rx280

About 10 months ago, I started a thread titled “Anyone besides me had good luck with the battery?” At that point, my ’04, bought new in October of 2003, was well into its sixth New England winter, and the battery was still performing fine. Nonetheless, I was thinking I’d probably replace the battery before winter #7, just to be on the safe side.
During the fall, I kept telling myself I’d better hurry up and decide what replacement battery to buy -- an Optima Yellow or something conventional and cheaper, like an Interstate. But I was still toying with the idea of seeing if the original battery would get me through another winter. The Panasonic still hadn’t given me a hint that it was getting weak, and the battery-strength test results I’d gotten from my local Acura dealer during service visits suggested that I’d probably be fine if I chanced it.**
Anyway, the uncertainty about what to do ended last week. I was vacuuming the car and didn’t close one of the doors completely. (You know how a door can latch but not be fully closed.) I’m not sure if the overhead lights stayed on; maybe it was just the light in the lower corner of the door. But eight hours later when I went out to start the car, the battery was quite dead.
I could have jump started the car and taken it somewhere to have the battery fully charged, but I figured the battery might never regain all the strength it had before I killed it, so I played it safe and bought a replacement. I’ve now got an Optima Yellow Top 51R under the hood. Unless Optima is still having quality-control issues, my TSX’s seventh winter shouldn’t be suspenseful, starting-wise. But I’ll always wonder if the much-criticized Panasonic could have gotten the job done through another winter. (My TSX has about 82,000 miles on it, by the way.)
Anyone else want to report on their battery situation? Are any owners of older/higher-mileage TSXs going to try getting through another winter with the original battery?


**Bearing in mind that the battery had a CCA rating of 410 when new, take a look at these test results (the last two of which DO make you wonder about the dealership’s testing equipment and/or personnel):
Sept. 30, 2009 - 395 (down just 15 from its NEW rating?!)
April 27, 2009 - 420 (10 ABOVE its new rating?!?!)
Jan. 19, 2009 – 313
Oct. 15, 2008 – 365
March 18, 2008 – 336
Nov. 30, 2007 – 356
Feb. 1, 2007 – 370

CoquiTSX

I might have been able to report (05 TSX), had I not left the door ajar a couple of times before the second anniversary . I'm surprised it lasted that long in those NE winters. My old 94 Accord battery lasted 9 yrs in MD.