loaded6shooter

^ this

replace the battery

i had to replace my alternator 2 years ago and it would shut off after a few miles...

BleedinBlue

Are autozone's diagnostics accurate? He said the battery was checked twice and it checked ok.

Nuke

Stock, 5 y/o MotorCrap battery??? No wonder it won't hold a charge...

Jas5

Well O'reilleys hooked it up to their machine inside and it tested "good"
Then I went to autozone and they tested me doing a start up and said everything checked out.

But after work today I had to get jump started by a stranger. This time I took it inside autozone and had them bench test it, they said it was BAD!

So I got a 3 year Duralast today. Get this, the old battery was a 3 year duralast as well (gold), and had 12/10 on it, so only 1.5 years old. However I didn't have the original purchaser's phone # so didn't get a free battery.

edit: ok this sounds really noob, but if you unplug the negative and let the ECU reset, or say replace your battery, does your tune stay the same? Mostly curious cause my idle keeps dropping to 550 rpm for a few seconds, then raises back to 750, when I go to neutral and it makes me nervous. I do not have a handheld tuner or anything.

loaded6shooter

not necessarily, i replaced my optima red top a couple months ago. tested "ok" but it was bad.

wcgman

The tune should stay the same. I think what you're seeing is the ECU resetting the air/fuel mixture type of stuff which might take a little bit of driving. As far as the car doing that in idle, it really doesnt mean anything.

Wherever you took that battery they should have given you the warranty regardless. That's why the date sticker is on the side. We'd have people come in and we'd ask but if it wasnt in the system or they didnt have a receipt, we'd go off of the date sticker and either they would get a new battery or a prorated one. Only once did we send someone packing and that was because the battery clearly had physical damage which is not covered under any warranty.

04AZUREBLUEMACH1

I am telling you that this may be exactly what it needs. I solved this issue a few months ago on one of my cars.

That's just it... the battery probably isn't bad, just drained. It won't die again if you charge it properly. If your alternator was bad then your car wouldn't be running.

Just jumping it off is not enough to fully charge it. Your car is starting because someone else's battery is doing the work. Your car is running because the alternator is powering the car. But, in order to crank the car again, you need to have your battery fully charged. This won't happen by just letting the car run for a few hours... That's why you have to keep having people jump start your car for you. The battery is drained, and charging it overnight will give it that deep charge it needs.

By the way, I am an Electrical Engineer.

aaquib1992

If he has that old OEM battery then sulfation alone has probably weakened the output of the battery at the terminals. Not to mention, a battery will degrade over time and no longer hold charge as well as it used to (chemical breakdown I believe). Better to just replace the battery all together IMO.

04AZUREBLUEMACH1

I was explaining why I recommended the trickle charge... most people don't understand that you can't just jump a dead battery, run it for 10 minutes, and expect it to magically charge all the way up.

If I was dealing with the original battery from 2007, then yeah, I would probably replace it too when it became convenient.

aaquib1992

Ah gotcha, I agree with you though- if the battery is less than 4-5 years old I always try to recharge it first.