Sunday morning, our car's dash lit up like a xmas tree with all the faults. We made it to church and back home. Monday I had a Dr. appointment and the car was still working. We made it to the dealership and pulled into the inside drop off when one of the service writers came out with a scan tool to see if it could pick up any of the faults that may have been stored in history. Showed a bad battery. I don't know why, it was only 8 years old. They had to give it a jump to get the car into the shop area. Perfect timing to have the battery completely die at the dealer. $400.00 later we were on our way home.
Cool! I can't even recall how many times I've had breakdowns like that at a time that could have certainly been worse! Always thankful when that happens...
With the temperature as it was, and an 8yr old battery, I would've figured that was it and changed it myself as preventative maintenance. Good to see it only hurt the wallet a little more than it should have. That reminds me that in need to take my wife's 4Runner to work on Monday. It's getting the new tires I got for it installed finally. The place I trust that's by work, couldn't get to it until Monday.
It's worse than I remember. The highest dollar, Mopar brand battery back in early 2020 was about $280 before tax.
Went to start my pickup yesterday and battery dead, 1 year old Diehard Platinum. Put charger on it but again this morning dead. Will take it to Advanced Auto to have it checked out and most likely replaced. Hopefully the next one will be better.
Don't buy any that are made by Johnson Controls which has now been sold to Clarios. Die hard , ever start , dura last. Etc. Deka, made by East Penn are the best bet for quality and are made in the USA.
Rural King still has batteries for the average vehicle under $100...and they aren't bad...made by Penn from what I hear...
No rural king around here, unfortunately. Although my auto repair place that mounted the tires in my wife's 4Runner today did a once over the 4Runner and said the battery was at 30% of cranking capacity. 9 year old battery. Oops. It always started. Still has. I'll be getting a new battery, and putting it in myself. With a little searching , I found batteries, deka/east Penn for $132 for the 6yr warranty one and 155 for the 7yr. 6yrs is fine. Otherwise stroll into O'Reilly's and they are 180-200. Depends on how fast you need it.
