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Non EV cars where a dead battery means a tow to the dealer?

Started by TJ Hopland, February 19, 2023, 03:15:44 PM

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TJ Hopland

Over the last couple weeks 2 vehicles in my fleet started sounding like the stereotypical 6 volts when starting them.  They started but you could sure hear it slow down on the compression strokes. Both batteries were at least 5 years old so reasonable to expect they were just done.   

Both are newer with limited space and OE batteries so no obvious group number and not like the older days where I was just able to eyeball em so I just had the parts store look them up.  First one no problem, only one option and no special notes. 

The next car the guy says 'uh oh' see notes and starts reading me what the computer is telling him and its basically there were several options for physical size and capacity used for this model but the short version was is it 9 1/2" wide or 11.   Turns out The tray is 11" but has 2 sets of holes so either fits so its not really an issue anyway.  Thinking we are good to go he says 'uh oh' see additional notes.  He starts reading and basically says that my doors may not open, push button start may not work, maintenance reminders may be reset, and on and on and all the modules may need to be reprogrammed at the dealer.

In my case this was apparently just a general warning but it made me ask how common is it for this sort of warning to come up and he said its getting pretty common.  He said back in the 90's there was a Cadillac model that was the first time he ever heard of such a thing, he didn't remember the model and I'm not sure either, Allante maybe?  Seems like that was a model that would have had some too advanced for its own good tech on it? 

He went on to say now days about half the batteries/cars he looks up have similar warnings and he does indeed have people come back or mention that basically their cars were 'bricked' and had to go to the dealer.  This seems crazy to me that something that is almost guaranteed to fail on a car multiple times in its life can be that difficult to recover from. 

Anyone else run into this or hear about it?  I see lots of mention of this sort of thing on many of the extra high tech EV models where pretty much nothing even things like door handles are direct mechanical links so even though it still seems like a bad design choice you sort of expect it there. This is pretty much the first I have heard of it on 'regular' cars. 

I guess there was the 90's? was it where at least GM had the anti theft radios that would lock up if/when they lost power and you had to enter a code to unlock them again. I think that was kinda dumb but at least if you had the code it could be done by an average person and it didn't stop you from being able to use the car.

I will give the cars some credit that its more difficult to leave something on and kill an otherwise good battery.  Both the cars in question I'm not aware of any light you could leave on or power port that stays live after a certain time period.  You would pretty much have to open the hood and connect something direct to the battery to drain it.   Unless one of the 100's of modules failed and stuck on? Or my battery was just old and we had a cold snap where I didn't drive for a few days.....             
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

Jon S

Whenever I change a battery on a 2000 or newer car, I plug a 9 V battery adapter I bought into my cigarette lighter before I remove the battery to save all the settings on the computer, radio, etc.  the older cars are just a simple battery swap.
Jon

1958 Cadillac Sedan De Ville
1973 Lincoln Continental Coupe
1981 Corvette
2004 Mustang GT

J. Gomez

Some ODB2 testers (with internal power) can provide enough juice to keep all the modules active when the main battery is removed (as I was told   ??? ), although I have had an issue with my previous hybrid witch it blew a fuse and I had to relearned some of the settings radio, seats, windows, etc., lucky no dealer trip on this case.

I'm with Jon, in my case I have several +12V power supplies handy so I just connect one to the cables (keeping everything isolated  ;) ) when I replace the main battery.
J. Gomez
CLC #23082

TJ Hopland

Quote from: Jon S on February 20, 2023, 09:32:25 AMWhenever I change a battery on a 2000 or newer car, I plug a 9 V battery adapter I bought into my cigarette lighter before I remove the battery to save all the settings

I remember devices sold to do that specifically but it doesn't seem like many if any cars still have 'always live' sockets anymore.  At least newer cars I have been in they either shut off or have to be programmed to stay on.   
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason