# Battery or Starter Motor or Both? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** buick, century\ **Created:** [February 16, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-or-starter-motor-or-both/44590 "2010-02-16T16:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve\_Lynne\_Mattingly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eve\_Lynne\_Mattingly](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Eve_Lynne_Mattingly)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-or-starter-motor-or-both/44590/1 "2010-02-16T16:45:27Z")
On 5/28/08, my mechanic replaced the battery in my 2002 Buick Century. It had 19154 miles on it then. Since I got nothing in writing about the battery, I questioned the mechanic and he said it was an 84 month battery. On 2/12/10, the same mechanic replaced the battery again, saying it would not take a charge. It had refused to start, but I had jump started it with no problem after allowing it to charge for a few minutes. The car had 29476 miles on it. The mechanic also replaced the starter motor, telling me that it was bad. Until the morning when I had to jump start the car, it had never hesitated to start at the first try. So, my question is five-fold: 1) How likely is it that a 22 month old battery was totally bad? 2) Shouldn’t I have gotten some sort of rebate or credit? 3)How likely is it that the starter motor had to be replaced? 4) How can I tell if it was actually replaced? and finally, (5) Has my trust in this guy over the last 16 years been ill-founded? ---
**Author:** ![jayhawkroy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jayhawkroy/32/33_2.png) [@jayhawkroy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jayhawkroy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-or-starter-motor-or-both/44590/2 "2010-02-16T16:59:22Z")
Depending on the brand of battery installed, many of them come with a 24-36 (but some come with as little as 3 or 12, too) month free replacement warranty. That would imply that you should not have been charged for the battery replacement, but possibly incurred a mechanics’s labor charge. I would identify the battery brand and model/brand line, and go to their website to find out what the real battery warranty is. ---
**Author:** ![hellokit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6a8cbe/32.png) [@hellokit](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hellokit)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-or-starter-motor-or-both/44590/3 "2010-02-17T00:23:44Z")
It seems that your battery is getting deep-discharged–possibly from a battery drain. You could have some shop find the battery drain; or, put a trickle charger on the battery. It may be several days apart when you drive the car, isn’t it? If the battery is draining ("…when I get a jump start…"), it could be be discharging enough to shorten the battery life. ---
**Author:** ![missileman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/missileman/32/1366_2.png) [@missileman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/missileman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/battery-or-starter-motor-or-both/44590/4 "2010-02-18T17:22:07Z")
You need to have your alternator checked. It’s probably not charging the battery enough to keep it alive or to start the engine. It’s the heart of your charging/starting system.