Dead

[medicinemaan]

I just bought my genesis after making an intelligent choice.

I went for a certified 2009 tech package black on black. It is a beautiful piece of machinery. but .....when u park in a shoping mall and the car goes dead with the mall closing in the cold . its not fun.

when it happens 3 times its down right cruel.

Now i troll the websites trying to find out the issue ....is it the battery..did i leave the lights on ...you wish...is the terminal the ground. the wiring the boot switch the trunk switch. .....really who cares you spend 25000 on a car ...not buying the MERC or the Lexus.....and sit in the car and press the start button the question on your mind is ....

R U FEELING LUCKY PUNK

 

[Ruissimo]

From what I remember a couple of years back, the 2009's were prone to something like that, where it was missing a rubber stopper inside the hood somewhere, and it drained the battery somehow? I don't know... I never owned one, but some of the other old timers might.

 

[Rey]

I'm a geezer; and in olden days batteries would give some warning before failure, like weaker starting. Now, it seems to be all or nothing.

With the all or nothing mode it makes good sense to replace a battery before complete failure; and, in my opinion, four years is about the useful life of most batteries today. Yes, I know some folks have had batteries last a decade, but it is no fun being stuck on the side of the road waiting for a service truck.

Presently, the battery on my '12 RSpec has gone blank on attempted key starts. The symptom is that there is plenty of power upon entering the car, lights, etc. work. When starter is engaged, then no power, lights, whatever, etc. This indicates to me a loose ground or battery connection, so I check battery. Everything is tight. I always have a 10mm wrench in the tire well for these emergencies, so I check battery bolts - they are tight. I then tap the battery posts; and amazing lights go on. The car starts. Everything is cool. Car starts o.k., but when will it fail again?
I will check the chassis ground connection, but suspect it is tight. I think the battery itself may be failing internally with some sort of intermittent disconnect.

 

[mikec]

I will check the chassis ground connection, but suspect it is tight. I think the battery itself may be failing internally with some sort of intermittent disconnect.

It's not uncommon for the battery posts to separate from the plates inside the battery. This was fairly common on batteries with the round post style battery posts. Folks tended to grab and twist back-n-forth on the wire connectors to break them free... often that twisted the post too separating it from the battery guts. A small puller tool (basically a "claw" that gripped below the wire end and a central screw that pushed on the battery post) is the right way to separate stuck wire ends from the battery. Batteries that use the screw-style connections can suffer similar problems if the screws are over-tightened.

Many cars also have smaller "pigtail" wires attached to the beefy battery cables. These small wires power most of the vehicle; the beefy wires feed the starter motor. A weak crimp between the pigtail wire and whatever end is attached to the wire leads to intermittent problems.

Not removing the paint before attaching the beefy ground to the chassis means there is little to no electrical connection at that point. Paint is an insulator; relying on the threads of the screw/bolt to make the connection is not reliable. A better option is to insert a star washer between the wire and chassis. Star washers are washers with metal tabs sticking outwards or inwards (kinda like wide gear teeth) and these tabs are twisted a bit... that way the edges of the tabs dig into the bolt and dig through the paint making a reliable electrical connection.

mike c.

 

[Gs Dave]

Down here in S.Fl...I have been getting 2-2.5 years per battery. Just make sure I buy the 3 year full replacement and am good to go. Just replaced the one in my regal and it was only a 2 year full replacement...it lasted 2yrs 9 months. Damn, had to pay a little out of pocket.

 

[Cut-Throat]

The best thing I have done as far as Car Maintenance goes, is to replace the battery on my car when it is 4 years old. I keep a car 8 years. Previous to this, I would wait for the battery to die (and it always died at the wrong time). Like when it was 20 below zero and most every battery was out of stock, and it was miserable to weather conditions to change it.

Now I pick a nice cool day in the fall and replace the battery at my leisure. It's cheaper and far less hassle. I've done this for 25 years now and I've never had a battery fail on me.

 

[jeanc47]

Ditto! Caught my attention because I was looking for any others with my problem. I DID have a dead engine and starter in Oct, 2012 My 4.6 V8, 2011 Sedan ended up in the shop for 22 days. All toll, new engine, new starter, new catalytic converter/resinator, new steering assebly( say they bent it) a new camera( for reverse) let's see what else.....I think thats it. Still cannot tell me which went out first the engine or the starter, or why. Any ideas???

 

[RR129]

With a thread title like that I was expecting an engine failure. Dead battery not the end of the world but inconvenient to say the least.

+1