Did I replace my battery too soon?

Hi...

Not a mechanic, just an old retired electrical guy who loves cars.

The symptom you describe is exactly what you'd expect were you to have put the (jeep) battery in without cleaning and properly tightened the connections. Clean 'em up and you'll be fine.

Take care.

Ken

Well it is too hard to guess without looking at the battery itself.

If you had the dealer replace the battery, and they have a brain in their heads, then they probably plugged a jig into the cigarette lighter to keep power to the computer while the swap of the batter was in progress. If they did this, then none of the "learned" information was lost.

If your battery was original, and there was sediment approaching the bottom of the plates, then moving it very well could have shifted the sediment enough to start an intermittent short on the bottom of the battery plates. This most certainly cause the behaviour you describe.

I had a battery that developed an intermittent cell in my 94 Acclaim. Everything went nuts. The dash was blinking, gauges were going haywire! You would have thought I had driven into the Burmuda Triangle! (or that my dash as "possessed").

One new battery later, and all problems vanished. :)

I think this is a case of "if it aint broke, don't fix it". As you have discovered, by trying to save a few bucks fixing something with a problem by swapping parts to another thing that had no problems, all you wound up with was TWO broken things!! The bad Kooties crawed into your jeep!

Seriously though...

You probably did yourself a favour! If that battery was so borderline that just moving it cause the problem to appear, then at least you found it while at home and not out in the bush! Imagine if you were driving down a country road - miles from anywhere - and hit a pothole that bounced the battery around sufficiently that it started acting up???

By unwuttingly bringing on the problem while still at home, you have actually averted a potential disaster on the road!

The same thing happened to me earlier this year. I had some work done on my Caravan. The shop had left the park lights on by mistake for about 30 minutes before I picked up the van. When I went to start it, it would not even crank! I leaned out the window and yelled "Oh boys! I think we have another problem!"

They were more than a little surprized! They jumpped it, drove it back into the service bay, and did a quick system test. Alternator Charging AOK! (thank GOD). Battery Capacity - FAIL. Fortuitous that it happened literally 5 feet from the service bay! :)

Count your blessings!

PS: As to Original GM batteries lasting forever - that was a LONG TIME AGO. These new fancy sealed batterys with the "Green EYE" are SHIT. The eye will stay green until you turn they key! Then suddenly turn RED! LOL. At that point I don't need a damn eye to tell me there is a problem! What I found is that the new breed of GM batteries is a controlled discharge, so the volume level of the cell is not supposed to vary as wildly as the old batteries. UNFORTUNATELY, what GM does is not fill the cells FULL. They usually put just enough acid in the battery to barely cover the plates. Once they snap the covers on, you can't see that this is what they did, nor can you remove the cover wihtout breaking it! So the battery will last pretty much just until the car is off warranty! As soon as the top of those plates are exposed and dry out - that is the begining of the end for the battery.

Reputable battery manufacturers - like Interstate Battery - still provide a removeable lid so you can CHECK the level in each cell and top up as required. Admittedly, if everything is working properly you should not have to top up but maybe once in the life of the battery. And when you top up, make damn sure you use DISTILLED water. But when I get a new battery, I ALWAYS check it when I get home. Nine times out of ten, the fluid level is only 1/2 way to the full mark! If you want maximum performance and life, you battery MUST have the proper fluid level!

I swapped the battery at the dealer myself. And I did not supply power during the swap. But no funky idle. It seems like the bad battery was causing havoc.

I know I know, using the Jeep for the boat might not have been the best Idea, my wife groaned when I told her what I was gonna do. But the boat battery does seem happy at least. Like you said at least it died in the driveway.

I agree with Newman - it has an intermittent shorted cell that you brought on by physically disturbing it. Just as well that this happened and it got replaced.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Hmm, Using your truck as a battery charger. That be the most expensive charger you invested in. Loading down your alternator and taking a risk on your electronics in your truck. A good way to smoke the harness and circuit in the truck. Invest a simple $45.00 battery tender out in the market and you wont have this issue. Scott

Really? Then you'll know the explanation for the lights going out, as you stated here:

It's pretty tough to come with an alternative explanation, isn't it?

Batteries only cost about $40, and it's done, so you might as well forget about it.

Those are a waste of money. Buy a standard battery charger, it will have a chip in it that once the boat battery is charged, it will keep it float charged and will not boil out the batterly like the old-timey battery chargers did. Then you can use it as a regular battery charger as well as a battery tender.

Ted