I find it easier to remove the battery after pulling the plastic cowl sections surrounding the battery before removing it. Indentify the 5-6 plastic fastners holding it down and use a flathead screwdriver to pull up the center piastic pin. Then, wiggle out the rest of the plastic clips that hold them into position. You'll notice the precision fit of these parts and will be able to more easily access the battery once they're moved. There's a pretty traditional threaded rod and battery hold down clamp to remove with a 10 mm wrench. The battery terminals also use a 10 mm wrench or socket to remove. Good luck!

 

That is correct.

You didn't say where you're from, and local temperatures have a large effect on battery life. Here by Phoenix, two years is average and three is usually a freebee. Folks in cooler climes can often get 5 or more years out of car batteries, provided they are properly maintained.

If you've never checked your battery fluid level, it's almost certainly boiled out water during the charging cycles. Remember from high school chemistry that running electric current through water breaks it down into hydrogen and oxygen gas. That's what happens to your battery fluid when you're driving the car and charging the battery. The water in the battery acid converts to water vapor and hydrogen/oxygen gas and escapes into the atmosphere. Eventually it will boil the fluid level in the cells down below the top of the battery plates. At that point, sulfation (battery acid is mostly sulfuric acid) of one or more of the cells usually occurs and the cell(s) will short out. Filling the cells back with water will sometimes restore the battery for a short period, but the sulfation damage is done and the battery is most likely on its last legs. You're going to have to replace it pretty soon. I always find it's much easier to do that before it dies on me in some parking lot 38 miles outside of East Camel's Breath AZ.

 

Once a cell fails to come up to a full charge on the hydrometer it is time to replace the battery. Waiting will only result in the car failing to start usually in pouring rain or when you are in a rush to go somewhere.

If you are married & it happens your wife will never forget it and you'll never hear the end of it

If your dating it will happen when you finally convinced the local hottie to finally go out with you. She may not ever answer your calls again.

Replace the battery

Telcoman

 

optima red top! my stock battery was a slow crank after 3-4 days parked. optima fixed that up for me. just bought a yellow top for the wife's SUV. she loves to leave accessories on for long periods, so a dual-purpose battery was the way to go.

replacing the battery is a 10 minute DIY, plus a few minutes to reporgram the radio presets.

 

So I let the car sit for a few hours after getting home from work and decided to test the battery with a volt meter. It read 12.1V, so obviously that is pretty low. Sure enough, it didn't start. So I jumped it again and it read 14.3V while running and then when I shut it off it read 12.68V. So I am going to measure it again in the morning and see what it says.

In the meantime, I picked up a red top so it is ready to put in if needed. Another thing that I did was removed my little bluetooth OBDII adapter. I had been leaving that in lately (for the Torque app). I am not sure if the OBDII connector has an always on power source where the bluetooth adapter would be drawing enough to drain the battery, but I doubt it.

 

On a three year old battery it might.

 

Well I swapped batteries a few minutes ago. I tested the stock one before removing and it was down to 12.1V again (I didn't try starting though). So I put in the red top and tested it before starting and it also read 12.1V, but it started right up (I am hoping it was low because it had been sitting on the shelf for a while or something).

After I took the stock battery out, I looked at the fluid level and it was filled well above the minimum line and only slightly below the max line so I am a little nervous that there could be something else going on. We shall see.

 

I replaced my 4 year old stock battery with a motorcycle battery. It is at least 15 pounds lighter and next time I will not have to remove the plastic surrounding for installation.

 

I assume this is a joke.
Tom

 

Li-ion battery?

 

I had problems with the battery in my 09 GxS sedan in early 2012. It wouldn't turn the engine over after the car sat for about 5 days and I had to jump start it. The last time this happened I jumped it and called my dealer who told me to bring it right in. The trip to the dealer was about 20 miles and when they checked it told me it was very week which I thought was weird considering the 20 mile trip I just made. They replaced it for free with the biggest battery they said they had, I believe it's 700 cold cranking amps or more but the mechanic told me "these cars use a lot of power, even when they're off". He suggested I buy a trickle charger and keep it on the car when it's not used for 3 days or more in my garage. Well, in this past month I've had to jump it twice. This past week I went to start it and it's totally dead. AAA came and checked the battery before jumping it and said it had eleven volt's still in it, so I bought a trickle charger and I'm trying to keep it fully charged.
Now I'm no mechanic but I don't feel a car in this price range should be so poorly designed that it has an inadequate charging system. I'll be heading back to the dealer to ask for the TSB that replaces the Vent Control Valve that forum members are talking about. Does anyone know date the TSB came out for this problem?

 

No, not a joke. Deka ETX-18L Battery
It works very good. I have a smaller size on my WRX and works better then the lead acid battery, cheaper too.