Battery failed

First I have to ask, how long was it setting between uses??? And how short are those drives?
Unless you REALLY don't use the truck much (sits for months at a time) and you only drive it on 1/2 mile trips, it's my opinion that you just had a bad battery.
That's presuming you don't sit in the truck after it's turned off, doing extensive searches with Navi or running lights &/or radio for lengthy stints.
Your battery should recharge fine, even if you only ever take short trips around town, as long as they are at least a few miles..... and it should HOLD a charge for months at a time w/o use in between. Now the combination of only 1 or 2 five minute drives between 2 month long periods of non-use probably just won't get it. But with 1700 miles on it in a year, I'm guessing that's not the case.
I hope they have you that battery under warranty!

I should add that once you HAVE drained the battery, for whatever reason, you really won't get it charged back up properly w/o putting it on a charger or driving it for a LONG time. If you got the battery jumped to get it started, you shouldn't expect it will be "good to go" after that w/o putting the battery on a charger...... that could explain the "recurring" issues you had. The initial drain could have been from a legitimate single drain event (left lights on, running electronics and/or interior lights w/o running engine, or sitting for a several months unused), and after that it was never recovered properly.

rollinhonda said:

You should set aside a day that includes a 15 mile round trip on the freeway, or at least an expressway, per week. The rest of the vehicle, including the engine oil, needs to reach temperatures hot enough to boil off moisture. This is even more critical in winter.
The people hitting the freeway at least every few days to commute will rack up a lot more miles. But those miles will likely be more trouble-free over the years.

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Ian Brantford said:

Vehicles can come with batteries that have partially depleted due to sitting on the lot. It's possible that the battery never had a full charge during your ownership if most of your trips are short.

If you have further trouble of this sort, consider getting a start/deep-cycle AGM battery. They accept a recharge much more quickly and won't take damage from depletion. That would be an Optima Yellow Top, Orbital Extreme, or Northstar. There are store-brand variants as well. It will cost you out of pocket, but it will provide better reliability for your normal habits instead of needing to change your habits.

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Totally agree with these guys. I was having issues with regular lead-acid batteries not lasting very long. My commute went from 25 miles one way to 3 miles one way per day. The truck never sits for longer than two days without starting and running for a bit, but I do put on many short trips. With the cold winters and hot summers we have here, I had two batteries go bad within two years. The first went dead when it was extremely cold out and was never able to hold a charge again. The second was simply a bad battery and wouldn't hold a charge longer than 12 hours even in temperate climates. I used my warranty and upgraded to an AGM battery. It's not an Optima or Northstar, but an Autocraft Platinum from Advanced Auto. It is much more robust than the lead acid battery and it charges WAY faster. I still get the truck out on the highway and take it for a longer run once every week or two, but this battery is WAY better than anything I've ever had. Even in extremely cold temps, it cranks up with no issues.

The biggest issues with all wet cell batteries constructed of lead plates sunk in sulfuric acid can be summed to one word: Sulfation.

Sulfation is a break down in the acid solution where sulfur solids separate from liquids and collect on lead. When voltage is allowed to drop - either by self discharge or demand from an external device - below a minimum level (about 10.5VDC), sulfur collects on lead. If voltage is allowed to drop several times below 10.5 to 11Volts, sulfur collection will chemically isolate the lead from the acid solution. When that happens, corrective action is "boiling" - which is supplying 14.5 VDC from a properly regulated external source. The presence of 14.5 V initiates a chemical boil (AKA: equalization), dislodging sulfur from lead, causing the acid to achieve correct specific gravity, restoring the battery to rated capacity. Boiling causes significant outgassing from cell chambers and must be vented into open air because the gas is explosive. And were there is gas, there is the potential for pressure, so a boiling battery needs to have old school caps.

The problem with so called "maintenance free" batteries is they can't be boiled. At least, not safely. These 40lb toxic waste "disposable" nightmares were concocted for the sole reason of removing a simple maintenance requirement from vehicle owners.

Any wet cell battery whether serviceable or "sealed" brings with it venting of caustic gases that cause lots of service issues, including terminal corrosion and other wiring issues we see under the hood of poorly maintained vehicle electrical systems.

AGM and gel batteries have distinct functional and service advantages. They *can* sulfate but don't at anywhere near the rate of liquid cells. And they don't outgas either, saving cables and greatly reducing the chance of cable/wiring failures during the life of the battery.

Glass mat and gel batts cost about twice as much as a premium wet batts but in my opinion, they are worth every single penny. Lower or even NO maintenance, little or no terminal corrosion or ancillary damage from outgassing, and FAR superior resilience to continuous dips below 11VDC. It's a no brainer in my book.

Ourfarm09 said:

Perfectly timed posts. Had to jump my truck of to leave work today. The truck has a build date of Aug 2010 so the battery should be a few months older then that. Yes it is the original battery. We had to jump it about 2 months ago when the grand-daughter was playing in the truck and left the lights on.
It's funny I changed oil during lunch, started the truck at about 1pm to check for leaks. Went to leave work at 5 and click, click, click.
So at 5 plus years old I'm not even going to test the battery. Will get the new one tomorrow.

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I had to replace 2 batteries RTL (Sudden death/3yr old) and Sonata (4 1/2 yr old) at WM today (EverStart Maxx 5yr warranty)
Ended up towing RTL on flat bed to WM 7 miles away.
I am glad I did not attempt to replace it myself, because it was a pain to do (from watching 2 guys doing it).
I returned the Duracell to Sams because I could not find anybody else (other than Sams) selling it (googled)... and I never liked duracell small batteries in the first place; because they were mostly the name ... and also don't think much of the products put out by procter and gamble.


Tips:for those who want to replace the battery and never did it before:
there are 2 screws holding the +/- wires which need to be unscrewed for removing the battery, but when reinstalling, all it takes is to press on the screw and it will click into position.
2 hooks to be undone (1 on each side of the battery)... very challenging if you don't have small hand/ fingers : it was even challenging for the WM guy to undo and replace them, even though he said he had seen tighter spaces when he was working on helicopters in the army.

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