's bracket-slash-quote-bracket, the reply's text appears to be part of the original quote, not the reply. This is even more likely to occur when the quoted text includes previous quotes from others.

I hope the above makes sense. It should be to folks who do pare down quotes regularly. I have accidentally done this quite a few times, but catch it since I always Preview my reply before Posting it.

In any event, kudos to those who work to extract only a portion of a previous post when doing a reply.

My understanding is Interstate is a marketing company, they do not make batteries. They happen to be the marketing co. behind Costco batteries, however.

None of our vehicles require the terminals to be cleaned, but I do remember back in the day my dad had a wire brush made just for that, and he used sodium bicarbonate and a toothbrush.

On batteries that I've installed, I have those green and red washers, and lately, black ones made by NOCO. But the garage queen nothing, and battery is 11.

You are wise indeed. When my wife's starter failed, I knew something was going on, but one really doesn't proactively replace a starter (unless maybe grinding/clashing etc.). What I heard was a seemingly wimpier start. Remember, on these new cars, even though there is a key, the driver's key action is not deciding how long to engage the starter. It's no different than a button, just that there's a key. So I felt it was slower and seemingly quieter. Sounds do tell a lot as you say!

p.s. I used to not understand but I do now, it's cost. I sprung $40 for a battery load tester (I think more today), so that sorta trumps all as far as condition--when I see the resistance jacked up, going back to HS physics v=ir, I know there's an issue with the battery. The resistance is usually like 3.8 ohms maybe....7 means not good and imminent failure....I do look at the CCAs but I don't weigh it that much, because I know a new battery rated for 730CCA, when it's 65F upon bringing it home, the CCAs are over 900....such a battery by the time I replace it, starts the car ok, but is in the 400's...and the tester will say REPLACE...

Getting back to the OP's original post, I've had great results using a battery maintainer/desulfator.

I use this one from BatteryMinder:

https://www.amazon.com/BatteryMinder-128CEC1-Charger-Maintai...

It has doubled the life of some of my batteries, particularly those that see infrequent use.

Quoting when there are multiple quotes attached can get tricky but with practice can be done, especially when using the 'preview' before posting. I too, appreciate when folks use it, makes it easier to understand what a comment is in reference to.

I have been using Battery Tender brand products for years on my motorcycles all year long, not just during the winter.

The one I buy comes with cables I hook directly to the battery with a quick disconnect that pops out under the seat. This gives me easy plug in access to both maintaining the battery as well as jumping it if I ever had to. Comes with jumper cables too.

I too, have experienced life of my batteries extended by at least two times the norm.

Battery Tender Plus 12V Battery Charger and Maintainer: 1.25 AMP Powersport Battery Charger and Maintainer for Motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs - Smart 12 Volt Automatic Float Charger - 021-0128

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0128-Maintain-Dama...

That's me.

Phil

Previewing a reply before posting is great advice. I always proofread my posts but often make the mistake of doing it after posting. If I see mistakes, I go back immediately and modify/correct them (hopefully before anyone else replies and locks my post from being edited). But there is another risk in editing after it has already been posted. If you use the "back" arrow on your browser to redisplay a thread, then modify and resubmit your post from that redisplayed page, it can cause a duplicate entry of your post (at least with some browsers). I have been caught by this many times and need to learn to use the "Preview" button before submitting the original post as CraigW suggests.