Great time for a dead battery. Winter sux!

[33 IMP]

As a lifetime So Cal native, the only time I've been around an abundance of that stuff is if I drove out of my way to play in it. Some years ago two of my neighbors and I went to the AMBR show in Pomona. One was from Nantucket, a native, the other had spent time in NY working for the airlines. Listening to those two guys about dealing with daily life stuff around that type of climate, heavy snow/butt jazz cold/frozen locks/dead batteries/mold in basements/frozen pies etc etc, makes me glad I'm around this type of area. No snow, does get cold[ for us, warm for you], rain, overcast, fog, but a nice mix of bitchin weather.

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Agree (also socal native). Snow was something you drove a couple hours to get to, played in for a while, then went home. I'll take 110° all day long for weeks on end, over minus 10°, or even 10°, thanks.

 

[dadsbee]

Newer vehicles eat batteries, as they have so much **** going on they basically run off the Alternator and the batteries don't take kindly to that. My 2018 F150 "asks" for one about every 2.5 years when the auto stop start stops working, saying "vehicle charging".

 

[33 IMP]

From my experiences batteries have gone to chit every 4.5 to five-years like clockwork. Found that checking them can be a hassle, they can show good voltage and drop to near zero trying to start them then pop back to 12v on the meter. Last time it would show just over 12v sitting. Good batt needs to show 13-14 volts. That battery was 4.5 years old. If a battery is at the age I replace it working or not.

I got decent life out of my optimas in my diesel pickup, but when they needed to be replaced, the redtops were almost $600, and the regular wet cells were about $250. If they last half as long as the redtops (7-8 yes or so) I figure I'm ahead.
And the oem in my 2012 camaro went ten years.

 

[1967coronet]

I got the hood open this morning in about 5 minutes. Pried at it and cleaned the gap around the hood with my plastic fastener remover/pry tool I got as swag, but it didn't open. Then I tried the hood release again and it popped! I didn't think it would have re-latched after I'd tried it Tuesday.
But my garage door handle is still froze and my sockets are in the garage. I do have an electric ratchet in the house, so buying a cheap 10mm and extension to do the job wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.
Question is, should I jump it and see if the battery charges up OK, or figure 4-1/2 years is reasonable life and it's time for replacement?

Some batteries last 10 years some like yours 4 or 5.
Can you charge it ? Sure but that sucker is going to leave you sitting again and you may not be lucky as sitting in your drive.
Most times the newer cars & trucks do not give much warning.

 

[PlymCrazy]

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Sure is creeping up on ya. Close the shades when the snow can peek in your living room like that. That's an invasion of privacy!

 

[GTXDAN]

Newer vehicles eat batteries, as they have so much **** going on they basically run off the Alternator and the batteries don't take kindly to that. My 2018 F150 "asks" for one about every 2.5 years when the auto stop start stops working, saying "vehicle charging".

Boy that's a fact. The wife's 20 Nautilus runs the battery down setting in the garage. We took it to the dealer to check it out and they said there was nothing wrong. She only drives it once about every 2 weeks to get groceries. Doesn't keep the battery charged up. I put a battery tender on it with a plug that comes out under the hood on the left side so she can plug it in when she gets home. Does the trick.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Ever had a battery explode? Frozen batteries are really good at it... Either pull the battery & take it inside to warm up then charge it or pull it and replace it..

 

[dadsbee]

Boy that's a fact. The wife's 20 Nautilus runs the battery down setting in the garage. We took it to the dealer to check it out and they said there was nothing wrong. She only drives it once about every 2 weeks to get groceries. Doesn't keep the battery charged up. I put a battery tender on it with a plug that comes out under the hood on the left side so she can plug it in when she gets home. Does the trick.

Charging them doesn't even work with the Fords. When this starts they'll load test and show okay, yet they'll never reach a voltage that allows the stop/start to think they're good even after a 500 mile drive. I had to fight with our service manager to load test a known bad battery to get a damn FAIL report, if that what it took to get Ford to pay for a warrantee battery! Next one lasted 3.5 years and left us with a no start this Summer after coming in from camp to get groceries...to a dead truck.

 

[68-500]

When I move back to the winter wonderland in a couple years. There will be a cab tractor with a large snowblower hanging off the back of it.

 

[Joske2]

Why don't you use something like this?
You can charge thru the cigar lighter.
I bet if you charge overnight, it will start, also because it keeps the cold out of the battery.

 

[Fury 440]

I got the hood open this morning in about 5 minutes. Pried at it and cleaned the gap around the hood with my plastic fastener remover/pry tool I got as swag, but it didn't open. Then I tried the hood release again and it popped! I didn't think it would have re-latched after I'd tried it Tuesday.
But my garage door handle is still froze and my sockets are in the garage. I do have an electric ratchet in the house, so buying a cheap 10mm and extension to do the job wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.
Question is, should I jump it and see if the battery charges up OK, or figure 4-1/2 years is reasonable life and it's time for replacement?

From my experiences batteries have gone to chit every 4.5 to five-years like clockwork. Found that checking them can be a hassle, they can show good voltage and drop to near zero trying to start them then pop back to 12v on the meter. Last time it would show just over 12v sitting. Good batt needs to show 13-14 volts. That battery was 4.5 years old. If a battery is at the age I replace it working or not.

It was minus 40 up here last night with the wind. If you can, give it a charge. Might save you some money for now. We usually get about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years out of our batteries up here. I replaced both our daily drivers this fall. All of the hot rod batteries come in the house around mid December.

Good Luck!!

 

[Jim 68cuda]

Attempted to jump start the truck. Failed. Battery charger wouldn't work on it either. Battery is only a few months old. Last drove it 3 weeks ago. Might be the cold weather. But, at one point I had an issue with the under hood light not turning off. If that happened again, that could have killed the battery. Will mess with it again tomorrow. Wonder if it discharged completely and froze.

 

[hdwrench]

I got the hood open this morning in about 5 minutes. Pried at it and cleaned the gap around the hood with my plastic fastener remover/pry tool I got as swag, but it didn't open. Then I tried the hood release again and it popped! I didn't think it would have re-latched after I'd tried it Tuesday.
But my garage door handle is still froze and my sockets are in the garage. I do have an electric ratchet in the house, so buying a cheap 10mm and extension to do the job wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.
Question is, should I jump it and see if the battery charges up OK, or figure 4-1/2 years is reasonable life and it's time for replacement?

if you don’t want to do it over i would get a new battery….if you like to gamble charge it up ( a good slow charge) and put a load tester on it ….i installed a battery charger cable and have it hanging out my grill , cheap insurance if your hood won’t open….

 

[Budnicks]

Man I'm glad it's not like last year, 111"s of rain ontop of
& when we got like 25'+ (Feet) here, some 50'+ just 15-20 miles upcountry
a 2' to 4' storm would pass through, over 100 days we had measurable snowfall
from early Nov. to March I'd clean it up, shovel it off, make it safe for dad,
no ice or a clear path etc.
& another one would be right behind it,
rince & repeat

a few inches here & there, not so bad
saved my back too, far less shoveling, multiple people died shoveling snow,
how f-ed up is that ?

I still hate that Devil's dandruff ruins everything
especially in states that use salt, we don't use it here

this below is a normal storm here, 12-24hrs

so bad we didn't get mail deliveries for a week at a time

albeit isn't their mantra
snow, rain, sleet or hail, the dark of night they will deliver

a few dustings maybe 6"s one day
a couple 3"s days last month, cold & snow it's colder when it's clear

every 3 of 7 years we get bombarded, the idiots douchebags in Sacramento
don't know how to deal with it or manage the damn water, from it

 

[GTXDAN]

7” of wet snow last Friday and Saturday here, which I did a good job of staying on top of before the temperature plunged in the evening to below zero that night.
I’d gave up trying to get the snow off my truck, but I cleaned the wet snow off the car before it froze to solid ice. I mostly drive my Dart in winter trying to keep the truck out of the salt.
Went out for a bit Sunday in the Dart when it was -4, but then I hunkered down until Tuesday morning, it’s -10 when I had to venture out at 7 am to head to work. My Dart turns over slow, fires, stumbles and dies. Then won’t even turn over.
I tried to open the hood to use my booster pack, but it’s frozen shut. Trucks iced up, so I gave up driving to work.
Today it warmed up to a balmy 15 so I tried to start the Dart. No dice, same deal as the previous morning. And I still can’t get the hood open. The I tried to open my garage service door to get a plastic trim tool to pry at the hood, and get an extension cord so I can use a hairdryer on the hood, but the lock is froze.
A new battery should fix everything but if I can’t open the hood or get into the garage to get at my tools that task is going to be an insurmountable challenge!
With my luck the stores will be out of my size battery when I go shopping.
I just want to crawl in bed and wake up in 2 months…

Remember this stuff well growing up in IL. We used to use WD40 to give all the car and house locks a good lubing before it got down to freezing.
Remember the old farmers coming to the JD dealer in the middle of winter with their tractor batteries that were frozen up solid. You had to let them thaw out completely and then try to charge them. Usually they were shot once they froze up.

 

[XS22J8R]

I had to heat up my garage door knob for 10 minutes with a hair dryer before I finally could get the lock to unlock. I put some graphite in it afterward, maybe that will help.
I actually had to go to 3 stores to find one that had my damn battery on the shelf. A Menards, then the Wal Mart down the road, and then another Wal Mart a couple towns over.
Installed the battery, but the car still wasn't interested in starting. Finally I wrestled with it some more and it begrudgedly started. I am pretty sure it had got pretty flooded the last few days during my attempts to start with a poor battery.
I'd say all is well that ends well, however now the check engine light is on. I'll have to take that somewhere and get it scanned and reset. Probably just from the flooding, but I don't have a scanner to check and reset it myself.

 

[toolmanmike]

Batteries sure don't like extreme cold. Any drain on the battery can kill it pretty fast. I must have not gotten the hatch shut on the wife's ride a few days ago. It was real close to stone dead the next morning.

 

[dadsbee]

I've only boosted a truck twice... once was this Summer, the other time was trying to leave the "dock" about 10 years back on a -40 day after everyone had left and I was on my own. Later realized that one of my guests had been leaving his sled helmet on the back seat and didn't close the door fully, leaving the interior light on. Power back on, run some cords, a quick stint on the charger and then the booster pack we use to run the portable shower in the Winter and I was running again.

 

[Budnicks]

I feel for you guys, cold & snow sucks, after 40 years old
it's no fun anymore

you guys

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When I lived in Alaska in the mid 80's I always had a block heater,
110vlt plug-in deal, block-heater in a freeze plug from the factory
I'd have to use cardboard in front of the radiator, so it'd get to up to temps
later had a custom leather one made with a zipper
to let more air pass if needed
I never had any battery troubles either, maybe just lucky
I left the defrost in 'on position' full on in both my trucks,
heater valve open circulate some warmer water
84 Toyota 4x4 SR5/2.4ltr 22R (carb) ext cab SB
& my 74 Plymouth Trailduster 4x4 400ci (600 Holley/alum intake) BB 4 speed,
were both parked outside
while I managed an apartment complex, in Anchorage
until I got my house, in Palmer
when they were inside but still plugged them in, outside or inside
everyone's house or small business had plugs everywhere, for the heaters
small cost of doing business, big chain stores didn't
albeit most always had a guy in a towtruck there to help thou
he/they made some good $$$
(My heavy insulated garage was about 30* always unless I had the pot belly stove going)
plugged in even inside it help it circulate & keep the (when outside esp.)
ice down some around the hood & windshield

I think it kept the engine compartment a lil warmer too,
just warm enough to not freeze anything
maybe 40*s so the oil didn't get so thick, water temps were like 55*-70* at best
surround areas was "warmish", not frozen

I never really had issues with doors sticking or hood latches etc.
of course unless I forgot to plug it in at night, it was brutal
I put WD40 on all the rubber before winter too, less sticking/ice

My sister never plugged her's in & she went through batteries like crazy, yearly
hard starting a cold motor, in her 84 Chrysler Daytona Turbo
cold oil & lack of oil circulation helped/killed the turbo too

Best thing I ever did was let her drive my lifted Trailduster, with Q78 35" swampers
full cage, winch etc., big old tube bumpers, much safer,
more metal around her, from/for running into ****
my Toyota was brand new (so was her Daytona) I didn't want her to wreck it
the Trailduster was one tough SOB & heavier, better 4x4 it could take a beating,
lil' mistakes & stupidity

We left the Daytona in my garage
I turned it into a racecar Super-Gas 9.90 340/727 8-3/4 14x32's
after she wrecked it a 2nd time, they totalled it,
in the ice & snow on the C street bridge, going to work at Elmendorf AFB

 

[dadsbee]

LOL... we're all over 60 now, other than little Paul that's 49, and this is what you call SUCKS! -34C and stuck in a mile long slush field for 3 hours at 8AM... If it hadn't been for sunshine and zero wind, not even a breeze, the outcome wouldn't have been good!