Car batteries.

February 23, 2018
Lately we had to deal with the car batteries. They were either very old and basically dying or I got one that didn't last the year. Finding a battery that I could just say, okay I'll just get xyz. Brand isn't what it used to be. Batteries are now made all over the world in different plants, so it's hard to say brand x is better than brand z. In short, I decided to put together a few notes on them to give you a better look at what is available now. I can only tell you about my experience with the batteries that we have purchased at the present time. Meaning in the last two years to now.

Keep in mind that these are the sizes we have. Your car may use a totally different size. The one size that I know many may have is the 35 and the 24F which we have. The other is a smaller battery, but you can check them all out on the web.

These are the prices of what I paid when I got mine Bosch, but of course now they are lower. I have put together the pricing from the current sites as of today. These prices may also vary depending on where you are. We had used the Costco red batteries way back and they were good batteries. I can't remember the name at the moment so I'll just call them that. Unfortunately Costco no longer carries those batteries which is why I decided to try the Bosch myself. I figured Bosch would be a good brand. Unfortunately one of my Bosch batteries didn't even last one whole year. They exchanged it without any problems, but it's not what I expected from Bosch. My first Bosch on the other car is still holding after two years, but the battery checker shows it's fine, but not excellent. I hardly drive so that's the reason this the other reason that Bosch is looking ok, but not great. At least from my two batteries. Not to mention these were not cheap batteries.

 I found the pictures of what the old batteries were. These batteries were pretty good, but they are the ones that got replaced with the Interstate at Costco.

The one thing I hate about pepboys is their site. You have to purchase the item online in order to get any discounts. You can't just bring the code or coupon into the store and buy it. The site is also pretty bad and I have told them about it, but they won't do squat so this is why I hardly buy anything there nowadays.

 Here's the second Bosch battery tested in the car. Only time will tell. I should note that when using the CCA for each battery, that is supposed to be at a certain temperature. I just use that as a reference to make the test. So what I look at is the charge and internal resistance. Just to get an idea of the battery health, but you should still use the battery number to at least get the closer number to the battery size you are testing.

 Here's is the new Bosch replacement just out of the store. It's the same exact model as before. But I wanted to compare them.

 So far it's working so I'm happy not having to take out my car jumper for any of the cars. That gets old fast.

Part #: 35-640B
https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/9073717/01671

Part #: U1RT370B
https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/9456161/01671

Fast forward to today and at least both my batteries are still working. But only time will tell. Unfortunately my dads battery just kicked the bucket, flew the nest, or just died. Whatever you call it, I had to look for a battery, again. A bit more looking around at different batteries and prices and sears was out of the question. One of my brothers said he got a battery from there and it has been good. Then he mentioned how more sears are closing where he lives. So that made that decision not to get it there quick. What good is a warranty if the store is closed. We then checked the local auto parts, but warranty there is minimal. Batteries seem to be a toss up now, we wanted to make sure we got a decent warranty to not have to worry about the battery for a while at least. I don't expect a car battery to last 10 years, if it does great, but if you can get a couple of years without any problems, I think that's fair. Having an issue with any car battery within at least the first two  or even three years really kills your confidence in them. This is why I'm now keeping tabs on them.

Now before I forget, this is assuming that you car doesn't have any other electrical problems that would kill and ruin your battery. Not to mention if you live in a very cold or hot place. Nothing likes extreme temperatures. Just make sure you check everything else before you blame a battery for all your electrical gremlins. Our cars are fine and I also got a small meter to check things a bit more. It's not a super expensive battery tester, but so far it's worked well as I checked the batteries before and after buying them. It's definitely better than not having anything to check things with.

In short, we decided to try the new Costco Interstate batteries. The old Costco batteries lasted a very long time. My dad wasn't crazy about this brand, he had them years ago and didn't care too much for them, but the warranty and easy return/exchange was hard to beat. Not to mention a lot has changed now. At this point we wanted to try it since it's time to change it anyway. I had put my jumper in his car now since it was his turn with the crap battery. I gave Bosch the benefit of doubt, but I was not going to get a third one. Not to mention these were the more expensive batteries on the list when I purchased mine.

 One thing I didn't like about the 23 battery is the fact that it does not have a carrying handle. We wanted the higher cranking amp battery that would fit the car this time around. It was a bit harder to get into the car, but it fit just fine once we got it in there. So we got more cranking amps for an even lower price. If it works for a long while without any problems, it's a good choice, if not, the ratings don't mean squat. So we'll see how this one works out. Plus Costco is much closer than Walmart so this also helps.

I like testing my new batteries now. Here's a look at how this new battery tested. I just wanted to have a base of what a new battery looks like vs one that has been working for a bit. The battery was just installed here. I bought this tester through ebay, but you can find them all over now. Some even have printers on them. This one only holds the memory for the last battery you tested, so not much  else there but for basic testing, it's fine. So check the memory on any tester you get, maybe they have some on the larger testers. Then again I don't know since the other testers with the printers also seem to use the same software.

A multi meter is great, but having a little more information really helps. So far so good. At this point though, I'm having a tough time just trusting any car battery until I have used it for a while.It's been a while since I had to get a new batteries for the car. Batteries aren't cheap so that's the other reason I don't want to keep having to change them. You think with all the battery technology advances these things would be cheap as beans now.

 Oddly enough, the smaller battery does have the handle. In case any manufacturer reads this, handles are good. But what do I know.

 https://costco.interstatebatteries.com/results?key=auto&ZipCode=90032&l=90032&Program=100500&choice1=32285&choice2=33571&choice3=33613&choice4=33614&choice5=33615&Country=US

We looked at the Walmart brand, but he decided to pass on them. I was pretty close to going that route, but then we saw where some of those batteries came from. Korea and somewhere in the middle east I think it was. I'm not sure how fresh a battery from way out there would be, but that made up his mind. Some people have had good luck with them, but I don't know anything about them since I have never owned one.

 https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Lead-Acid-Automotive-Battery-Group-Size-24F/28275657#read-more

Here's the other O'reilly battery I saw.
The one suggested for the car we were looking for. So price will depend on which model you are looking at. Some cars have a second option others may not.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/premium-5354/battery-accessories-16452/battery---automotive-16864/battery-12836/super-start-premium-top-mount-battery/26rprmj/4742682/1993/toyota/previa

Autozone battery
https://www.autozone.com/batteries-starting-and-charging/battery/duralast-battery/959528_320859_0

So there you have it. I can't tell you what to buy, but this has been my experience with car batteries lately. There's nothing worst than your car not starting up, but things happen so I hope this will at least help others. This is the type of information I was looking to find in order to help me make a better decision on what to buy, but most stuff is very old. Things have changed a lot now so this is why I wanted to at least get some information on what is available today in 2018.