Early battery death

[owlman]

I took my new-to-me '06 LS to pep boys for a 100-something point inspection. Passed with flying colors except they failed the battery... they said it had only 430 CCA vs. the stock 650. Other than that the battery and the rest of the charging system was OK. It's like 60 degrees out today; not real cold or anything.

What could have caused this early battery weakness? The car was only built in 03/06 and has 9k mi.

I have to yell at Carmax tomorrow and ask what their guidelines are for passing a battery in their "Certified Quality Inspection". Probably just if it starts the car it's "good"

oh, also is there any warranty on the stock battery? thanks.

 

[ToddG]

Are you having problems starting it, or any other indication of battery failure?

 

[owlman]

Nope, seems fine to me.

 

[99 KOBRA]

Why are you taking your LS to Pep Boys when it is under warranty? Why would you ever take your LS to Pep Boys?

 

[ballzac86]

its probably ok, just trying to upsell. take the battery to dealership or autozone to have them test it for free.

 

[beaups]

I'd love to know how they test CCA at a pep boys

 

[02V8Sport]

that sounds like a scam, if your battery is bad take it to a Lincoln dealer, its should be covered under the basic 4yr/48000 mile warranty.

 

[SoonerLS]

...should be covered under the basic 4yr/48000 mile warranty.

Just one nit to pick here--the bumper-to-bumper warranty is four-years (48 month), but the mileage is 50,000 miles, not 48,000 miles.

 

[ToddG]

Nope, seems fine to me.

Then I'd leave it alone, I don't care what Pep Boys says. Ever heard the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

 

[owlman]

hehe. Well I just don't want to be stuck with a dead battery some morning. I think I'll swing by Autozone tomorrow for a free test.

 

[beaups]

400+ amps is far more than you need

 

[scjmc]

They check CCA by placing a load on the battery with a tester. The unit then looks at voltage drop with the load, and also the residual *spelling* spring back of voltage. Then the tester applies a load again and monitors the voltage. It usees this data to calculate approximate CCA. Low CCA would indicate a possible battery problem. I would also not take my LS to pep boys.

 

[owlman]

Why are you taking your LS to Pep Boys when it is under warranty? Why would you ever take your LS to Pep Boys?

I needed to get it checked over asap and the dealer was not able to do it on the weekend.

 

[beaups]

They check CCA by placing a load on the battery with a tester. The unit then looks at voltage drop with the load, and also the residual *spelling* spring back of voltage. Then the tester applies a load again and monitors the voltage. It usees this data to calculate approximate CCA. Low CCA would indicate a possible battery problem. I would also not take my LS to pep boys.

Thanks for answering as I was always curious how they did this. Seems like nothing more than an estimate. Only way I could see to truly test CCA is to apply a direct short across the battery terminals and then measure current w/some sort of induction amp-meter....dangerous and probably not good for the battery