DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

Bad luck= using them in daily drivers and having them fail prematurely while still in warranty. No deep cycling, no sitting for months. With everything else the same we changed to Costco's Kirkland brand for almost half the price, the batteries have worked flawlessly for a longer amount of time with no signs of giving up anytime soon.

And the Redtops we bought were from different batches as well (about a year apart.) That's just me and my friends' personal experiences, a small local sample for sure.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

get a kinetik instead.

Rey

I've had bad luck using a kinetik for a starter battery. Switched to a yellow top and haven't looked. Although when used strictly for car audio they do really well. Shuriken batteries are rebadged kinetiks and can be had for much cheaper

ninja757

my LS doesnt start sometimes after i leave it parked for about 5-6 days. my battery is fairly new.

any thoughts?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

parasitic drain, something's gettingn stuck on.

somnoboy

Possible infant mortality. Try cleaning the terminals (always good practice), then drive at highway speeds for one hour. If it still dies after a few days, I would guess dead battery. But you might want to test with a battery tester first.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

This. I'm having the same problem. I don't drive my LS4 at all and just sitting the battery drains. It's a new battery, tested good. I'm thinking courtesy door switches on mine, but that's just a stab in the dark at the moment.

<EDIT> Turned out to be a bad battery, drained it while installing my interior and it never could hold a charge after, despite being tested as good at one store and charged, it drained again and I went to another store where it tested bad. Replaced it under warranty and it's been fine since.

deanshark

Don't stab too much in the dark, ya might hurt someone. If it was your door switches you would have the light on the dash for an open door. Stab somewhere else, it's not that.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

Well I notice the lights not coming on when the doors open sometimes, playing with the switches gets them to turn on. Although that should have the opposite effect... hmm. Perhaps its strobing on and off through the time it sits as it connects and disconnects vs just staying on. Not like I'm sitting there watching it all the time so i wouldn't know. The only other things I can think of are; aftermarket radio/antenna issue (antenna motor is unplugged) or door lock actuator is still acting up (replaced it with an ebay motor but who knows.) Battery came back dead from testing at the auto store yesterday, there is a chance that it went bad after it got drained when I was putting the interior back together.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

just disconnect the door switch and check.

DonCorleone

iTrader: (6)

All four of em? man that sounds like more work than my lazy butt wants to do. Is there a fuse? lol.

Rollaboy

iTrader: (1)

Hmm ok dunno if im having gremlings in my enginebay?

Well here the other day on my way to work suddently some of the icons on the dash lights up. i remember the yellow oil warning light and also the battery icon and some other things. forgot exactly which ones. Well then the radio shutted down while i was looking for a place to park in the morning trafic. Turned off the car. Tried to start it again but not enough power at all to start it. What the F!

Called my brother to the rescue and he cable started it and it started with no problems at all. He drove away and i started driving again. after 500 meter i got into the morning traffic jam. Suddently the icons was showing again.. oooh nooo.. The radio blacked out again and before i could do anything the car died. I had it pushed into the side and that was my start of a bad day.

Well later i got my friend driving me and i bought a new varta 95amp 850cca battery. installed it and the car started no problem. But we took a amp meter and it seems that the alternator is not generating power to the battery. we took it home to my friends garage and lifted it up. checked the wirring and everything is good. took a plastichammer and hit the alternator around. an old trick of my friend and we got the alternator working a little.

Well i have already ordered a remanufactored denso alternator from ebay.

But my question is, why dont the battery icon come up in time if the alternator is not charging?

I checked and no fuses were blown.

deanshark

Mine was the same way, not enough warning with the "idiot" light. When my altenator was bad I was just switching batteries everytime it died with a fully charged one. (until I had time to change the alt) There was no light for it not charging. When the battery light came on (and all the other dash lights) I knew I had 45 seconds to pull the car over to the side of the road. That's why a gauge is so much better then a light. All this technology on these cars and they can't put a gauge in, why?
I've never heard of anyone banging on an alternator to get it to work, starter yes, alternator no. Bang on it hard enough, it'll work. I hope you still kept your old battery as a spare b/c it was still good.

Rollaboy

iTrader: (1)

Well the odd thing was that the old one I got checked with a battery tester and it said replace battery. So i had and old smaller battery standing in the garage as a spare and i used that one and then this happens.

Actually we made a repair cyclus with a c tek charger on the old battery and it should be fine, but i dont know. I just got confused and just bought a new one to be on the safe side. dont wanna stand in the middle of no where with no power.

Well i guess its just my luck at the moment to get a dead battery and a dead alternator at almost the same time. dont know if the alternator have been bad for a time and then screwed the battery somehow?

Well i just hope everything goes back to normal when i get the alternator changed. hate when stuff like this happens. No warnings.

And yeah deanshark they should put a gauge in, instead of a confusing random lightning dash and 45 sec warning. When you're holding still in a traffic jam 45 secs is not much if you have to change some lanes and such.

Until i get my new alternativ i will have my amp meter with me and check before i drive anywhere ;-)

deanshark

Better to be safe then sorry, might as well get both new just so you're not wondering when is this thing gonna die?
At least with mine I new the alt was bad and the battery was gonna die eventually. I was driving like that for about a week just changing the battery and charging both at night. I just drove in the right lane so when it did die I didn't cause too much of a traffic jam. I got it down to 1 minute 20 seconds to change the battery in and out. But, it's better to have a good alt so that don't happen anymore.
If you do drive the car before you get the new alternator in just charge the battery and start off with it fully charged. It lasts about 45-60 minutes of driving. (a little less in stop and go traffic) Don't use the A/C and, I know it's hard but, don't turn the radio on.