My 4 yr Old Battery Died After Short Drive
06-01-2019, 08:50 PM
#1
Drifting
Thread Starter
My 4 yr Old Battery Died After Short Drive
I was quite lucky today. I took my Vette out for a short drive including three stops for errands. I drove home and pulled into my garage. All was fine until I had to start it up again (after an hour) and found it wouldn't start, just gave those agonizing semi-turning-over metallic clanking sounds. My voltage read very low around 9. Anyway, I removed the battery (first time doing this in a Vette) and went to Pep Boys. They currently have a $20 rebate deal on Bosch batteries that have a 3 year 100% replacement guarantee thru their stores, and of course the longer 5 year pro rated warranty included. The Bosch fit perfectly and even had some more cold cranking amps to boot! So, I was lucky the battery decided to end it's life in my garage, and lucky Pep Boys had a quality battery at a fair price. All good under my hood! 
Last edited by RetroGuy; 06-01-2019 at 08:52 PM.
06-01-2019, 09:11 PM
#2
Have you checked your voltage while the car is running? I’d suspect your alternator may be failing from the way you described the battery died. A good alternator should put out in the range of 13.5-14 while running. Glad you didn’t get caught away from the house, it’s convenient when cars die at the house!
06-01-2019, 10:10 PM
#3
Drifting
Thread Starter
I know the voltage was around 13 to 14+ consistently, but I honestly wasn't looking at that a few days prior its death. Thanks for the reminder! I also recommend getting the "AAA Plus" that has up to 100 free miles of towing service and other added bennies.
Last edited by RetroGuy; 06-01-2019 at 10:13 PM.
06-02-2019, 12:04 AM
#5
Team Owner
Check the warranty carefully. So lets say you start on Jan 1 2021 to Dec 31 2005. If it fails in 3 years, free replacement. If it fails in year 4, it is pro-rated. That means you get 1 year of "unused" battery back. Sweet. Only issue is can only be applied to your new battery to continue the warraty. That means you get 1 year's worth of money back but your warranty does NOT start from that day. It starts from Jan 1 2021 if I am reading this correctly. As such, your new replacement battery has warranty up to Dec 31 2025. Am I mistaken here?
