4 replies to this topic

[toms850R]

Last April I started having problems with the battery not holding charge. I took it to sears and they said the battery was bad, so I replaced it with a Die Hard International type (~600 CCA). This past week it starting behaving the same way...the car starts with a jump and the battery charges, so the alternator must be ok. The battery will not hold a charge overnight, but will hold one for about 12 hours. Also, when driving down the road, the interior and headlight light dim periodically (like the AC turned on, but I have it turned off) and sometimes the ABS/TRACS light will flash on for a second. Could a bad battery be causing the flickering lights or is something else going on? Thanks for any help.

Tom

[Ed Geraghty]

Last April I started having problems with the battery not holding charge. I took it to sears and they said the battery was bad, so I replaced it with a Die Hard International type (~600 CCA). This past week it starting behaving the same way...the car starts with a jump and the battery charges, so the alternator must be ok. The battery will not hold a charge overnight, but will hold one for about 12 hours.  Also, when driving down the road, the interior and headlight light dim periodically (like the AC turned on, but I have it turned off) and sometimes the ABS/TRACS light will flash on for a second. Could a bad battery be causing the flickering lights or is something else going on? Thanks for any help.

Tom

It might be possible you have an electrical short causing the extreme power drain(dimming of lights). Since you battery drains over night, you probably have some electrical equipment kicking in a draining the battery. I have read here somewhere. You need to measure the drain when the car is off with an ampmeter. Then if there is a drain, start poping out the fuses untill you find the culprit. Once you find the problem circuit, you know where to start looking. You car will normally have a small drain but something that drains a new batter overnight should be obvious.

Good Luck,

[Ceenit]

Take it back to Sears and have them to a quick battery/alternator check. It is either 1) another bad battery (must have been defective if less that a year old), 2) alternator is not charging properly when car is running, or 3) the electrical short as mentioned above. All three of these items should be detectable at any auto shop.

Either way, I'd start with the battery replacement since it should be under full warranty. A good battery is necessary to do a good check of the alternator.

[Bay13]

I agree with the take it back to Sears. I just put one in my girlfriends Honda and 3 months later symptoms of a bad battery showed up, stopped by sears, they threw it on the testing machine and said, ya bad battery, walked in the back and got me another one.

I would have done the Optima in hers as well but didn't discover the CostCo connection until too late.

[toms850R]

Took the car back to Sears and it turns out that it was a bad battery. They put in a new one and I was on my way. I asked the tech if batteries fail often within the first year and he said "it happens." It used to be that a DieHard was the best you could get, but maybe that's not so anymore.

Tom