New Battery for the tow vehicle ....

[flyfisherman]

I suppose 5 years for a battery replacement is not all that bad; the GMC Sierra pick'em-up has 87,000 miles and is my main transportation. A lot of other vehicles I've owned in the past had battiers give up the ghost a lot sooner, but the way this one went was a first for me.

Usually when a battery is on it's last leg one gets a little warning ahead of time, like it not being all that frisky when starting and such. In this case the battery just went completely dead ... period! Come to find out the positive battery post simply had corroded itself loose from the battery itself; it had seperated from the battery. The posts on this battery are on the side rather than on the top.  

I always carry one of those portable jumper batteries just for a back-up; it has come into a lot of use while back in the mountains on our camp/fishing trips. Seems someone every season is in need of a jump and rather than connecting a jumper cable to my TV's battery, the portable jumper battery gets the task. So the jumper battery saved the day ... or rather the night, when this incident happened.

I was wondering if anyone here ever had this type of battery failure.


Fly

[AZsix]

Out here in the AZ desert the average battery only last about two years regardless of how long it is supposed to last so we never get to have a battery long enough for it to do that. The heat really does a number on them. The tough part is that when it goes it doesn't give you any warning. Back in MA you could tell when a battery was starting to die because it would turn over a little slower. Here in the desert you jump in the car to go to the store, it starts right up but when you come out of the store to head home......click. Jump the car and the next stop is the auto parts store.

[pakalolo]

FWIW, if it were my truck, I'd convert over to top posts. Napa sells batteries that have both kinds of posts. That way you can get your new battery now and change the battery terminals and wires later, if you don't have time to do it now.

If you look at the design of side-post vs standard top-post, it quickly becomes obvious that top-post offers a superior design.

[flyfisherman]

If you look at the design of side-post vs standard top-post, it quickly becomes obvious that top-post offers a superior design.

I'm inclined to agree. The top posted batteries where right there where you could see them and if there were some corriosion one could remedy it. With the side posted battery I never knew there was a corrosion problem. What's more, the posts on the side-posted are much thinner.

Problem now is that I've already replaced the battery with the same type of side mounted battery. Had I a little insight into the situation the truck would now be sporting a new top-posted battery.


Fly

[campdaddy]

Bought an '05 Durango last spring with 20K miles on it. It ran great but within a week it would start occasionally to spit and sputter and then die. It would start back up and run fine for a few days, maybe a week, and then just out of nowhere, spit, sputter, and die. This happened three or four times in a period of about a month. I had an appointment to take it back to the dealer when it just died in traffic one day and this time it would not start; it wouldn't even turn over. Dead battery! Had AAA put a jump to it. It would start and run fine until he removed the jumpers then it would just die. Had a new battery put in it and it has run fine ever since. I was used to the older vehicles where if you could get it started it would run off of the alternator, not so with the newer computer controlled vehicles; my dealer confirmed this. If the battery is bad it won't run - or at least mine wouldn't. Also there was never any of the usual indications like hard starting, weak headlights at idle, losing radio presets. I think,that with computer controlled vehicles and I suspect a new design in batteries, where they don't get weak anymore they just short out and die, that the days of being able to "nurse" a failing battery along for awhile may be gone.

[austinado16]

Fly you'll be fine for another 5-7 years on your new battery.  If I may make a suggestion, install the red and green felt non-corrosive pads under the battery cables at the battery and then spray the cable ends and battery terminals with some clear coat.  It'll stay clean and nice for years.  

Also, keep the battery clean on the outside.  When they get dirty, electrons can wonder back and forth between posts, via the crud on the battery case, and that drains the battery.