Man, its been a tough week. Went to start my car Wednesday (2010 Accord - battery is about 7 years old) and the engine barely turned over but the car did start. Let it run for about 1 minute and shut it off. Then tried to start it up and it turned over as it normally does. Did the same yesterday. And again just now. About a month ago, I left the overhead light on and the battery was dead the following day. Had it fully charged and no problems until Wednesday. Admittedly, I do crank the tunes up when I drive the car!! Yes, I do realize that has nothing to do with the problem. Think she's ready to die? Could it be something that's drawing power out of the battery when the car is off? New battery time?
Once you let it drain, it won’t be the same. Check the side case, not the front or back and if it’s got a bulge then it’s going to die soon.
Heat is the big killer of batteries believe it or not. If you suspect you have a draw on the system do a parasitic draw test, it will tell you for sure. Anything more than a 50 milliamp draw will run a battery down in less than 2 weeks, higher than that can run it down in just one day.
I replace car batteries every 4 years. Too much drain and high charge rates on today's batteries I think. I want to know it will start!
That's about 2 - 3 years too early if you are talking a quality battery to start with. Probably about right if you're going with a cheap battery when you replace them (WalMart battery as Dave mentions above).
