I need help tih my car battery

[tnt31]

I think the Wal-Mart batteries have a pro-rated warranty for a period of time after the free replacement period so I would suggest letting them test it. If they say it is good you could take it to advance or autozone and let them test it and your alternator.

I went thru a similar issue with my Mother's Lexus LS400. Turned out to be the starter. Took me about a month to figure it out.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: tnt31
I think the Wal-Mart batteries have a pro-rated warranty for a period of time after the free replacement period so I would suggest letting them test it. If they say it is good you could take it to advance or autozone and let them test it and your alternator.


I think the older batteries have a free replacement and a pro-rating after that. I believe the new batteries have no pro-rating after the warranty expires. I haven't bought a WM for awhile, so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Donald]

I would have them test it anyway. Forget the receipt. They will look at the date code and feels its close enough.

You may end up needing to charge the battery every week or two. The driving habits of your wife are not great for a battery.

Or move farther away from he job.

 

[bmwtechguy]

2 miles is a problem for sure. 12.35 volts is low for a fully chargd batt at rest. Should be closer to 12.6v. I would guess that capacity of the batt has been severely reduced by heavy sulfation.

 

[JimPghPA]

The 2 miles a day assuming that is about 1 mile shut it off, get back in later start it and drive it back 1 mile, is a very short run time after each start. That may not have a long enough run time to get the battery back to the charge level it was at before that day started, and just possibly as the battery aged the efficiency of it recovering with such short charge times after each start, finally reached the point where the battery could not break even, and eventually ends up without enough charge.

One possible solution if this turns out to be the problem, would be to wire in a small solar charger located on the dash.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

I'd still take it back to Walmart even a few weeks out of warranty, if they didn't give me some kind of satisfaction that would be the last battery I'd purchase from them.

However, it often depends on how persistent you are and how cooperative the employees are that day, some are helpful others can be a major PIA.

 

[JimPghPA]

AutoZone (Duralast Gold), or Interstate are now the best reliable batteries.

Of these two the Duralast Gold at AutoZone is much lower in cost.

 

[zzyzzx]

Get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3721-Battery-Charging-Monitor/dp/B000EVWDU0

Equus 3721 Battery and Charging System Monitor

They also sometimes have these at some WalMarts (that's where I got mine).

And try driving the car on a longer trip to charge up the battery OR buy a battery charger (even a float charger would be enough).