My wife took her car to be detailed on Saturday, and when she picked it up, no start--pressing the button just delivered click, click, click. It's a 2014 Civic Si that's still on the original battery.
They jumped the car, and she drove home with no problem. The battery is four years old, it's been hot so far, and I travel a bit. I really didn’t want my wife dealing with a dead battery while I'm away--or she's away.
The local parts place wanted $149 or so for a replacement. Our local Honda dealer had an online coupon: $129 for a factory Honda battery.
So I called them right away since it was 4:40 on a Saturday. The parts manager answered: "Well, the parts department closed at 4:00, but I'm still here so come on over. The service department is also closed, but some techs are here so I'll have one of them leave me a battery tester."
I was covered in wet paint so my wife drove over solo.
She returned almost an hour later. New battery? No, the parts manager tested her battery, and it looked perfect. He thinks one of the guys at the detail shop left the car in the "run" position. Anyway, Honda could have made a quick $129 and instead did us a solid.
Duke
MegaDork
6/26/18 9:48 a.m.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Cool! No Hennessy Honda stuff here... good to hear this stuff.
The only downside to this story is that the battery is still four years old. OE batteries seem to last longer than replacements, but eventually it will go down.
Fun story from me yesterday: I was test driving the newest V8 conversion and pulled over to do a quick shock adjustment. The battery in this ND is now in the trunk, and I must have bumped the kill switch with my elbow as I was digging around on the shocks. I heard the car stop running right as I closed the trunk lid.
No problem, right? Sure - but the ND has an electric trunk release. With the battery disconnected, I couldn't open it. We were smart enough to put a jump point under the hood so it was easily fixed by a coworker running across town with a set of jumper cables, but I had to laugh at myself as I waited in the disabled car by the side of the road. 430 hp and it can't open the trunk...
Be sure to use a battery charger to fully recharge the battery, normal around town driving isn't enough with most cars. If the battery isn't fully recharged it will continue to eat itself shortening life significantly. Learned this the hard way many years ago.
