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Need a new battery, any brand preferences?


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Hello!

Hope everybody is having a nice start to the summer!

I've been noticing a trend the past month, and figure it's time to address it! If I leave my doors open, or radio on (with the engine off) for more than 10 minutes, the car won't start. Starts easy with a jump, and volts are up between 12.5 to 14.1 once running. (Not that the "dash voltage reading" is truly indicative of much, just a baseline to go by.)

Battery is a die-hard gold, about 3 years old. I've been 'banned' from sears because I've "run my mouth" too hard regarding the warranty, as the battery has been replaced twice due to internal shorts. I'd like to avoid another die-hard if possible. (And their entire staff will most likely run for the hills if they see me coming... they're all afraid of me! :rolleyes: )

I've run Interstate's in my past cars, and always loved them! Anybody running an Interstate with good results?

I know our cars have very moody electrical systems, so I won't cheap out on the battery. Just looking for some feedback on brands that work! (even though they're all made by 2 companies and re-labeled anyway...)

-Scott

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I'm not sure how much you had to shell out for the DieHard, but I hope it was worth the time, the effort and the reputation. I have a friend that always buys his batterys at Sam's Club. He does his best to kill it. Leaving the radio on for long periods, very short trips, anything he can think of to damage it. As a result he is on his fifth battery in about 10 years for that vehicle! He has no problem with taking the time to return the battery, and Sam's apparently has no problem giving him a new one every couple of years.

No battery is perfect, so I'm not going to recommend any specific brand. I can tell you what I did, and let you decide which way you want to go. I went to my local Buick/GMC dealership and paid $125.00 for a new AC Delco exact replacement battery. They were very helpful and offered to install it, but I did the work myself. The original AC Delco battery was about 9 years old when it started showing signs of weakness, but never did die completely.

I'm sure if there was a genuine problem that was covered under warranty, they would have taken care of it......maybe.

Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed.

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I'd take the car to a local parts store and have it checked to make sure its the battery at fault for the problem. They can also test the alternator to see if its charging properly. Autozone does both for no charge.

As far as the Interstate battery, I've had them in the past with no problems.

J

2001 Deville, Sterling Silver exterior with Dark Gray leather, 93k miles

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I've heard good things about interstate. That said, I think there are only 2 or 3 companies in the country that make batteries for all the different vendors.

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Tomorrow I'll call the dealer and price out an AC-Delco OEM, and get the price from my local mechanic for an Interstate. If the Delco is close or the same, I'll go with it. If the Interstate is significantly less, I'll go that route.

I used to have decent results with DieHard, but I guess the quality has really gone south in the past years. And to top it all off, Sears concept of 'Customer Service' is highly questionable at best, at least around here.

In my past cars (Jeep, Oldsmobile, Range Rover, Pontiac) the batteries would last me 5 or more years. The Eldorado seems to enjoy a new battery every 3 years on the dot. I suppose the various systems in the car demand more power, and the battery works a little harder than my past cars. What's more surprising to me is that the battery is so small, with the crappy side-post terminal system! You'd think on a car with such power demands, GM would have gone with a much larger battery and some beefy terminals! I saw a restored MG at a carshow last weekend that must have only had headlamps and a 2-speed defroster fan, and it had a HUGE battery! But then again, I shouldn't really be looking to the English for any engineering tips.

I'll let everybody know how it goes tomorrow!

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My DieHard Gold lasted for 8.5 years. I am on the second battery from NAPA in less than 6 months and it is not good.

The saddest thing in life is wasted talent

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Have you been "deep cycling" the battery. - in other words how many times have to put the battery charger to it - What I a getting at is maybe there is some sort of parasitic drain on the battery when it's parked. - this will wreak havok on any conventional battery - and shorten it's life.

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I've checked for the obvious things, like lights in the trunk/glovebox that may be stuck on, but haven't found anything. I think the real issue is my driving behavior. The car is not always driven daily anymore. When I do leave the house, I tend to only drive locally (3-5 miles), usually doing errands that involve starting and stopping a few times. I don't think the battery has really had a chance to 'recharge' between my stops.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a day off from my endless studying, and take a 100 or so mile drive out to western MA. Roundtrip, its going to be a 200+ mile drive, which I think the car desperately needs. If the battery keeps acting shady after that, I'll replace it next week.

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With all the electrical equipment on these Caddy's, they tend to be hard on batteries. I've been driving Cadillacs for over 20 years now (wow, i can't believe i just admitted to that) & I have always used the AC/Delco batteries. They might be a little more expensive but they tend to hold up really well & if they don't, I have never been given a hassle in having to replace them. The warranty is very good.

Max

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Have you made sure your battery cables are clean?

I bought a battery from Walmart 1.5 or 2 years ago and it's been doing good. Sixty or seventy bucks roughly.

WARNING: I'm a total car newbie, don't be surprised if I ask a stupid question! Just trying to learn.

Cheers!

5% discount code at RockAuto.com - click here for your discount!

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....(even though they're all made by 2 companies and re-labeled anyway...)

Labeled for the company buying that specific production run. Battery manufacturers will produce a battery to the specifications of whoever their customer happens to be; Diehard this month, Interstate next month and on and on.

What there is no way of learning is the design specifications Diehard or Interstate, or fill-in-the-blank impose on the battery manufacturer. And those specifications involve production cost items such as plate material and thickness, separator material, and case thickness just to name a few. And those specifications can and do change from time to time (cost driven).

Brand loyalty in the aftermarket battery game is a roll of the dice for the consumer. In fairness, I have to say the performance of ACDelco branded batteries has disappointed me only one time since 1955.

Jim

Drive your car.

Use your cell phone.

CHOOSE ONE !

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I have used an AC Delco now for 5 years and it has been great

I was going to look into the Optima batteries when this one dies

http://www.optimabatteries.com/home.php

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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The car is not always driven daily anymore. When I do leave the house, I tend to only drive locally (3-5 miles), usually doing errands that involve starting and stopping a few times. I don't think the battery has really had a chance to 'recharge' between my stops.

Yep, that's what is doing it. the battery is going thru deep cycles & sits uncharged. Like myself, you are a candidate for a Optima battery. it handles these conditions alot better. the drawback is that it's a bit pricy. but it'll save you and the employees at the stores you shop at alot of grief. :)

I have had mine almost 1 year, and it has been great. I purchased the yellow top.

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....(even though they're all made by 2 companies and re-labeled anyway...)

Labeled for the company buying that specific production run. Battery manufacturers will produce a battery to the specifications of whoever their customer happens to be; Diehard this month, Interstate next month and on and on.

What there is no way of learning is the design specifications Diehard or Interstate, or fill-in-the-blank impose on the battery manufacturer. And those specifications involve production cost items such as plate material and thickness, separator material, and case thickness just to name a few. And those specifications can and do change from time to time (cost driven).

Brand loyalty in the aftermarket battery game is a roll of the dice for the consumer. In fairness, I have to say the performance of ACDelco branded batteries has disappointed me only one time since 1955.

The four manufacturers are: Delco, East Penn Battery Co., Exide, and Johnson Controls. All true that the manufacturers produce the battery to the customer's spec. so just because the local AutoZone store says their batteries are made by Johnson Controls, doesn't mean it is a good battery as Johnson Controls makes several different quality levels of batteries. East Penn makes Interstate, Deka batteries and others.

AC Delco batteries have only disappointed me once - about two years ago, the positive terminal on the AC Delco battery in my Fleetwood began to leak acid. Fortunately, the battery was on my bench - it was toward the end of winter and the car was still in storage. Even at that, it lasted 6 of the 7 years of the warranty. AC Delco has resolved the leaking positive terminal issue.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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I think Sam's Club Closed but

You can try Costco. They sell their Kirkland brand, good quality, inexpensive and most have a 7 year warrenty and first 3 years full replacement or full cash refund based on current price(which is always higher), they are also have 100% satisfaction or full refund on everything but computers (6 month 100%) which is still pretty amazing. Also if you don't feel comfortable with the Kirkland brand you can also buy an Optima Spiral Cell Battery for way less then anywhere else.

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After having an Optima battery die on me in *THREE MONTHS* I went back to AC Delco from the dealer. Which is what I should have done to begin with.

"Capital punishment means never having to say, "You again"?
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Good news after my 200 mile drive - I think the battery is in a 'fully charged' state, and holding. On my outbound drive, I noticed the voltage holding in the 14.2 range for almost the entire trip (engine around 22-2500rpm at speed). After a while, it did edge down to about 13.5 or so. On the return trip, voltage was around 13.5-13.8. The car now starts very quickly!

Not to say my voltage readings are highly significant, but they seem to tell me that the battery needed a deep 'charge,' and is doing much better. The unfortunate part is that other than a very occasional long drive, this car only gets driven very locally and short distances most of the time. I also do realize that the alternator isn't truly capable of providing a 'deep charge,' but I figure a long drive probably helps.

I'll keep a watch on the battery this week, but I'm sure I'll still end up replacing the battery before the winter, as it's going past 3 years. I don't mind waiting for a jump in the nice 70 degree weather, but when it's dark, snowing, and 20 degrees, my opinion changes rapidly! :angry:

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The car should be able to sit a couple of weeks without you having any difficulties in starting it, at least a week even in winter time if it is well charged. The charging shouldn't be an issue. If the car uses say 300 Amperes in current for 5 seconds when starting the car it should take about 300 seconds (5 minutes) to charge it back again with a charging current at 5 Amps. The alternator is good for at least 100 Amperes when working as hardest so there is plenty of extra power available for every option available that you could possibly want to turn on. (heated windshield, rear window, heated seats, lights stereo etc) If there is any problem with the charging system not coping the extra load, the car automatically turns off "unnecessary" current drawing items.

I would by an old fashion acid density meter to check if any of the cells has gone bad.

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.... I also do realize that the alternator isn't truly capable of providing a 'deep charge,' but I figure a long drive probably helps.

Your alternator is more than capable of providing a deep charge; it just won't happen on a short drive. Your alternator can deliver more charging current than any battery charger you have ever seen. More current than a lot of arc welders today.

You might prolong your car battery's life by using some other source of music when the engine is not running.

Jim

Drive your car.

Use your cell phone.

CHOOSE ONE !

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My father told me once that when he was young sometimes it was possible to make a dead battery work by dropping it to the ground... That way the sediments that shortened the cells sometimes came loose just enough to make it work again! But the covers where more sturdy back then. I sweat everytime I have to deal with a battery :D

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Hahaha... I never heard of the 'dropping the battery' trick, I'll have to remember that one if I'm ever feeling lucky! I still remember my father trying to teach me how to jumpstart a car... I must have been about 10 or so, and thought I'd help by holding the "other" end of the jumper-cables while he hooked his side up to the 'good' car. Not sure what ever inspired me to "touch" the ends together... but I got a really nice spark show and welding lesson! Dad had some kind words for me, and I never made that mistake again! :rolleyes:

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I have a car that has to sit, often for months at a time. (Not the ETC, of course) I purchased a solar charger at Kragen that has a long cord, two largish alligator clips, and a panel about 6" by 18". The cord is long enough to reach the roof while the other end is attached to the battery. With this apparatus, the car has always started. I think I paid 20 bux or something for it - and that way the battery doesn't discharge, and the battery stays alive longer.

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My original battery developed an internal short. The dealer replaced it for free when the car was four years old. They replaced it with another AC Delco. It's been fine since (two years later).

BostonETC97, you said that your battery was so 'small'. My battery is the biggest battery in a car I have ever seen. It's probably a little bigger than the batteries (two of them!) in my Ford Diesel Powerstroke. Is your battery underneath the rear seat or in the engine compartment? I'm wondering if GM used the small batteries in the older models and then switched to the humongous ones in 2000 or so.

Nice thing about my 2003 is that it has the built-in battery run-down protection. If anything is left on, the computer will turn all power off (exc for things like remote keyless entry) after about 12 minutes.

As for Interstate batteries, I've had a couple in two vehicles. One lasted nine years (in my pickup Nissan pickup) and the other lasted more than five. I love them.

2003 Seville STS 43k miles with the Bose Sound, Navigation System, HID Headlamps, and MagneRide

1993 DeVille. Looks great inside and out! 298k miles!

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