SouthernBoy

I had planned to get a new battery next week but like many of the best laid plans of mice and men, and Murphy's Law, it didn't make it. Today my '04 manual TL decided to just do a slow crank to nothing. So I have my charger on it now and an appointment at my local auto shop for a new Interstate battery (MT24F) at 1:00 this afternoon. I had called a few places at the beginning of the week to check their stock and get pricing, but I was hoping to make it to next week for the install. I guess 5 years 8 months is not too bad for the stock factory battery. My '05 automatic TL only made it to 3 years 8 months on its factory battery.

1fsthatch

Nice my battery lasted almost 3 years on OE Battery

piggydog

check costco, best price easiest replacement I've encountered. At least it happened on a weekend. I got one with 750 CCA for like $60 and free 3 yr replacement. If it was a weekday the great thing about a manual is that any hill will work great as a jump start

01tl4tl

Southern- last person I expected to see a thread like this from!- at least you didnt get stuck somewhere and munch the alternator trying to get home
Car runs better with a good batt too

for others- new batteries are not fully charged- drive on freeway with minimal electric use- no lights or radio-heater blasting for 45 minutes
Let all the alt can do go into the battery!
It regulates what it doesnt need
A full battery is a happy battery to start its work life
after its charged from drive- stop by the parts store for a recheck of the system- every number is perfect or something is wrong

confession- I ran the RB brake pads down to 1mm pad-you could see thru the material to the backing plate! luckily didnt score rotors as 2mm is min allowed--ooops

SouthernBoy

Why? The squirrel's went on strike and refuse to hit my charging wheel, so a new battery was in order.

Your suggestion about driving the car a bit after having a new battery installed is right. Thing is, you don't know how long the battery has sat in inventory or how it was stored. So letting the car's charging system bring it up is best. Thanks for adding that.

fsttyms1

Im still running on my red top optima after nearing 10 years and 340k miles.

erick3

^ wow!

SpiderX1016

Wow is right, that's a long time.

fsttyms1

I have a optima red top from 1997-8 still running in my fathers S10 too (but only around 60k on that one)

Im a firm believer in them and run them in all my vehicles.

jpoole

I bought my '04TL 6mt in '06 so unless someone had it replaced before I bought it I got just over 5 yrs.
I replaced with the optima yellow top 51R just in case I decide to go with the supercharger.

carlos9827

iTrader: (2)

I only got 3 years from my stock battery....my battery decided to die on my at Starbucks on the first day of my new job so I was late for work....great Luckily new boss understood.

01tl4tl

SB- why I was surprised you would have this prob-

the slowly deteriorating battery robs performance from the car,,things are a little off...then pttttt rrrr rrrr rrrah
Or it may have just called in sick finally~
I have gotten used to you being on top of everything with these cars!

In that spirit I offer my confession- wore the RB et300 pads down to 1mm pad, nearly see thru! 2mm is when the warning tabs hits..
wife mentioned a little brake noise the last few weeks~

SouthernBoy

Whoaa. Hope you didn't do any damage to the rotors. I do check my pad life about once a month since it is so easy with the stock wheels.

As for the battery, I knew it was getting a bit long in the tooth since for the past few months, when I would start it in the morning, it was easy to notice that the engine was not being turned nearly as fast. I had planned on replacing it last week after I got the prices but I was a bit busy so it would have been this Monday or Tuesday. Oh well, at least it died in my garage.

01tl4tl

the RB rotors were still perfect! no scoring from the tab as it was noticed and driven gently till I could look at it.
Only 1 side of the car was at 1 mm, the other still had a full 2.1mm and hadn't hit the tab yet.

rotors have 30k miles on them and barely broken in~ no ridge or edge buildup.
Scuffed them with 60 grit sandpaper to remove old pad material and reinstalled with a slightly used set of hps I had in the toolbox
Wait for the scuffs to go away and color return- you know the brakes are bedded with the rotors

on topic:
my pos batt terminal keeps loading up with the blue fung
Cleaned it off with baking soda and water mix, but I think there is a charging rate issue?

No, havnt installed the felt pads or applied terminal protective goop- want to fix the problem not hide it
What do you think SB?

SouthernBoy

I agree. You do need to find the source of the problem since it will only keep occurring if not corrected. Have you checked your battery's voltage after a drive to see what it reads? First thing that always comes to my mind when I see what you are having happen is a leak of some kind. Or perhaps some corrosion or such between the terminal and the cable connection (dissimilar metals can cause a eutectic reaction).

01tl4tl

If I had checked the voltage I would know~
where is that stupid multimeter anyway,,know I used it on the bike....

SpiderX1016

Good to know. I never needed anything better than an OEM one so I stick with OEM or whatever is cheap.

Do you need to service Optimas or anything?

01tl4tl

oem battery is whatever acura can buy cheap in bulk

Many other choices for same or less money, Optimas at the top of the list, Interstate another great brand- you pay for those but they last
If you plan on keeping the car- go for it!
Going to replace car in a few years?- zone it~

jpoole

And if money doesn't matter...http://www.braillebattery.com/index....tteries/ml30c/