They are Kirkland signature, but that just means they are made by some other battery makers. I've used a couple in my vehicles, never had a problem, never owen the car long enough for one to fail. People used to say that their Alkaline batteries were no good, but they are just relabeled Duracell (Consumer Reports). In my experience the kirkland brands are pretty good quality.
Consumer reports again? ehehe. I had returned 2 kirkland products. Shampoo and dish washing liquid. The dish washing liquid label says lemon fresh scent, but it actually smells like stinky feet. I like the vitamins and other products, never tried batteries yet, hopefully when that time comes I'll buy one from them.
At the Costcos that I have been to here in SoCal, the batteries are on racks with the other auto related merchandise. You find the right one, put it in your cart, and take it home. I am pretty sure there is a guide hanging there so you can look up the right battery for your vehicle, but that's about it. Thing is, after you take it home and install it, you have to figure out a way to get rid of the old one. I had my old one in the garage for a couple of years before I was able to properly get rid of it at a community hazardous waste collection event.
Corporate pressure from above will have the Jiffy Lube mgr. more likely to rip you off.
The Costco "Kirkland Signature" Batteries are from Johnson Controls
- "Eveready" and a few hundred 'house brands' for chain stores. But of course they can make those private label batteries to many different quality levels to meet the price point of the retailer.
Whoever makes the batteries for WalMart can deliberately skimp on the overall quality (life span, long term current capacity, etc.) to meet the price point target they are given.
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That's enough - but go over to the Groceries side and buy two or three 10# bags of Baking Soda, and a box of the rubber gloves over by the Pharmacy. Chemical Splash goggles and a 2" "Chip" disposable paintbrush you'll have to get elsewhere.
The Baking Soda serves double duty. You'll use maybe a quarter pound of it to make a water-soda paste for cleaning out the small residue of escaped acid from the battery tray and surrounding area - and the rest of the open bag (and the spare) is kept right there (along with a charged garden hose) ready for emergency sulphuric acid neutralization in case you drop and break the battery, or make a spark at the wrong time and blow the top off.
If something goes very wrong you need a large quantity of baking soda and running water on hand Right Now, no running back for it. Delay could cost your eyesight.
If it's kept in a sealed bag it doesn't go bad, at least for acid neutralization. Might not want to use an old bag for odor reduction in the fridge, or the lettuce will smell like axle grease...
Scrub off the outside with some more baking soda paste (so you don't wreck your trunk carpet), toss it in the trunk on top of a trash bag, and take it back to Costco. They have a pallet for collecting old batteries in the Tire Service area, when the truck drops off a load of new batteries they send the dead ones back for recycling.
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The last time I used Spiffy Lube was because I had a broken foot and couldn't do it myself - and the only car that was running that had an Automatic was my old Corvair - everything else in the house was Stick.
I had to stand there (on crutches) and walk them through the entire process. Totally clueless - The "Manager" was barely shaving, and the other workers were fresh out of Junior High.
I brought an AC filter, I knew they wouldn't have one. The computer didn't have a procedure for "vintage cars" and they had to ask how much oil it took, which was the right drain plug, how to get the filter out without making a mess... (They still did, the "plastic bag over the filter trick" takes practice to pull off.)
About the only thing they *didn't* do was open up the trunk and go "Where the hell is the engine??" But I did have to open the trunk and show them where the Master Cylinder fill cap was...
If you are renting an apartment, you're stuck - unless the landlord is a gearhead, then he'll understand and set aside a maintenance area. With a strict "Clean up your mess when you're done" policy.
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It's good to know that you can at least take the old battery back to them on your next Costco visit.
Actually that was an important point. A battery replacement warranty is almost always useless because when you suddenly need one you have to buy it where you are.
I was in Cape May with my cousin, who owns a nice expensive Lexus. The car wouldn't start so we called the AAA. The truck comes and it turns out that the almost new Lexus battery has a bad cell. The AAA folks now have a very thorough tester. He gives us the printout saying what is wrong.
But we need a battery now and there is no Lexus dealer closer than Atlantic City. So we buy the battery from the AAA guy. He tests that one, and it's bad. It seems that anyone can have a bad cell in a battery. The next one is fine.
So my cousin vows to get Lexus to give him back money. I'll have to check but I doubt they'll do that. On the other hand, my cousin is very persuasive.
Moral: any battery can go bad. When you need to replace it, you buy one from whoever has one.
On Oct 17, 7:55 am, dgk wrote: ..Actually that was an important point. A battery replacement warranty is almost always useless because when you suddenly need one you have to buy it where you are.
My current battery has a color indicator, green for good, yellow for check/add water and red or clear (i can't recall) maybe when it turns yellow I'll buy a new battery. (depending on the age of my battery)
..Moral: any battery can go bad. When you need to replace it, you buy one from whoever has one.
good point, I will keep that in mind when I buy a replacement, I'll ask them if a new battery bought from another store is reimbursable if the dead one is still under warranty. That never occurred to me, all of my batteries died months after the warranty period.
When I bought a battery at Costco, I took the old one to my local Sears auto department. They have a pallet for old batteries sitting next to the building.
Geoff
-- "Is it true that Dorothy Parker named her pet parakeet Onan because he kept spilling his seed upon the ground?" -- David Mikkelson
I hardly think a profit motive is unique to those evil corporations.
Geoff
-- "Is it true that Dorothy Parker named her pet parakeet Onan because he kept spilling his seed upon the ground?" -- David Mikkelson
Profit is good, but Jiffy Lube is famous for making stealing into an art form, at least in one market area. Watch:
That is good to know. Thanks.
No doubt that everyone wants to make a profit, but Jiffy Lube in the Los Angeles area takes it to an art form.
Yeah...and my mechanic wonders why I want to commission a statue in his honor.
We had stopped using Jiffy Lube several years ago here in Phoenix because of their predatory tactics and sloppy servicing. Found a dependable place, but that went out of business a couple of months ago. My wife went back to Jiffy Lube because she knew where it was. Got a bill for $115 for an OIL change and some MINOR things they sold her on.
BTW, they checked off that they did all the liquid levels, but low coolant level triggered my car computer less than a week later.
Bah! I am NEVER using them again.
Chip
have my issues with Consumer Reports also, but battery testing is pretty straight forward, plus they revealed that the AA Kirkland signature batteries are the same as the Duracells they sell for 4 times the price, and there test also showed that all alkaline batteries are essentially the same, no matter what the label, so you may as well just buy the cheapest.
How long is the warranty?
DAS
For direct replies replace nospam with schmetterling
Stinky foot scented soap can't be good :) We buy there soap products all the time, and never noted any problems, but now I'll have to smell it first!
I have my issues with Consumer Reports also, but battery testing is pretty straight forward, plus they revealed that the AA Kirkland signature batteries are the same as the Duracells they sell for 4 times the price, and there test also showed that all alkaline batteries are essentially the same, no matter what the label, so you may as well just buy the cheapest.
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