Battery Tales...

[Dave]

It's that time of year when a few cold nights can upset your battery. Yup, it cranked weakly a couple of times but still fired up and I ignored it cause I was in a hurry and I did have my jumper pack in the jeep anyway. So, a couple of days goes by and all of a sudden it's a no-crank and just a whine and click...click...click..........yup just won't get up out of bed..... Not like this was unexpected or anything but it was my fault for not taking care of it sooner.


Jumped it and drove to NAPA (about a block away) and went in and got a new NAPA Legend (same battery brand I had in there before). Went outside and click....click....click....the pig was dead. (not that I didn't expect it). But now I had the jumper pak and a brand new battery I just got but not installed yet..... jumped it again.


So, back at the garage I swapped batteries and put the dead one on the bench and hooked it up to the charger because I wanted to see if it would take a charge, and it did. The next day I checked it again and it didn't hold that charge and was dead again. This is good because now I just confirmed that the battery was the problem and not my charging system.


Then I checked my records and the OEM Mopar battery lasted a little over 5 years and I replaced it in October of 2010 with a NAPA Legend. Now on 9/30/2016 I replaced it again with another NAPA Legend. Not too bad I think. I was going to check and see who is making the NAPA Legend batteries but didn't get around to it yet.


Anyway, it is the time of year before it gets real cold to check your batteries to make sure they are plenty cranky....LOL


Dave

 

[cplchris]

east penn manufacturing makes the batteries for napa. i just replaced my napa legend 84 with a legend AGM.

 

[LibertyTC]

Sounds like Dave got "Mother Natures" free load test happening!
That battery was bearly hanging in there in the end...ha ha..
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:gr_grin:

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I can't get any battery to last past 3 years in the KJ. Summer of 08 Mopar one died, got a Diehard Gold, 2010 that one died, got another one of those free, Fall of 2013 that one died, got another for half off and then finally this summer that one died. Got an East Penn AGM battery. Says it's good for 8 years.

Always thought the Florida heat killed them but then still the same thing up in Wisconsin.

 

[tommudd]

On the 04 mine lasted about 6 years, then got stupid and went with one of the red Top junkers, lasted 3 months, got another, 2 months. Went with my old standard ( Interstate ) lasted 5 years , warranty for the last year, now its in the 03
03's was replaced once in 12 years , think it was in 09 and that battery was still in there in 2015 when I bought it
05 had one replaced as well when it was 5 years old, going to be needing to be replaced soon though again

 

[dude1116]

My OEM battery was in the Jeep when I bought it back in '09. That battery lasted about another 2 years and 2 months before it took a dump in 2011 (specifically remember I was helping someone get stuff out of their house in prior to Hurricane Irene when the battery died on me). That's an impressive 7 years on the Mopar. Then I got a DieHard silver that lasted only 2.5 years or so. Got a pro-rated DieHard gold that's still in there...but I don't have a lot of confidence in DieHard batteries at the moment.

 

[eradicator006]

I'm currently using the original battery that came with my 2005. Battery has been frozen a couple of times and it still works.

Up until last december my grandfather was using it since I gave it to him in 2008 in his ford f350 with a 390. I'm using it in my jeep until I take my AGM from my car and put back in to the jeep.

 

[CactusJacked]

I'm 4+ years and counting with my red top junker, Optima made by Interstate.

 

[tjkj2002]

Just retired my Odyssey PC1500DT,made July of '07.Still cranked the jeep over and still tested over 900cca's(rated at 825cca's) but would not hold the correct 12.8 volt charge after being fully charged(12 hour relax time in-between),would drop to 12.2 volts so time for it to go.

Got my $220 worth out of it and yes it still has some warranty but not worth the hassle for $20 or so off the new battery going in.