Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

How old do batteries last? I installed a sub and amp about a month ago and the battery died after turning the stereo on and off a bunch of times. The car also sat for a while without turning on because i replaced my interior.

Anyway, last night i struggled to turn my car on afterwork and had to give it a little gas to turn on. Took it home, turned it off, and tried to turn it back on. Started up no problem. Now tonight, the battery is completely dead. Car wont start and interior light barely turns on.

So im wondering if my battery was past due? or if my amp drained the battery. The amp does turn off when i turn the car off btw. At least the on/off light does.

Im going to take it to get a load test, but anyone had a battery die randomly?

My car is a 98 with about 105k miles

Thanks

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

How old is the battery?
Playing the sub with the car off is never a good idea.
Leaving a car sitting for more then several days to a week will cause the battery to discharge, if sitting for a long time you wanna keep the battery on a trickle charger, not doing so can contribute to battery failure.
(both of these things can lead to extreme discharging of the battery which can kill a battery)

Also sudden extreme temperature changes (like if it had been 60 till today and was suddenly 30 for a high) can lead to battery failure, it's not uncommon for this time of year to have batteries go out.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

Yeah, it has been cold lately but its been colder before. I took it to autozone and they said it was internally damaged. So i bought a duralast gold and when i installed it, it still didnt turn on.

Ive never had a new battery be dead from the beginning, but ive been told its possible since they sit for a while in the store. I forgot to ask them to check it before taking it home.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

it's not super common but it can happen, never happened to me but I have heard of it.

Spartan7

iTrader: (7)

My truck battery died randomly. It was weird, because I leave it sitting for a month at a time (overseas for work) and it always starts up first time when I come back. But it ended up dying overnight, went from full charge after a short drive to completely dead the next day. It happens.

JC316

iTrader: (1)

I've gotten multiple dead batteries from autozone. More common than you think.

Spartan7

iTrader: (7)

That too. I bought one with a dead cell right off the shelf once. But that's what the warranty is for.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

Yeah im just gonna go back and have them charge it and double check it to be on the safe side. I pretty much got the duralast gold simply because it had the longest warranty.

DANOZ28

iTrader: (1)

if the battery is 5 yrs or older i just replace it & call it cheap insurance. i had a battery on a new car go after 3.5 yrs but thats rare. ps spartan if your gonna let it sit for awhile i'd just get a charger and charge it up the night before you start & drive. just my one cent.

Spartan7

iTrader: (7)

Not a bad idea, but it usually starts the first time after I get back. I've got another 3 years on the warranty so I'm not too worried about it.

DWake

iTrader: (1)

My old interstate lasted for 12 years until a few days ago, went on vacation for a week and came back, it was toast. I couldn't complain lol.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

Ive heard good things about interstate batteries too.

Anyway, i went over to have the battery charged and now it fires right up. I bought it a new positive side terminal and cleaned the negative side while i was at it.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

So now i have another issue.

As the car was warming up this morning in neutral, i pumped the brakes and noticed the rpms dropped to about 4-500rpms.
I let it idle a few more seconds and hit the brakes again, and same thing happened. The lights were also dim. After hitting the brakes a third time, the car died and wouldnt turn back on.



So I took the truck to work and when i came back, i turned the car on and it turned on with no problems. Idled fine too.

Now at night i tried doing the same thing i did in the morning and let it warm up about 4 or 5 minutes, and the dahsboard lights would get dim when i pumped the brakes or even rolled down the windows, but it didnt die this time.

Could it be a bad ground somewhere? I feel like since i installed my amp, ive been having battery problems. Do i need a stronger battery with higher CCA?

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

check the connections on the battery, but you might want to get the alternator tested aswell, I've always had dimming like that whenever RPM's are under 1k since I bought mine almost 2 years ago, but not stalling out, and I've replaced the battery and the alternator (I need a High Output one, but had it die on me on my lunch break and had to replace it with what the parts store had in stock so I could get back to work). I've even cleaned up the grounds I could easily access and done the "big 3" upgrade with 1/0 wire.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

thanks, ill take it to get the alternator tested. I just charged the battery overnight, and i turned the car on today after work, and it started up just fine, but after half a minute, i pumped the brakes again and the cluster gauge needles jumped and died.

I also noticed a ground connection leading off the negative terminal looks rusted and dirty. Ill try and clean it out and ill also check resistance on it.

Did you replace your alternator for the same reasons, or just to support your stereo system?

EDIT, the positive terminal connection is also covered in battery acid dust again. I had just cleaned it not too long ago. Do i need to tighten the screw more? I feel like itll strip if i go any tighter.

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

I checked resistance on the ground, and they marked 0 ohms.

So Im going to start by doing the "big 3" upgrade. I have a gut feeling that the amp i installed is drawing too much power form the electric system. Hopefully this takes care of it.