My OEM battery in a ’90 1.6 has died this weekend (left the passengers door
ajar…duh)
I have jump started the car, and taken it out for a 20 minute run, but the
battery still has insufficient life to turn over the motor.
Do the original batteries take longer to re charge than normal? - I don’t
want to run out to buy a new battery if this one still has life in it. –
Although I suspect 8 yrs is exceptionally good longevity anyway.
Thanks for any advice
In article <6gsnpm$2r…@fep5.clear.net.nz>, "DJ" <d.jo…@clear.net.nz> wrote:
> My OEM battery in a ’90 1.6 has died this weekend (left the passengers door
> ajar…duh)
> I have jump started the car, and taken it out for a 20 minute run, but the
> battery still has insufficient life to turn over the motor.
> Do the original batteries take longer to re charge than normal? - I don’t
> want to run out to buy a new battery if this one still has life in it. –
> Although I suspect 8 yrs is exceptionally good longevity anyway.
> Thanks for any advice
I had a ’92 battery that I tried to revive. You are supposed to only use a
trickle charge ( approx. 2 amps or less) to charge these batteries. I
think about 24 hrs charge time will do. My battery revived for a few days
but then went dead again. If you don’t have a charger to experiment with,
I’d say just get a new battery. Mazda sells them for about $85.
–
Robert Meushaw
rvme…@clark.net
Consumer Reports has good data on batteries. Check it before you buy. OEM is
probably pretty good, Interstate is a good brand, but there are some real
turkeys out there. One of the real problems is getting one from a discounter
that"fits". The term "fits" describes anything they have on the shelf that can
be stuffed in there with a bunch of adapters. Mismatching the battery and
alternator does the elctrical system no good, so choose wisely.
Good luck!
Joe
JBO…@AOL.COM
DJ wrote:
> My OEM battery in a ’90 1.6 has died this weekend (left the passengers door
> ajar…duh)
> I have jump started the car, and taken it out for a 20 minute run, but the
> battery still has insufficient life to turn over the motor.
> Do the original batteries take longer to re charge than normal? - I don’t
> want to run out to buy a new battery if this one still has life in it. –
> Although I suspect 8 yrs is exceptionally good longevity anyway.
If the battery’s deeply discharged, it will take a *very* long time
driving to recharge it. My Integra sat unused for several months this
winter (duh, I own a Miata), and the battery was good and dead. Not
even a faint glow from the dome light. (I suspect the cruise control
unit–left it turned on when I last drove the car, and someone else here
pointed out that cruise units can be pretty good current drains on
parked cars.)
Anyway, I jumped it, ran it for an hour, got home, turned it off, and
’twas still deader ‘n a dornail. Went out, bought a plug-it-in-the-wall
charger. Supposed to take about 10 hours to fully charge a battery, but
it took about 20 in this case. It behaved kinda wierd–no current at
all at first, then the current gradually built to normal charging
current over about 10 hours. After that, about 10 hours of charging and
the current dropped like it was supposed to. It’s fine now; I run it
once or twice a month, no signs of battery weakness at all (but I make
sure to turn the cruise off when I get out of the car.)
Eric Lucas