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My 2013 RDX just hit the 3 year mark and the battery died. I had to jump it.
The same thing happened when my old 2007 RDX hit the 3 year mark. The dealer replaced the battery under warranty then. Hopefully they will do the same with my new one.
This leads me to believe Acura's factory installed batteries go dead at 3 years. Good quality batteries can go 4 or 5 years.
My 2013 RDX just hit the 3 year mark and the battery died. I had to jump it.
The same thing happened when my old 2007 RDX hit the 3 year mark. The dealer replaced the battery under warranty then. Hopefully they will do the same with my new one.
This leads me to believe Acura's factory installed batteries go dead at 3 years. Good quality batteries can go 4 or 5 years.
You're going to base Acura's entire car line battery performance based on two cars? Let's not get too dramatic.
You're going to base Acura's entire car line battery performance based on two cars? Let's not get too dramatic.
There are many reports here of what people consider early battery death. You can read similar reports on Audi, VW and BMW forums. The only difference being that only Acura replaces them under warranty at that stage.
Battery life is governed by many variables. I've never had a battery die in less than 5 years but I park my car in a garage when not driven - at home and at the office. My wife's cars are parked outside at the office and in a garage at night. Her batteries last between 3 and 4 years. Her last car (parked on a covered parking deck at work and in the garage at night, is still going strong at 4 years and 130k miles.
I replace batteries in vehicles every four to five years in my vehicles and my boat. Typically dealers put cheaper batteries in vehicles and boats in order to save a bit of money
I agree! After 2 years and 11 months, my RDX's battery died today. Waiting for the road side assistance, it's only been an hour so far. I will beg my dealer for a new battery because if it dies on me when I go skiing this winter...
Iam not sure what battery your RDX comes with in where you are but here in Richmond Hill ON. The battery specs look almost as good as my f150. The salesman did point out when we took delivery that it had a large battery due to all the electronics . Maybe Acura up there game on the new models.
Iam not sure what battery your RDX comes with in where you are but here in Richmond Hill ON. The battery specs look almost as good as my f150. The salesman did point out when we took delivery that it had a large battery due to all the electronics . Maybe Acura up there game on the new models.
LOL!!!!!! The salesman said..... Thank you! You made my day. I needed a good laugh.
He was comenting on the fact that the battery was better than previous models
Yes. I understand that. And what he said may be true. But salesmen are typically full of it. Car salesman are absolutely full of it. They have a very long and well deserved reputation for being full of it. Basically, if they tell you something and it means anything to you at all, you better check it out first. They usually either have no idea what they are talking about or they're just full of it.
Your battery pictured above has 610 CCA (Cold Cranking Amps). Mine is the same. It's nothing to write home about at all. It probably meets the "minimum" requirements for the car. For a comparison, our 2010 Toyota Venza 6 cyl with fewer electronics came with a 775 CCA battery.
My wife's TL with the factory Nav system kept throwing low-voltage errors on cold days. We tried manually charging the battery, and even swapping with another, and the error still happened. I went out and bought a NAPA Extreme (or whatever their high CCA version is called) and the problem has not resurfaced. I'm not sure if at the time (early 2013) that Acura had a bad batch of batteries or what, but the electrical system seemed to be hypersensitive to the voltage level and the factory battery as on the hairy edge of that, especially when her car sat out during the day in subfreezing conditions (garaged at night at 40-45 degrees). That battery is now about 2.5 years old and at the last service it still measured CCA's in the low 800's (rated at 725). So for me, spending like $100 on a better battery offered great peace of mind for her.
There are many reports here of what people consider early battery death. You can read similar reports on Audi, VW and BMW forums. The only difference being that only Acura replaces them under warranty at that stage.
Battery life is governed by many variables. I've never had a battery die in less than 5 years but I park my car in a garage when not driven - at home and at the office. My wife's cars are parked outside at the office and in a garage at night. Her batteries last between 3 and 4 years. Her last car (parked on a covered parking deck at work and in the garage at night, is still going strong at 4 years and 130k miles.
I ask that you just trust that my comment comes a qualified source (me). Heat kills automotive batteries. Unfortunately most don't notice the decline until it turns cold and they can't start the engine.
btw, has anyone noticed the 15 TLX has battery cooling ducts? Check out pg 14...
I ask that you just trust that my comment comes a qualified source (me). Heat kills automotive batteries. Unfortunately most don't notice the decline until it turns cold and they can't start the engine.
btw, has anyone noticed the 15 TLX has battery cooling ducts? Check out pg 14...
I ask that you just trust that my comment comes a qualified source (me). Heat kills automotive batteries. Unfortunately most don't notice the decline until it turns cold and they can't start the engine.
btw, has anyone noticed the 15 TLX has battery cooling ducts? Check out pg 14...
I didn't realize Acura went to AGM batteries for the sh-awd with stop/stop system. Did Acura go AGM across the board or just for certain vehicles? I've been around 3-4 yrs with my OEM Acura batteries and now entering +4 yrs on my MDX with OEM battery. Thinking about AGM because the southwest +110 degrees temps in summer. AGM should do a better job with summer heat. Reminds me of the old saying; "Batteries die in summer; but, you don't know it until winter".
Hmmm...if my battery dies after less than 4 years I am going to put in a deep discharge battery (marine) and see how it goes. They dont suffer deterioration from moderate discharge/charge cycles like a normal car battery does.
Anyone have any commentary on this idea?
Don't. Deep cycle batteries are not designed to be starter batteries. Starter batteries are designed to give a big burst of current. Deep cycles are designed to give steady output over long intervals and will tolerate being run down to lower voltages (hence the 'deep'). You'll kill a deep cycle if you use it as a starter battery. Been there, done that...
So-called 'marine' batteries are usually starter batteries with a price mark-up. Sometimes they're a bit heavier duty but they're not truly deep cycle.
Four years is good. The battery in my RDX died in about 18 months. I feel lucky to get three years from a battery. The heat down here is murder on them.
Yes I agree that today's vehicles are hotter under the hood since everything is so tightly packed and the only airflow coming in is thru the rad and yes Im sure that's why batteries nowadays don't last as long. I forgot about the heat factor when considering the marine battery, it wouldn't help in that regard..... I bought one recently for another non-automotive project and it was labelled as "deep cycle AND starter" ..other marine batteries at the same store were just "deep cycle" .... More food for thought, up until 18 months ago, I had a 24 foot speedboat with a 454 in it, and the marine battery in the boat never had any problems starting that big block V8.....so I really don't know what to think but I appreciate your advice.
Battery life depends on several things: owner neglect, a charging system not up to spec for the type of battery, ambient temperature and vibration. Manufacturing quality is also a factor. Living in the deep south with very high summer temperatures will cut battery life in half.
For the record, the factory original batteries in our family cars lasted 16 years in the Toyota and 15 years in the Honda. Both were still in the cars and working perfectly well down to sub-zero temperatures when they were sold to their second owners. Both batteries were made by Panasonic which sadly are not available in North America, at least not car batteries. And both batteries were maintainable with caps so that they could be topped up with distilled water every year..
If you are parking the vehicle for even a few weeks (owners going on vacation, etc), hook up a battery charger connector to the battery. A discharged battery is the number-one cause of short battery life.
Our 2016 got a new battery as part of the dealers CPO process. It just died at 29 months. The vehicle was at the dealer for service not 2 weeks ago.
They were supposed to load test it. The paperwork said it test good. Obviously not. I just went to Costco and got another and put it in. It was worth the money
to not have to go back and argue about the battery warranty. I bet they would have wanted more than the price of the Costco battery just to install it.
The Costco Interstate battery looked exactly like the Acura branded one, although the specs are better. (700 cca vs 610 stock) According to the Interstate site,
The RDX should have a AGM 34R. Currently unavailable around here. And three times as expensive. I think our battery died from disuse during Covid.
Acura link would send low power warnings endlessly. I tried to get Acura to apply the software update to address that, but they wanted $225. an hour for that. We canceled Acura Link instead...
Our 2016 got a new battery as part of the dealers CPO process. It just died at 29 months. The vehicle was at the dealer for service not 2 weeks ago.
They were supposed to load test it. The paperwork said it test good. Obviously not. I just went to Costco and got another and put it in. It was worth the money
to not have to go back and argue about the battery warranty. I bet they would have wanted more than the price of the Costco battery just to install it.
The Costco Interstate battery looked exactly like the Acura branded one, although the specs are better. (700 cca vs 610 stock) According to the Interstate site,
The RDX should have a AGM 34R. Currently unavailable around here. And three times as expensive. I think our battery died from disuse during Covid.
Acura link would send low power warnings endlessly. I tried to get Acura to apply the software update to address that, but they wanted $225. an hour for that. We canceled Acura Link instead...
The OE battery in my 2016 lasted 39 months and was replaced under warranty. Most of that 39 months was in Phoenix so I was pretty happy it lasted that long and thought I would be good for few more years. The warranty replacement just died last weekend and only lasted 31 months which was disappointing considering I now live in a somewhat cooler climate and even though it gets driven regularly the mileage isn't nearly what it was for the first 3 years of its life.
On the plus side, both times the batteries died they gave me a few days warning that something was going wrong by slower cranking/starting so I was able to drive the dealer/parts store to get a replacement.
A belated confirmation of similar (3 year) experience -- twice-fold! Original battery quit at 31 months. Replacement quit 37 months, thereafter.
Car is garaged except for the time spent buying groceries, etc.
Original replaced under warranty. But, warranty on replacement ends with original car's warranty! So, off to Costco for a "real" battery! (sorry dealer but you've demonstrated an inferior product).
A belated confirmation of similar (3 year) experience -- twice-fold! Original battery quit at 31 months. Replacement quit 37 months, thereafter.
Car is garaged except for the time spent buying groceries, etc.
Original replaced under warranty. But, warranty on replacement ends with original car's warranty! So, off to Costco for a "real" battery! (sorry dealer but you've demonstrated an inferior product).
Its like clockwork; every Honda factory battery my family has had has died at around the 3 year mark. At least your dealership replaced it under warranty; my local Acura dealership refused.
A belated confirmation of similar (3 year) experience -- twice-fold! Original battery quit at 31 months. Replacement quit 37 months, thereafter.
Car is garaged except for the time spent buying groceries, etc.
Original replaced under warranty. But, warranty on replacement ends with original car's warranty! So, off to Costco for a "real" battery! (sorry dealer but you've demonstrated an inferior product).
The replacement battery I got a Costco looked exactly like the Honda one. Keeping it garaged doesn't mean much, especially if the keys are nearby. The keyless entry & starting will weaken the battery if they are kept close together.
Keeping it garaged doesn't mean much, especially if the keys are nearby. The keyless entry & starting will weaken the battery if they are kept close together.
I beg to differ. Sitting out in the hot sun cooks a battery in very little time. Sitting out in an uncovered driveway (or, in an uncovered parking lot), drive times (few "covered" roadways here!) exposes the car to these temperatures. Our daytime highs often exceed 100F -- for at least 60 days each year (117F is the highest I've personally observed).
As such, the (relative) cool temperatures of "indoor storage" (insulated garage including the door) can make a big difference in how long a battery survives.
When I lived in other parts of the country, a "dead battery" meant: "check alternator AND battery". Here, it means "replace battery" -- don't even bother to test it! (e.g., most places will just give you a replacement battery without bothering to load-test your "defective" unit.)
A belated confirmation of similar (3 year) experience -- twice-fold! Original battery quit at 31 months. Replacement quit 37 months, thereafter.
I am assuming all factory batteries are made at the same plant and that they haven't changed battery manufacturers. The factory original battery in my 2017 was 60 months ago last month. And by the way, Costco does not make batteries, neither does Honda/Acura.
What state do you live in and what does the battery charge at while driving?
I beg to differ. Sitting out in the hot sun cooks a battery in very little time. Sitting out in an uncovered driveway (or, in an uncovered parking lot), drive times (few "covered" roadways here!) exposes the car to these temperatures. Our daytime highs often exceed 100F -- for at least 60 days each year (117F is the highest I've personally observed).
From what I remember working in a battery lab, every 8C (14.4F) above 25C (77F) cuts battery life in half. And battery charge voltages should also be reduced as temperatures increase. The latter is especially true for VRLA (AGM, GEL) batteries.
On previous cars, I have had 16 and 14 years from factory fitted "Panasonic" FLA batteries.
From what I remember working in a battery lab, every 8C (14.4F) above 25C (77F) cuts battery life in half. And battery charge voltages should also be reduced as temperatures increase. The latter is especially true for VRLA (AGM, GEL) batteries.
Correct. And, you want to increase the specific gravity for batteries that tend to be operated in "cold" climates and decrease it for batteries operated in "hot" climates. Chemistry slows down at colder temperatures so battery capacity decreases when cold. A wamer/hotter battery has a greater capacity -- but shorter lifespan.
In colder climates, battery problems usually manifest in cold weather; the battery can deliver less and the mechanical load (represented by the engine) is effectively magnfied (oil viscosity, etc.). It wasn't hard to get 6-8 years from a (respectable -- oversized) battery in New England. Even turning a V8.
If you can find non-sealed batteries AND are disciplined enough to maintain them, you can eek out a bit more life.
Here (desert southwest), a sign of summer is cars with dead batteries. Too many people park their vehicles in their driveways (cuz no basements means less space to store household stuff). And, folks who drive to work likely leave their vehicles in an unprotected parking lot exposed to the hot sun all day.
I pull the batteries from my vehicles just before the "free replacement" (i.e., not derated) portion of the warranty expires and return them as defective. Vendors are so used to batteries failing "early" that they don't even bother questioning your claim of a defective battery.
Exactly. Someone that knows something about batteries. Personally, I refer a FLA battery instead of the AGM that I now have in my 2016 BMW motorcycle and 2015 Porsche. I know their advantages and disadvantages. In my 1995 Porsche, I use an East Penn FLA battery by choice.
I am sure you can guess where this is. A slew of 6T AGM batteries in extreme heat in vehicles with charging systems that were not temperature compensated. The latter didn't help the short lived issues.
11-06-2015, 03:51 PM
