Battery issues...

[Scales]

Does anyone know offhand what shops will test a battery for free. My girls car is dead in my lot and it's too late for me to do anything about it tonight. I have to work all day tomorrow and she has to work tomorrow night so I need to figure out some way to get her car running before 6 pm tomorrow while I'm at work. Hell, I don't even know how she's gonna get anywhere to buy a battery if she needs one. And I'd be willing to bet she can't even replace the battery on her own. I did try jumping it and it didn't take. I'm guessing the battery is toast... Any ideas or suggestions??

[Corvette Jabo]

Does anyone know offhand what shops will test a battery for free. My girls car is dead in my lot and it's too late for me to do anything about it tonight. I have to work all day tomorrow and she has to work tomorrow night so I need to figure out some way to get her car running before 6 pm tomorrow while I'm at work. Hell, I don't even know how she's gonna get anywhere to buy a battery if she needs one. And I'd be willing to bet she can't even replace the battery on her own. I did try jumping it and it didn't take. I'm guessing the battery is toast... Any ideas or suggestions??

I work in the lead acid battery business. Allot of places will test your battery but it needs to be fully charged to do any testing accross the battery. How old is the battery. A good rule of thumb, after 4 years you role the dice in the winter here in MKE. There are some batteries that can go 7 years when they are not stressed much by parking in a garage on cold nights.

Batteries Plus is good for testing your battery, they are located on Greenfield Ave. & HWY 100. They will even install the battery for you and that way you will not have to deal with the core charge.
Jabo

[Scales]

Thanks for the tip. I'll let her know. Her roommate just picked her up so it's outta my hands now I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if her car sits here for the next 4 days til I'm done with my work week...

[DirtyMax]

That sounds weird that it wouldn't take a jump. Usually if you get a good connection on the cables of a good battery, the dead car should run. At that point, it should have no need for the other battery..

What is it doing?.... or should I say not doing? Lights all out when hooked up to a jumper car? Clicking when you turn the key?


WalMart should still be open tonight if it is determined to be a bad battery.

[Scales]

Well, when I went to look at it, only the dome light would barely come on. I hooked the cables to my car that has a farely (6 mo. old) new battery for about 5 minutes. I couldn't even get her car to click. While the cables were hooked up, her headlights wouldn't even turn on.... I gave her my car for the night and called it quits. Now she's at home and I don't see me goin to Wal-Mart to buy a battery for her tonight. She has all day tomorrow to figure something out. I still think it'll be here til at least Monday or Tuesday of next week....

[DirtyMax]

Sounds like a dead battery alright. If you have a good one on your car, you should be able to hook jumper cables up to her car and get it to run, since it's essentially running off your car at that point. Hook them up on the battery cables and wiggle them on til the + sparks. Then you know you have a good connection. Let your car run on it with some RPM's for a few minutes(it won't do much charging at idle). You should get hers to start. Then let it run for a while and take it out for a good 5-10 min. ride. If you turn it off and come back 15 mins later and it starts, something killed it (Cell phone, radar detector, dome light, ?) At any rate, I'd still replace it with winter coming. Good luck. I know what it's like to be SOL at night like this and have no time to mess with it.

[Scales]

See I thought I'd be able to jump it too, but after 5 minutes of nothing, I gave up. Like I said, I couldn't even get a click outta her car. I was iffy about her terminals, but I know I got a good connection when I saw the sparks. I tried a couple times with no luck. Guess it's time to put a bullet in the old battery...

[wikked]

Auto Zone / AdvanceAuto tests them as well.

[SlowStee]

I used to have battery problems...but optima solved most of them :thumbsup ...advanced auto/auto zone and all those places do testing for free

[Corvette Jabo]

We MFG the Optima, Auto Zone, Die Hard, Wal Mart, Farm & Fleet, Energizer, and I think advanced auto and a few others. The Optima battery is a great battery but you could buy 3 batteries at Farm & Fleet or Walmart for what you would pay for a Optima Battery but hey the Optima does kick Butt. The quality of the MFG is the same in all brands.

When you have an older battery they get to a point where the active material on the grid sheds off and settles to the bottom of the battery. The grid can also cut a hole through the envelope seperator and short it self out to the grid next to it. And thats when they turn into a voltage or current Black Hole. You have to hook up your cables from a good car, keep it running and bring the R's up to bring up the output from the good car's alternator which exceeds the draw from the bad battery and allows enough voltage to spin the starter on the dead car.

I have blown up many of batteries here in the lab over the years. When you hook up the cables, you want to connect then in the right order and location otherwise you can lose your eyes. You have heard the horror stories, there true. The following is from the Battery Council International Data book:

Don't jump start a damaged or frozen battery. Be sure vent caps are tight and level. Be sure vehicles do not touch and ignitions are off.
1) Connect positive (+) booster cable to positive (+) terminal of discharged battery.
2) Connect other end of positive (+) cable to positive (+) terminal of assisting battery.
3) Connect negative (-) cable to negative (-) terminal of assisting battery.
4) MAKE FINAL CONNECTION OF NEGATIVE (-) CABLE TO ENGINE BLOCK OR FRAME OF STALLED VEHICLE, AWAY FROM BATTERY.
5) Start vehicle and remove cables in REVERSE order of connection.

For what its worth!

Jabo

[gman7711]

Advanced auto Parts will Charge, Check, and Install.

If you have LONG jumpper cables, you may not be able to "run" the stalled car off of the other car's battery. There is alot of resistance there.

[SlowStee]

We MFG the Optima, Auto Zone, Die Hard, Wal Mart, Farm & Fleet, Energizer, and I think advanced auto and a few others. The Optima battery is a great battery but you could buy 3 batteries at Farm & Fleet or Walmart for what you would pay for a Optima Battery but hey the Optima does kick Butt. The quality of the MFG is the same in all brands.

When you have an older battery they get to a point where the active material on the grid sheds off and settles to the bottom of the battery. The grid can also cut a hole through the envelope seperator and short it self out to the grid next to it. And thats when they turn into a voltage or current Black Hole. You have to hook up your cables from a good car, keep it running and bring the R's up to bring up the output from the good car's alternator which exceeds the draw from the bad battery and allows enough voltage to spin the starter on the dead car.

I have blown up many of batteries here in the lab over the years. When you hook up the cables, you want to connect then in the right order and location otherwise you can lose your eyes. You have heard the horror stories, there true. The following is from the Battery Council International Data book:

Don't jump start a damaged or frozen battery. Be sure vent caps are tight and level. Be sure vehicles do not touch and ignitions are off.
1) Connect positive (+) booster cable to positive (+) terminal of discharged battery.
2) Connect other end of positive (+) cable to positive (+) terminal of assisting battery.
3) Connect negative (-) cable to negative (-) terminal of assisting battery.
4) MAKE FINAL CONNECTION OF NEGATIVE (-) CABLE TO ENGINE BLOCK OR FRAME OF STALLED VEHICLE, AWAY FROM BATTERY.
5) Start vehicle and remove cables in REVERSE order of connection.

For what its worth!

Jabo
i paid 90 bucks for my Red Top.....lets not forget the 6 year warranty :thumbsup

[DocDave]

I have had this issue before. I way exceded the life of my stock AC Delco battery in my truck. It was over 5 years old and had alot of cold starts on it. One day nothing. A half click, then nothing. Put my high power battery charger / starter on it for a while and still nothin.
Went to Farm & Barn bought a new battery. Problem solved. Sometimes a battery can get to the point where it is almost dead shorted in which case a jump or good charger won't work.
Good luck.

[Corvette Jabo]

$90.00 is a great price to pay for an Optima Battery!

Jabo

[Scales]

Well she ended up buying a $45 battery form Autozone. I haven't put it in yet cuz I'm lazy and my car runs. :D

Thanks for all the info guys.

[SMS 1]

Well she ended up buying a $45 battery form Autozone. I haven't put it in yet cuz I'm lazy and my car runs. :D

Thanks for all the info guys.
Slacker:goof

Oh well I still haven't fixed my PS leak for like 3weeks now either. Guess we're both lazy as hell :thumbsup

[Scales]

Slacker:goof

Oh well I still haven't fixed my PS leak for like 3weeks now either. Guess we're both lazy as hell :thumbsup

Nonsense poopypants! I had stuff to do. You don't think those beers were gonna drink themselves do you?? :goof

[Scales]

Finally got the new battery in after some issues with rusted, rounded bolts. (there is a support brace that goes right above the batt.) That hooptie is finally runnin again. :thumbsup

[Max 93]

good, now bring back my tools :goof

[Scales]

I'm keepin your tools til you pay me back biotch! :tomato