has anyone had any problem with walmart battery.
I ve had problems with napa batteries…
yes I have. Real hassle if you have to exchange it.
No more so than any other brand. Over 20 years I’ve had 2 fail within the warranty period.
What’s the exact problem? If you suspect the battery is bad and WM is saying the battery is good because their handheld tester says so then you could well be right and WM wrong.
Yes I have. I’ve never had one that lasted longer than 3 years no matter how high priced it was. One only lasted one year and was so dead it wouldn’t even turn the starter over. Wouldn’t take a charge at all. I used to like them because you could go in at 2:00 in the morning if you needed to and get a replacement (which we did once). But then they changed their practice so it has to be cleared by the goons in the auto shop first. The last one that lasted only a year, I had sold the car and was in a hurry to get it going and deliver it, but it took the guys in the auto shop over an hour to finally pronounce the battery dead and give me a replacement. So I’ve been only buying Delco now for my GM’s and never needed one for my Acura.
Of course we’ve had this discussion before and others will disagree. But for $130-150 I can get a pretty good quality Delco with a 3 year full replacement on it.
Costco Kirkland brand batteries are also excellent value, if you happen to have a membership or know someone who does.
In the past, I have used Costco’s Kirkland brand car batteries, and I found them to be of high quality–at a bargain price.
Recently, as I was cruising the aisles in my local Costco, I found that they now carry Interstate batteries, rather than Kirkland. However, this is really a distinction without a difference, as both brands always came from the same assembly line in the same Johnson Controls factory.
@VDCdriver
This isn’t exactly objective, but I’m disappointed that Costco now carries Interstate batteries
The reason is that I’ve always had bad experiences with Interstate over the years
As far as I’m concerned, not all Johnson Controls batteries are created equal
I’venever had one that lasted less than 8 years, and interstate batteries were in the mix,
Just because there are only a handful of battery makers doesn’t mean that all the batteries are the same. Simply coming from the same maker doesn’t make them equal, there are different specs and requirements. Remember, the same company that makes the Corvette made the Citation.
^
I agree that not all batteries from the same manufacturer are necessarily the same.
However, I can tell you that when I bought Kirkland brand batteries from Costco, on both occasions I compared their specs to the specs of the Sears Diehard Gold battery, and found them to be identical. As far as I was concerned, the only differences between those two Johnson Controls batteries were the price (~$30 less at Costco), and the warranty (longer on the Kirkland battery).
Yes…but I’ve also had problems with other major brands as well. The one that stands out in my mind the most is the “DieEasy” (DieHard) brand. I’ve seen piles of dead ones at the salvage yard with their “green eyes” still glowing. Some people swear that they are good but people also say that broccoli tastes great. It’s a noxious weed in my book.
When my in laws went to an assistant care facility, they kept their car for a while. When the maintenance department went to move the car, the battery wouldn’t crank the engine. I tried starting the car a couple of days later and it cranked over very slowly, but did start. I took their car to WalMart and had them install a new battery. A couple of weeks later, we took the car, at my father-in-law’s insistence, to their house which had not yet been sold, and parked the car int the garage. A month later, when I went to start the car, the car wouldn’t turn over. I hooked up the battery charger and a day later, the car started. I drove it around several days, but after it sat a couple of days, it wouldn’t turn over. I took the car to a different WalMart store that was closer to our house and the battery was replaced without charge or question.
About 22 years ago, I did buy a battery made by Exide from Quality Farm and Fleet. The battery wouldn’t hold a charge. When I put the battery in the car, it turned over slowly, but I reasoned that it would charge up after driving. The next day, the car wouldn’t start. I disconnected the battery cables and left the battery on for 24 hours. When I disconnected the charger, my voltmeter read 12.6 volts. I let the battery sit for 2 hours, measured the output, and it was down to 10 volts. I took the battery back to Quality Farm and Fleet and the clerk in the auto parts division argued that the battery was fine–it had to be the car. I grabbed his load tester and proved to him that the battery was defective. I was then told that they didn’t have that battery in stock and I would have to buy a more expensive battery. I asked for my money back, but was told that my trade-in battery had already been sent to recycling. I demanded to see the manager and was finally given my money back and an old battery. I went down the street to WalMart and bought a new battery that worked.
We do have a battery store in our town where one of my colleagues bought a battery some years back. The battery didn’t have a label on it indicating the brand. My colleague asked what make battery he had purchased. The proprietor opened his drawer with a bunch of labels for different brands of batteries and said, “What kind of battery would you like it to be?”
I’ve purchased batteries of different makes from NAPA, Advanced Auto, WalMart, the Standard Oil station where I did business (Atlas battery) and haven’t noticed any real difference between the batteries.
My only recent bad battery experience was the replacement Ray0Vac 377 battery that I bought from WalMart for a $5 watch I bought at Big Lots. The original battery lasted 4 years. A pack of 2 replacement batteries cost $7.50. The first replacement only lasted a year–the watch stopped yesterday. I hope the second battery in the pack lasts longer.
Although I prefer the Kirkland brand from Costco, my wife installed a Walmart battery when I was out of town (Costco does not install batteries here) and it worked great for 5 years until we cold the car. Never a problem starting in cold weather.
"Costco does not install batteries here"
They don’t install batteries anywhere.
The only automotive items that they install are tires.
I usually get6-8 years out of a battery. I usually buy one with a 6 or 7 year warranty. Doesn’t seem to matter what brand although I stay away from Sears.