Posted: 8/25/2006 5:08:39 AM EDT
| I had a new maintenance-free battery put in my Suburban last November. The truck was getting serviced (damn transmission) the other day and the bung holes left some lights on and sucked the life out of the battery. They were at least nice enough to tell me that they did it and had to give it a jump start. My question: Will the battery recover fully (I have it hooked to a BatteryTender, charging it right now) or is it shot? The manager said he would cover replacing it if I find I have problems. Thanks. |
| If it was taken to full discharge it will never quite get to a full charge again--but you won't be able to tell and it really doesn't affect performance or overall life significantly. If it was just low and "needed a jump" (LOTS of amp draw to run a starter) then it's not a big deal. You are wise to charge it with a charger rather than using the alternator, as that's very hard on the alternator. Car batteries are meant to be kept at full charge and alternators are only meant to maintain the charge, not provide a full recharge. |
Yup. Also, if it is not a maintenance-free battery and the water was low, it will screw the battery. If you are having problems with it in the future, it is more than likely caused by jumping it with empty (or near empty) cells. Many people don't think to check before jumping, and I have saved many the unwary lady on the side of the road a replacement battery by filling the cells before I offered a jump. |
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I discharged the battery completely in my 2001 truck by leaving the headlights on. I mean dead as dead. Remote door opener wouldn't work. Jumped the truck. Let the alternator recharge the battery. This was 2 years ago. Still working fine to this day. And this truck sits outside in Minnesota, so it has some hard starts in the winter. This is a factory Ford battery too, which didn't used to have the greatest reputation. Although both my wifes and my 2001 batteries are going on 5 years, so maybe they fixed them. |