batteries: a commodity?

[BerniniCaCO3]

Well, think I might need a new battery some time soon.

If I leave the car undriven for a few days, I sometimes need a jump start; just happened a third time today (third time in say 4 months).

Before I spend $85 on the battery I'll be keeping for the next 3-5 years, any preferences, or are they all pretty much alike and I should get the very cheapest?

Walmart, target, autozone, advance auto, pepboys, firestone...? any preferred retailer?

I have a 1990 grand marquis.

[grandpaslincoln]

I have an Everstart or whatever it is from Wal-Mart. Put it in the Lincoln I think 5 years ago, and it's still going.

[Lincolnmania]

i use duralast batteries from autozone cause i get deep discounts

[85crownHPP]

Interstate or bust!

[Southern_Pride]

Interstate. But I get em at cost.

[zoomie]

1000 amp everstart from wally world

[gadget73]

I buy the 5 year Neverstarts from Walmart so I can get a new one for free when they go bad every 2 years on me. I'm on at least the fourth one now. I've had a Duralast in the truck for about 5 years now, never once had to jumpstart it.

[tim marks]

interstate only. guaranteed wherever you are in the u.s. if they do fail. ive been using them for years and can only remember one that was crap.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Thanks for the input! Hmm, how do I, too, get these deep discounts?

Just to make sure it IS a battery though...
a month ago I did the water pump, took three days with the car sitting there as I had other work too. When I was done, the car started up, I drove it 20 miles back to my house (did the work at a friend's house), but the next day saw it stall out on me! Had to get a jump from my sister.

Then today, I've been working on upgrading the audio for the past 2-3 days, again it has sat undriven; heard the starter trying but the engine just didn't kick on!

And fairly regularly, I have to turn the ignition twice to get the motor to kick in.

Measured voltages; 12V on battery, 14.1 w/ car running (alternator), so I THOUGHT both were still good. That's when I checked maybe three weeks ago; I don't have a voltmeter handy to see what the battery is putting out right now, now that it's not starting.
Interior lights are quite bright though; not noticeably dimmed.

Sign of a dying battery?
I've actually never replaced a battery before, only been driving 4 years. The battery in this car, which I've owned 4 months, says it's exactly 3 years old.

[tim marks]

i would check the connections at the alternator and also the battery cables since you would have had to mess with them when doing the water pump. make sure they are tight and there is no corrosion on them. it very well may be a battery, but all too often what is seemingly a battery issue is nothing more than a bad cable end or connection....

[BerniniCaCO3]

Yeah: I've had a habit for example, of leaving the negative loose, so I just wiggle it on if I need to move a seat forward or roll a window down or use the power locks, etc., while working on the car. I then just wiggle it off again.

But I observed that while this is more than sufficient to roll down windows and move seats, I couldn't start the car until I tightened the lead firmly.
I can make it tighter, but I checked that the very first thing today.

Another thing I can think of is that I cut off and replaced the positive terminal, in order to wire in the amplifier's wire (not yet connected-- it can't be draining power).
Ahh... wait! The copper that was literally cast into the original lead lead would have been unexposed. I cut that part off, of course. The wound copper wire behind the lead, however, has had 20 years of partial exposure to air, and was tinged green. I might clean it with vinegar, or simply clip it back and strip the wire to where it's uncorroded!

I did, of course, tighten the new replacement terminal down fully, even obsessively... that will not be the issue.

The final possibility is that I finally got around to cleaning the terminal. I noticed that the stiff steel bristle brush that is a battery terminal cleaner left a lot of scratches in the lead terminals; would that reduce surface area and conduction?

[andymac0035]

Back to the battery brand thing.....

I like the sears die-hard. I have a die-hard (gold series I think) in my car.

Many years ago, with my very first car (a 68' fairlane), I broke a motor-mount, which resulted in the engine tourqing over and the fan slicing open the battery (as well as messing up the radiator big-time). I was just a kid and didn't know what the heck I'd done at the time (scared the crap out of me). Fortunatly, this was on a hill above my Dad's house, so I just rolled it down there ( I had shut it off immediatly) and let it sit till he got home from work (he was a mechanic).

Dad came home, I told him what happened, he put the car in neutral and started it!
This was an old battery (I hadn't had the car that long), with one cell dry, and yet it still cranked that 302 over and started it. I was shocked!

I have bought other batteries, but I prefere the die-hard if I can get it.

[gadget73]

Replace the + cable entirely. Don' bother fixing it. Its 14 inches long or something, a new cable is less than 20 bucks.

The scratches in the lead aren't a problem. It just needs to be clean.

Batteries with weak cells may measure normal voltage with no load, but they have severely reduced cranking amperage and may have internal leakage. I had problems with my car before the battery died entirely. If I had the doors open for 20-30 minutes, basically long enough to vacuum the car, it would not start. It would also crap out if I let it sit 2-3 days. With a good battery, thats not an issue. If you have constant flat battery problems though, you may have something going on thats draining the battery.

[BerniniCaCO3]

Oh... where does the + cable go to? I had idly tried to trace it once, seemed to go a bit deep: but if it just connects under the front of the car and is easy to get to, I'll replace the whole cable.

Hmm, might replace the battery then.
No, never a dead battery (except the one time I left the lights on: but I knew I'd done that. It occurs to me that it didn't want to jump the next day, I had to take the battery out and put it in a charger to get it to work). So I'm thinking (and hoping, since it would be harder to diagnose) that there's no weak short/ current leakage anywhere.

And here I was hoping that everyone would name exactly the one, same brand

Is $85 about right for a battery for a 1990 grand marq?

[Steve'87]

Best battery I ever used was an Optima Gel Cell. Had that battery for 9 years and in 6 different vehicles before I let it go with a car I got rid of. Last time I talked to the guy it was still working! You'd have to pay more for one of those though, about $130-$140. Worst is probably those wal-mart-fall-a-part batteries, but they work in a pinch.