I’m needing a new battery for my 99 Accord and I’m choosing between buying the Wally-World Everstart brand for approx $55 and installing it with the help of my friend, or getting another “Honda” battery for approx $104 installed.
Questions:
Do all batteries have “water” that must be monitored ?
Will the wally-world battery last as long as the Honda [battery] ?
I want to keep this car as long as possible so I may as well get a battery that is going to last more than 4 years. The last battery I bought at Honda had an 8 yr warranty.
Normally I wouldn’t consider the dealer however the two independents by my house quoted me MORE for a battery than Honda, + the dealer by me has an excellent service department IMO.
I live in a “moderate” climate here in KY so we don’t have to deal with the extreme cold in the winter. It seldom gets below the positive teens.
What would you guys suggest ? I’d prefer to stay in the $50-$80 price range but im willing to go $104 for a battery that will be good for another 7 years.
I’m using a Wally-World battery, with no problems, but it’s hard to argue with 7 years from your Honda battery. Your choice.
A Honda battery with an 8 year warranty for $104 installed is a good deal. Personally I get the best brand in the largest size at Costco and instsll it myself. That comes to about $60 and gets me through 6 years of driving in a cold climate.
I also use the Costco battery, which is the same battery, made by the same manufacturer (Johnson Controls) as the Sears Diehard. The only difference is that you save about $40.00 on the Costco battery, but you have to be willing to install it yourself.
And, almost all batteries today are “maintenance-free”, meaning no checking the water. I don’t know about the ‘Honda’ battery, since Honda doesn’t make batteries themselves. They have a supplier.
Get the best battery with the best warranty with a price your willing to pay. The things to look for are size that fits, CCA more than the car requires, length of warranty, and highest RC (reserve capacity). the ‘Honda’ battery will be hard to beat with the warranty.
Have we reached the point where people can’t install a battery in their car?? Most battery warranties are pro-rated and after the “free replacement” period, they are not worth squat.
You can have your cake and eat it too! Buy it at AutoZone and they will install it free! And check your charging system too! And you don’t have to bring the old battery back to Wally-World!
There are 3 types of lead-acid batteries available for automotive use.
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Flooded, with lead-antimony chemistry. You must check the water level periodically. These are usually the least expensive and they give good service.
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Flooded, using lead-calcium chemistry. These are called “Maintenance Free” because hopefully the electrolyte will not need replenishing during the life of the battery. They tend to cost a few bucks more…
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AGM lead-acid. In these, the most expensive, all the electrolyte has been absorbed into a fiberglass mat between the plates. These batteries are truly sealed, can be installed in any position and in enclosed spaces. There is no free liquid to leak or spill.
As far as quality goes, better batteries will have higher cold-cranking amps and a longer “free replacement period”.
Batteries can leave acid residue in the area where they are installed. The most difficult part of replacing one is cleaning everything up. Two table-spoons of baking soda dissolved in warm water will do the job. Replace any damaged hold-downs or connections. You can do it!
My basic guide is cold cranking amps, the more amps the better the battery, it means colder it gets you will have more power to start your car. in my experience they vary on an average between 575 and 850.
Thanks for all the replies,
I’m still needing to know if the WallyWorld battery will last another 7 years like the Honda one did ? Actually I’m thinking about scooping up the Honda battery then proceeding down the DIY route. Will I still get the warranty ?
Auto Zone batteries are rated well in most sizes and so are Wally World’s. Heat is a worse enemy of battery life than cold. Cold cuts the capacity while it is cold which is why you need more CCA in cold climates. Batteries with lots of CCA have more, thinner plates and they don’t tend to last as long in the heat. In KY, you would be better off with a “Southern” climate battery. Some manufacturers make both Northern and Southern variants. You don’t need the CCA (ever see sub-zero where you live?) and it gets pretty hot under your hood.
No matter what battery you decide to buy, look at the manufacturing date code on the battery. This will show up as a letter and a number. So for example A= January, B=Feburary, and so on. The number reflects the year. So if you buy a battery with a date code of J8, that equals October of 08. That’s over three months old. Which means a battery can begin to sulfate when it sits idle for three months or more. And you end up with a bad battery from the start.
So look at the “Freshness Date”.
Tester
I can’t help but believe the opposite, cca extra capacity is provided by an overall better battery, it is like saying a 1 gallon per hour pump is better than a 1.5 gallon per hour pump.
Get a duralast walmarts batterys are junk in my opinion
I put a Wally World battery in our 97 Accord, it lasted about 4 years, I put another one in because it went dead right next door to the new WM in town, Otherwise I would have gone to AutoZone because they have removable caps so that I can check the water level even though I haven’t had to add water to any battery in more years than I can remember.
In the south (TN), it seems like the long life batteries go sooner and the cheaper batteries last longer, I try to use the cheaper ones, but Honda seems to require a size that is only available in the high priced line.
The “average” life of a lead-acid storage battery used for automotive starting is around 5 years. The best quality batteries sometimes go 7 or 8 years. A lot depends on how easily your car starts…Lead-acid chemistry limits ANY battery of that type to around 10 years. Deep-cycle storage batteries will give you 1500 or so 50% discharge/recharge cycles. If you take them down to 10%, that number drops to 500 maybe.
I liked buying batteries at Auto Zone. The Wal-Mart batteries are good too. Any battery can last for seven years or seven minutes. A pro-rated warranty will charge you for what you have used if the battery quits working. It’s not a bad deal.
I’ve Had Good Results With Many Wally-World Batteries For Many Years
I have nine vehicles that use auto or tractor batteries. Make that ten, … Sea-Doo, too. Oops, forgot the boats, add a couple more.
The last ones I bought had high CCA ratings, came with an 84 month warranty, the first 3 years were free replacement, pro-rated after that. I think they’re made by exide, but I could be wrong. Consumer Reports magazine tests cars batteries. They get into the CCA and climate specific stuff like Beadsandbeads is talking about. You might want to check it out.
Correction: Some of my recent batteries are EverStart Maxx, 3 year free replacement, pro-rated to 108 months (9 years), $60. I don’t know if they have it to fit a Honda.
Why are wally-world and honda the only choices? There are lots of places to buy a new battery.
Not to open up one of those larger, contentious subjects, but I haven’t shopped at a Wal-Mart for a good 7-8 years. I decided a long time ago that I’d rather go find a small, locally owned business and pay more to buy from them. (I also avoid Lowe’s, K-Mart, Sears, etc) I have a direct interest in keeping more money in my own neighborhood rather than sending to Arkansas. (Gee…can you tell I’m from a small business family?)
Obviously there aren’t small local businesses around making car batteries and what you buy will probably be from a large corporate thing - but the “middle-man” doesn’t also need to be a large corporate thing.
In auto parts its harder and harder to find small, local businesses (even though the parts are obviously not small and local) - but I look for them anyway. If you don’t have a small, local place try Fisher - at least they operate more like a networked co-op rather than a hierarchical monolith.
Wal-mart is cheap - but it is not our friend.
Can you tell its Friday night and I put a couple away?
The way I read your post is that you think if you pay more you will get more,guaranteed. Have you ever looked how little you will be compensated when you claim warranty in the 8th year of a 8yr battery?
I use Delco and WalMart pretty much. I like WalMart because I can get one any time day or night. I have to say though I don’t seem to be able to get more than 3-4 years out of them before they go dead or start to worry me. No way you will get 7 years out of a WalMart one in my opinion. I just replaced one that was 2 years old because I didn’t like the sound of it at 20 below. Another one last year was only a couple years old and refused to hold a charge. Free replacement but guess I would go with the Honda at that price.
Well I narrowed it down to Walmart and Honda because as CSA was talking about, The Everstart is recommended by Consumer Reports, and Honda on the other hand, although I will pay more up front, the battery should last at LEAST 6 years and Honda offers it for cheaper than the independent mechanics around here.