Discussion: dead car battery
in: BorisGr; BorisGr > 2015-12-12
Dec 14, 2015 12:18 AM
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Perhaps you simply drained the battery by e.g. leaving the lights on; have you tried jumping it?
Dec 14, 2015 2:29 AM
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That's how batteries are drained 90% of the time. Though if it is more than 6 years old, it as well may be on the way out. Autozone usually runs 20% off sale if you give them your old one.
Dec 14, 2015 3:21 AM
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Jump it. If it goes dead again get the battery and alternator tested before guessing which one to spend money on.
Dec 14, 2015 12:18 PM
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Starter is another potential candidate. It would seem obvious to rule it out if it starts the vehicle ok when the battery is good. But I had a case recently where the windings in a starter were gradually shorting out and it killed 2 batteries before we figured it out. Symptoms kept pointing to the battery until we eventually tested the starter. It still had enough windings in play to start the engine on a hot new battery, but it drew so much current that it drained the battery unbelievably quickly.
Dec 14, 2015 2:19 PM
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Well, I had lent the car to a relative, and when I showed up at the garage on Saturday, the lights inside were all on, so I was not surprised that the battery was dead. My time constraints were tight enough that I did not have the time to find someone to jump it for me and still be able to go train.
Later in the day, we called Geico, and they came and jumped the car for free within half an hour, since it was included in our car insurance.
Later in the day, we called Geico, and they came and jumped the car for free within half an hour, since it was included in our car insurance.
Dec 14, 2015 7:18 PM
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Before you do, be sure to take a look at one of the newer style compact ones. Here is one that was shown at the bottom of the above link. They're cheaper and typically have USB ports that you can charge your phone or whatever from as well. You can find these at Lowes or similar. Until you see it in action it's hard to believe a battery this small will start a car, but it'll start a full size V8 pickup with it no problem.
This discussion thread is closed.