Is 5month-old battery a garbage if completely drained????

[ProV1x]

When I bought my 97 E420, I noticed that the past owner put in an aftermarket EXIDE group49 battery. It didn't have a vent tube, but on the side it said "APR 06". So I'm guessing this is a fairly new battery.

Then last month I left the doors open (made sure all lights were out), and traveled for 6 days and the battery was dead when I came back. Car wouldn't even crank and all lights were dead.

It was a struggle to even jumpstart the car, but I managed to start her again and all seemed fine. But recently I'm noticing that it takes alarmingly long time (sometimes 3-4 seconds) of cranking to start the engine. I'm driving the car everyday but I'm afraid if I park the car for 4-5 days it will die again.

Does an even relatively new battery get destroyed if you let it completely drain out? I wonder if I should just bite the bullet and replace the battery now. Hopefully I don't have another bigger problem like a battery drain somewhere... argh

[Kajtek1]

The batteries have plates, that by chemical reaction gives electrical voltage.
When the voltage is discharged below the limit (about 10V) the plates dissolve and start drooping particles to the bottom, loosing the efficiency with potentially shortening the plates.
Since you had no lights that means you battery dropped below 5 V. You might try to restore it a bit with one of those electronic chargers, that do reverse voltage, but keep the eye on new batteries market. When using charger, make sure the battery has good ventilation and potential spits will not damage the interior.

[Musikmann]

If I were you, I'd buy a new battery. I have had them go out on other cars, and it was never at a convenient time, or in a good place. In my opinion, the $100 or so will be well worth the piece of mind.

[gregs210]

What you're describing sounds suspiciously like the symptoms of sulphation, the process Kajtek1 described. That reduces both cranking capacity as well as reserve capacity.

I'd side with Muskimann: it's cheap insurance to replace the thing.

Just my curiousity, but what's the point of leaving the doors open when you're going to be gone? I've never heard of that.

Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg

[ProV1x]

Originally Posted by gregs210

Just my curiousity, but what's the point of leaving the doors open when you're going to be gone? I've never heard of that.

Hi greg, i had the doors open in my garage b/c i was doing rust repairs on the rocker panels below the doors and I had taken all the plastic moldings off, and allowing fresh paint to dry.

[raymond-]

flip side: it still might be salvaglable. here's a diff take. at rest, it discharged below
useable condition. you had to jump start it. then, you probably drove it around
believing that you were charging the system. truth is, no modern day car charging
system is designed to replenish a deeply discharged battery. so at best, all that
driving you're doing serves simply to give it a nice surface charge.

so what you need to do is to pop the caps and view the acid level. top off with
distilled water. hook up to 10amp trickle charger and charge for few hrs, or better
yet, hook up to 1 amp charger and leave for couple of days.

provided the sulfation hasn't occured beyond point of no return, the trickle charging
may (may, being the operative word) restore the battery to good health.

it's a touch and go thing since you prob dont have the means to test specific
gravity, check degree of sulphation, etc.

if you're in good financial health you simply buy a new battery. but occasionally,
i see premature retiring of a battery when all it needed was the above first aid.
your local service station may even be able to trickle charge it for a small fee.
just be sure it is low amperage charger. not a 30-50 amp power blaster used
for immediate starts. trickle action is kinder and healthier for the battery.

[ProV1x]

thanks raymond. i'll see if i can pop the covers off and check the water levels.

i found that harbor freight sells a trickle charger for less than $10. i might buy one anyway b/c i don't drive my S2000 that much during the winter.


Link: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=42292

[Matt L]

Next time you do this, disconnect the battery negative lead. It's under a plastic cover just to the right of the driveshaft hump, at the base of the rear seat. Unscrew the nut and bend the lead away from the body.

[ProV1x]

thanks Matt.

[Richard / E320]

Originally Posted by ProV1x

When I bought my 97 E420, I noticed that the past owner put in an aftermarket EXIDE group49 battery. It didn't have a vent tube, but on the side it said "APR 06". So I'm guessing this is a fairly new battery.

Then last month I left the doors open (made sure all lights were out), and traveled for 6 days and the battery was dead when I came back. Car wouldn't even crank and all lights were dead.

It was a struggle to even jumpstart the car, but I managed to start her again and all seemed fine. But recently I'm noticing that it takes alarmingly long time (sometimes 3-4 seconds) of cranking to start the engine. I'm driving the car everyday but I'm afraid if I park the car for 4-5 days it will die again.

Does an even relatively new battery get destroyed if you let it completely drain out? I wonder if I should just bite the bullet and replace the battery now. Hopefully I don't have another bigger problem like a battery drain somewhere... argh

ProV1x;

You mention that all the lights were off; do you know for certain if they were? If so, what was the draw to your battery? There could be more to the problem than you think; it has a new battery, but do you know why it had just been replaced? It might be worth having it checked out... you could replace a battery and not solve the under-lying problem. If you drive it everyday, that may not be enough time for the battery to discharge like when you traveled out of town. Batteries do fail, but often times the 'battery problems' are just the end result of another symptom.