[Shop-talk] Stranded by a bad car battery.

[old dirtbeard]

The newer cars are highly dependent upon sensor reads for the various
computers and can/will act differently than the older analogue cars with
dying batteries. It sounds like your battery may have shorted plates,
perhaps due to sulfation or other mechanical causes, for such an abrupt
failure to occur.

I am curious, though, as to why your car would not start when jumped from a
running vehicle. If you have a voltmeter on the dash it would be
interesting to see what it shows with the key on, and then when you had the
jump going. If you do not have a dash voltmeter, an OBDII reader may be
able to show it for you.

Good luck today with the battery replacement and you might wish to compare
the voltage reading pre and post battery swaps.

best,

doug

On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 10:39 PM Dwade Reinsch <dreinsch at swbell.net> wrote:

> This afternoon I was sitting in the 2016 Honda Odyssey van waiting for
> granddaughter to finish a theater activity and I went to sleep in the front
> seat.  Had the radio and inside lights on.  When she finished and came out,
> car would not start.  Completely dead.  Electric seat would not come back
> to driving position, etc.
>
> Here's the question:  In the old days a weak battery would give notice by
> cranking slowly, etc., before failing.  This is the car I drive regularly
> and it gave NO warning.  Luckily, I could call son-in-law and he came to
> help.  Would not start with good set of booster cables.  Would not start
> with 15 minutes of charging on cables before attempting to start.  So in
> the morning I'll take pickup and tools and pull battery, get a replacement,
> and move the van home.
>
> Does anyone have a suggestion for identifying a failing battery before
> being stranded?  (Battery is about 4 years old.)
>
> Thanks,
> Dwade
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