Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by painfx
Originally Posted by NDL
I am thoroughly disgusted.
I own a 2001 Ford Ranger, which has been an excellent truck. For reasons too lengthy to get into, I am not a fan of Exide batteries. Up until three years ago, I was a HUGE fan of Interstate battery (Johnson Control), a company that I am now disgusted with. In both my Ranger, and on my Chevy Impala, BOTH batteries failed right around the time that the warranty expired.
On the Impala, the first Interstate battery was replaced with a warrenteed replacement unit, and like it's predecessor, that battery failed just shy of it's 36 month guarantee. Rather than get another Interstate, I replaced it with a Deka battery.
Now the Ranger's battery is on it's way out. I looked online to see what battery options I have, and Deka made/Duracell branded batteries, in my size (59), have gotten poor reviews online - with a love/hate relationship (a number of users claim to have experienced premature failure).
What kind of battery do I buy? This is nuts.
What is the parastic draw on the vehicle(s)?
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by NDL
Originally Posted by supton
Dumb question: have you monitored the battery voltage? I am wondering if your alternator is undercharging.
I forget who but someone on here was/is a big fan of periodic charging of the battery--they were adamant that most vehicles aren't able to bring a battery up to full charge. Not unless if you are big on the hour plus trips down the highway.
I also wonder if it's just better to buy a cheapo from Walmart. If it dies outside of warranty... lather rinse repeat. It's something of a small cost in terms of vehicle ownership.
Not a dumb question, although I don't believe that the alternator is undercharging.
The Ranger is driven every couple of days. When the temperatures are above 40 degrees, the battery stays charged - at least at an amount that's sufficient to start the vehicle.
Once the nightly temperatures dip into the 30's, if the vehicle is not started and run every couple of days, the battery will have an insufficient charge to start the engine. It only happens when evening temperatures dip into the 30's, although I find the whole experience as unacceptable
Sounds to me like you have a charging issue or a parasitic electrical draw. One of the failures a friend had on his 2001 Ranger over 200k miles was the alternator, and it failed slowly in the way you describe. The battery would be weak and under charged, then it just stopped working altogether. A parasitic draw could also cause the battery to be run down while the vehicle sits, making it have less power when you need to start.
My 2009 BMW 328i has it's original factory battery, and kicked over fine this morning in 20 degree temps after sitting for 5 days, so sitting for that short of a time shouldn't cause issues with the battery unless something else is going on.
I appreciate both of your replies.
I am not going to pretend to have knowledge that I don't have; I wouldn't know how to test for parasitic draw. But here's the thing: this is happening now as temps drop, and it happened last winter. This only happens when temps drop into the mid 30's and below. In the spring, summer, and fall, I don't have the issue that I described.
Now...could something be amiss? Sure. But my mechanic - who is very qualified, patient, and detail oriented, tested the output of the alternator, and all was okay.
How could I test for parasitic draw, and again...I thank you both for your time
Your mechanic should also be able to test for it if you don't know how. Basically you disconnect the battery and put a meter between the terminals when the car is off. If it's beyond a certain amount, then you have a parasitic draw. Also it's not the winter that kills the battery, it's probably the heat. You only notice it in the winter. The curves are crossed, in hot weather, the battery generates more current, in cold weather less. In hot weather, it takes less current to turn over the engine, in cold weather it takes more. So when the heat kills your battery in the summer, you don't notice it til the winter. As others said, I don't think you have a battery problem, it's probably a charging system problem or some parasitic draw. You're not in that hot a climate, otherwise in a hot state, then yeah 3 years is what a lot of people get as it's the heat that bakes a battery not the cold. You could also take the car to get the system load tested before the warranty expires and that will tell you how good the battery is so you can get it changed out before the warranty expires and not wait til it leaves you stranded.