Hi I have had to change my civic battery 3 times now in the past 5 years. My battery died today and I figure that I need to find out what’s wrong. The AAA guy who gave me a boost, ran a B2Q test on my battery and it came back State of Charge 71%, State of Health 0%, Charging System Pass, Cranking Health 51%. Does that mean my alternator is OK? As far as I know I do not have any gadgets plugged into my car except for a phone charger. I have bought a new battery from Costco, I am wondering if I should just change the battery, or do I need to take it into the shop. Thank you
Do you live in a really hot climate? If so, you may just be having some bad luck w/your batteries; i.e. nothing is wrong, just buy another battery.
Taking your Civic to a well-recommended inde shop for a basic battery/charging system test makes a lot of sense. If you are diy’er inclined, here’s my basic driveway battery charging system test, requires an accurate volt meter.
Before first start of the day, the battery should measure about 12.6 volts; then immediately after starting the engine, 13.5 - 15.5 volts. You are welcome to post your measurements here for more ideas.
It would also be a good idea to also ask the shop to check the battery drain current when everything is off. Wait an hour after parking car, then battery drain current should be 75 mA or less.
One more question, could be pertinent: Why do you think your battery is dead? If b/c the engine fails to crank – that rr rrr rrrr sound – with key in “start”, that symptom might not be caused by the battery.
Yes I live in California. I changed my battery last on Jan/2021, and it died today. Should I install the new battery at home then take it to the shop, or should I jump start my car and take it to the shop with the bad battery in it. Thank you
The battery failed, the charging system is good. 2 1/2 years is a common lifespan of a battery in the Southwest.
Costco batteries have a 36 month free replacement warranty, get a new battery.
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With modern computerized cars like you have (1990+) I wouldn’t ever recommend getting a jump start, or giving one to another car. While it is usually ok, w/even a little bad luck it can cause very expensive damage to the car’s electrical system. Not worth the risk except perhaps in an emergency situation imo. If battery is too discharged to crank the engine, I’d charge it overnight at 2 amp rate w/a shop battery charger.
So what would I do in that situation? hmmm … I’d be thinking that even in a fairly hot climate, a battery should last longer than that. The charging system as noted by the poster above appears to be working ok, inspecting the photo you posted. So I’d want to know if something untoward was draining the battery overnight. I’d do the battery drain current test before deciding whether or not to replace the battery.
If the data in the photo is saying the starter motor still cranks the engine at 7.3 volts, the starter motor is ok. That’s good news, and further makes me suspicious something is draining the battery.
Where did you purchase the current battery? Brand name? How long was its warranty? What part of Calif do you live?
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I live in Northern California in a hot climate. I spoke to a mechanic here and he suspects a parasitic drain, the current battery is from Costco, but the problem is that this is the third battery to die so I don’t think it’s just bad luck. The mechanic seemed somewhat not too enthusiastic about looking at the car (maybe because it’s a difficult to isolate the drain?) when I first bought the car in 2018 I did install an after market self driving system (Comma Ai, which was basically a smartphone connected to the lane keep assist camera) but I unplugged and disconnected that system several years ago, I don’t think (I hope) that has nothing to do with my current issues. If anyone else has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. In the meantime the mechanic told me it would be a week before they could look at it.
Costco has good batteries. I think there’s definitely something else going on, parasitic drain likely. I presume you live in a place like Redding, gets pretty hot in the summer. But I wouldn’t even call Redding a battery killer climate. Phoenix, New Orleans, maybe. But not Redding. I like to play golf in really hot temperatures for some reason, so pre-Covid I’d sometimes drive to Redding just to play golf … lol …
Assuming you have a battery drain, I doubt it is caused by the cell phone app gadget you used prior. More likely a faulty door switch. Or a light that is coming on at night. Go out at night once in a while , check for lights on, glove compartment, brake lights, etc. Push on the door (esp driver’s door), see if that makes any lights turn on.
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Third Costco battery since Jan. 2021?
Costco batteries are supplied by Interstate batteries. We use Interstate batteries; we replace batteries everyday under the 24 month free replacement warranty. Batteries fail much more often than electrical components.
AAA jump started the car.
You’re not leaving anything plugged in after you shut the engine off?
Such as one of those USB chargers?
I have a phone charger, but the phone is not connected after the engine is off, so I doubt that is the problem. I have been watching a lot of youtube videos, I have a multimeter, but I don’t know if I have the courage to start yanking out fuses to see where the current draw is coming from. I guess I haven’t confirmed there is a current draw yet. Does anyone think it would be reasonable to just change the battery and live with the small drain (I think it is a small drain)
Reasons for car battery early failure:
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Insufficient use (multiple instances of sitting parked for more than a month at a time) or Voltage too low on the charging system. The battery sulfates, or even freezes in the winter to to constant low state of charge.
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Parasiting draw that causes the battery to frequently drain below 90% capacity. Car batteries are not desigined to be dischanged. You would know since your battery would be dead every time your leave the car parked for more than a week.
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Over charging. Too much charging Voltage, or too much for the temperature. Car batteries in the south last half as long as in the north because of this. Most cars don’t reduce the charge Voltage in high temperatures so the battery gets over charged. 2.5 years in the south (1500 hours) versus 5 years (3000 hours) in the north is typical. 14.4 Volts of charge Voltage may be fine up north, but in a hot climate 14.0 Volts is what it should be.
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defective batteries.
If you have 1,2, or 3 it is fairly easy to diagnose with a digital multmeter.
Hi thanks for your response, I’m assuming I need to install the new battery before I check for a parasitic drain (which is what I think is the most likely thing) I had not driven the car for 4-5 days prior to todays dead battery episode.
“State of charge” show 71%, the battery is not discharged.
“State of health” shows 0%, the plates are shot. This is typical heat damage, the battery is next to the engine. Did you install the thermo cover around the replacement battery?
Unfortunately, that is sometimes false logic
On some cars, the power port or cigarette lighter is ALWAYS hot, even when the engine and ignition are off
Even the little LED on those usb chargers cause a small parasitic draw
Hello Nevada, I think on one of my previous battery changes I may have removed or misplaced the heat shield (at the time I didn’t know what it was!) Now I am thinking it may be heat damage! I live neat Sacramento and we have very hot summers (for example this weekend it is supposed to be 105, and I also park my car outside of the garage). I’m ordering a heat shield right now on Amazon.
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Thank you, I will test and see if this particular lighter is drawing power when the engine is off.
My son liver in western NY his whole life. He always got 7 to 10+ years out of a battery. He moved to Florida 12 years ago. Now they barely last 2 years.
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You can buy another battery shield from a Honda dealer or from a junk yard; maybe online at a site like eBay. You can clearly see it surrounding the battery in the under hood photo that @Nevada_545 provided.
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Why??? It’s NOT like you remove them all and hope you put them back in the right place, you are only basically removing one fuse at a time to find the circuit with the draw, IF you remove all the fuses then how will you know which one has the draw??? If the fuse box does not have a fuse puller already in it and you don’t feel comfortable using needle nose or whatever pliers then you can go to AutoZone and buy a cheap fuse puller, they are plastic so no chance of damaging anything… Just remember which fuse(s) you have pulled so you don’t keep pulling the same ones over and over… lol
It is not rocket science, even a caveman can do it…
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At least get an accurate assessment of the parasitic current draw first. If you are not equipped or qualified to do that job yourself, pay a shop to do it for you. Shouldn’t be overly expensive, as long as you limit their work to just making the measurement. Once you know what it is, you are welcome to post the mA draw number here, I expect you’ll get some good ideas.
IMO Sacramento heat doesn’t explain the unusually short battery life problem you are having. I think the problem is the parasitic draw. I live in San Jose, not as hot as Sacramento, but still into the 90’s many summer days, occasionally over 100. If anything Sacramento is colder than San Jose in the winter. My vehicle batteries tend to last 6-10 years. The one in my truck now , 8 years, from Costco. The one in my Corolla, 6 years, $50 Walmart special. Both are approaching the end of their useful life, but at this point both are still cranking the engines, no problem. My vehicle’s parasitic draws:
Corolla: 3 mA
Truck: 0 mA