Am I the only one who buys batteries?

Last night, as the sun was going down rapidly, I replaced both the starter and battery in my 01 Jeep Cherokee.

I am actually pretty fast at it now that I think about it, because I have had lots of practice.

On my 1993 Jeep Cherokee I replaced the battery, starter and Crank Position Sensor.

My Audi I replaced the battery, starter, alternator belt, and two ground wires (the belt I replaced twice).

And now on my 01 Jeep I replaced the battery and the starter.

By the way, all of the mentioned items were tested before replacing. I guess I am just the one who ends up with vehicles that need electronics replaced.

I put a million lights on everything. So I get bigger batteries. Or as the old people called them when I worked at radio shack, "battrehs."

EricM wrote: Last night, as the sun was going down rapidly, I replaced both the starter and battery in my 01 Jeep Cherokee. I am actually pretty fast at it now that I think about it, because I have had lots of practice. On my 1993 Jeep Cherokee I replaced the battery, starter and Crank Position Sensor. My Audi I replaced the battery, starter, alternator belt, and two ground wires (the belt I replaced twice). And now on my 01 Jeep I replaced the battery and the starter. By the way, all of the mentioned items were tested before replacing. I guess I am just the one who ends up with vehicles that need electronics replaced.

I got 'proficient' at swapping alternators on my N* powered Cadillac (3 in 2 years, 2 new not reman), after that car I purposefully selected a vehicle where common electrical failure components were only 2 bolts away and readily accessible, I hate GM FWD (shudders thinking about it)...

i replaced a battery and alternator on our mpv earlier this year. and in the next few days I have to do the same on the focus.

I've had to replace batteries on every car I've ever owned, if makes you feel any better. Every Saturn I've ever owned (three now) has needed motor mounts.

I've replaced lots of batteries. Our 2005 MPV-ES with the power sliding doors is an interesting case. I didn't think much about the OEM battery crapping out in 2-1/2 years, since I've had similar experiences with OEM batteries in Japanese cars. But when the replacement died in the same time frame, I came to realize that the power sliding doors come at a cost over and above what they added to the original vehicle cost. At least the last battery was free, since it had a 36-month free replacement warranty.

For the record, I didn't want the power doors, but the wifey was insistent. In retrospect, they've been nice to have.

Threw an Interstate blemish battery into my 944 Turbo when I still had it, and had to put a replacement into my M3 immediately upon purchase earlier this year. Before that I'd typically get bored and sell the car before I had to replace a battery. I do tend to do more than the average person to maintain batteries though - you guys do check your batteries' distilled water levels on occasion, rights?

I buy new batteries for all my cars.. in some cases, I go through 2 as, unlike a lot of people here, I tend to keep my cars for years

I just put a new battery in my RN Truck. I think I got about 8 years or so from the last one, so I'm not complaining.

I've found that just asking for the battery for that vehicle will give you like 500 CCA for $90. Then ask what the next "bigger" CCA in the same physical size is, and it's like 750 CCA and an extra ten bucks. Yeah, gimme that one.

I believe I did three batteries in the past year: Civic, Miata, Porsche.

done 2 in the last 3 or so months... the battery for the s10 was dead when I got it (as it should be having sat for several years (and who knows how old it was when it got parked)... volvo battery decided to die so I tossed in the battery I had for the truck for a bit... got a bigger battery more rated for the volvo.

it happens... as for alternators... it happens A LOT more if you go with a cheap auto-zone alternator... had to replace those every 6 months or so in the 4afe powered geo prizm

I haven't recently but my time is coming.

In the last year, the WRX, the SV650, the XR600R, and the Land Cruiser all needed batteries. The 4-wheeled vehicles got as large a Costco battery as I could cram in there (1000 CCA for the FJ62!), the motorcycles got Dekas.

Tacoma, M3, Miata, A4, RD400, KTM690, all in the past year. I think the scooter and the KTM950 go 'em in the past 2 years.

Most of my cars have received new batteries at some point. The worst was the Cummins since it requires two monster type 27's which aren't easy to find and pricey when you do.

Since I depend on the TDi, its battery was replaced at about 6 years, before it failed.

My last set of bike batteries were Genuine H.D. glass mat batteries, said to be made by Deka. I have not had good luck with them. The one on my bike (big twin) was shot in a year. The Sporty battery will still crank if I charge it up first. That is, it looses a charge all by itself, something that never happened with conventional batteries on that bike. I replaced my bike's battery with a cheap Walmart battery. Can't be worse than that $150 Deka. We'll see. I am now keeping it on a tender.

No batteries here in a long time but I can do the radiator in an E150 in 18 minutes. I have done five of them in the last two years.

The only battery I have replaced in years was when I put the Odyssey in my ZX2SR. The one in my Liberty was 8 yrs old so every time I started I exoected a sign. Then I traded it in on my Fiesta.

Dr. Hess wrote: My last set of bike batteries were Genuine H.D. glass mat batteries, said to be made by Deka. I have not had good luck with them. The one on my bike (big twin) was shot in a year. The Sporty battery will still crank if I charge it up first. That is, it looses a charge all by itself, something that never happened with conventional batteries on that bike. I replaced my bike's battery with a cheap Walmart battery. Can't be worse than that $150 Deka. We'll see. I am now keeping it on a tender.

You are not the only person I know with battery issues on an HD. Everybody I know who has an HD keeps their's on a tender.. even those that get used with some regularity.

Not sure if it is a bike thing, or an HD thing (I don't know anybody with a Honda, zuki, or kawasaki to ask)

I am SURPRISED your XJ chucked the starter. Did you ford a creek? Drive down a flooded street?

Hope I don't have to. But if worse comes to worse mines manual. I'll just park on a hill...

Toyman01 wrote: No batteries here in a long time but I can do the radiator in an E150 in 18 minutes. I have done five of them in the last two years.

That's good since it looks like you need to pull the radiator to much more than check the oil in an E150...

Both my Sciroccos have come with dead or dying batteries. Both got replaced once and have been fine.

The 6's negative battery post was rotting right off but sit miraculously would start until I got it replaced a week after discovering the ailment.

I hardly ever replace a battery. I did the battery in the Ranger at the 2010 Mitty. I had to replace it the week after this years. I will probably need to push start my CRX tomorrow AM now that i said that.

The Sportster has been very easy on batteries. When the key is off, EVERYTHING is off. Just the way it is wired. I've put it up for the winter and started it right up 6 months or more later, on a conventional battery. This super AGM battery must have an internal leak, as it won't do that any more.

My bike, on the other hand, has always been hard on batteries. The first battery lasted 3 years. Then I put a radio on it and it's been eating batteries since. One about every year on a cheap battery, and every 2 years on a more expensive "sealed" lead acid battery. I had good luck with Genuine HD sealed batts for a while, then these glass matt things came out and sucked teh big one. Anyway, I said screw it and put the cheap walmart batt in. If I have to replace it next year, big deal.

a401cj wrote: I am SURPRISED your XJ chucked the starter. Did you ford a creek? Drive down a flooded street? Hope I don't have to. But if worse comes to worse mines manual. I'll just park on a hill...

LOL well I saw the sparks flying in the test machine at autozone.... so yes the starter was toast, not sure what took it out, but it was covered in oil. Maybe I should look into the oil thing...