[jakeman]

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.

I thought the same as you when my '09' failed to start last Oct. After hearing about all the early failures, I went to Walmart for a new one. Lucky for me they were out of our size battery. Went home, and on a whim, I cleaned up the terminals and she fired right up. They didn't look too bad either. Now, almost a year later, the original is still doing fine.

Will have to decide, before the cold weather gets here, if I want to chance another winter with the original. I do carry a booster all the time. This Oct, I'll have my RL 6 years. Don't know when the battery was built.

I wonder how many batteries have been changed out just due to dirty terminals?

 

[Ourfarm09]

I would bet a lot across the industry. We never replace one at work that is under 5 years old with out testing it.

 

[mtb]

NEW BATTERY failed.

I bought a new battery 2 weeks ago... Run fine so far until this morning ...
The battery was totally drained this morning.
I went back to dealer without the battery (WM) to find out what could have caused it... and I was told that it could be a " stuck diode in the alternator" ; so I will have to have the alternator looked at.
Any idea how much a new alternator cost?

 

[chiph]

Check for the cheaper stuff first, like a glovebox light stuck on, or the trunk handle pinched in the "open" position.

Chip H.

 

[mtb]

Check for the cheaper stuff first, like a glovebox light stuck on, or the trunk handle pinched in the "open" position.

Chip H.

Nope... nothing left ON.

 

[speedlever]

I agree... check for the cheap stuff first.

FYI, Honda replaced an alternator on my Pilot at 93k miles when it failed as we pulled out of our garage on a Saturday headed out for vacation. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), Honda was open on Saturday. They charged me nearly $600 for a reman that took them about an hour to install.

If you can DIY, you can likely pick up a good reman for $125-ish with your core.

 

[roakey]

Check your parasitic load. See this thread for a possibility of the compressor relay going bad:

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87865

See reply 15, pull that relay and see if your drain problem goes away.

Roak

 

[mtb]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody...
Unfortunately i have no idea how to change an alternator nor what a relay looks like...
all I ever did was change the fluids...
So I will probably take it somewhere to check for the problem ... and see if the alternator needs replacing.
I have an old Schumacher Battery with a Quick Engine Start of 50A:
I will have to charge the battery to at least 50% before using the Quick Start... but since it has been raining non stop for a few days now, I will have to wait since the vehicle is outdoor...
Should I worry the battery will get wasted, sitting completely drained for a few days?
Hopefully WM will not give me a hard time replacing it, if that happens (it is only 2 weeks old).

NB: I am wondering how does it get 50 AMP if home plugs are rated for 15 AMP ?

 

[OhSix]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody...
Unfortunately i have no idea how to change an alternator nor what a relay looks like...
all I ever did was change the fluids...
So I will probably take it somewhere to check for the problem ... and see if the alternator needs replacing.
I have an old Schumacher Battery with a Quick Engine Start of 50A:
I will have to charge the battery to at least 50% before using the Quick Start... but since it has been raining non stop for a few days now, I will have to wait since the vehicle is outdoor...
Should I worry the battery will get wasted, sitting completely drained for a few days?
Hopefully WM will not give me a hard time replacing it, if that happens (it is only 2 weeks old).

NB: I am wondering how does it get 50 AMP if home plugs are rated for 15 AMP ?

Couple things:

Diodes are the rough equivalent of a vacuum check valve or a hydraulic "back flow preventor". It's purpose is to allow voltage to flow in one direction. In the case of an alternator, the circuit containing diode(s) allows voltage to flow out of the spinning alternator to the battery, then when the engine stops turning the alternator, prevent the battery from delivering voltage back into the armature. All by itself, a diode can't get "stuck". It can burn up but that's about it. Anyhow... the diagnosis is certainly plausible.

On the battery charger developing 50 Amps DC from a 15 Amp AC source, the ratio of current demand & production between AC & DC isn't one for one. There's an algorithm to calculate the ratio but that's not important to you issue.

Apparently, Honda's DC system is somewhat sensitive to battery condition, power interruption, disconnect, reconnect, ETC so someone else can speak from experience BUT on the topic of leaving the system alone for a few days until the weather clears, pulling a traditional maintenance free battery very low is BAD. Once or twice might not do irreparable damage but age and cell condition determines a given battery's resilience to repeated draining. SO, it might be a good idea to pull a cable off while waiting.

 

[Carsmak]

If it was me, just pull the battery and charge it out of the vehicle.

Just another option

 

[mtb]

If it was me, just pull the battery and charge it out of the vehicle.

Just another option

Taking the Super dead battery out to charge it, will not work according to the Video below.

I tried to charge the battery this morning but it did not show any progress after 90 minutes (stayed on 0% charge)... so I searched the web and came across this video about how to charge a super Dead battery like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPuzmhYCQc

will it work? will see!

.

 

[speedlever]

Hmm. I wonder if it would be safe/wise to connect a jumpstart battery (like the Clore JNC 660) for a while before trying to jumpstart.

I'm not sure. I've only tried on a dead hybrid car but didn't leave it connected for any length of time. And I think I used a smaller capacity Jumpstarter from Costco instead of the more powerful JNC 660.

Regardless, it wouldn't start. So maybe it would be a good thing to leave the jumpstarter connected for a while, then connect a conventional charger and see if the battery will now take a charge.

Otherwise, I don't know too many people who keep a 12v car battery laying around the garage for a rainy day scenario.

 

[Carsmak]

Taking the Super dead battery out to charge it, will not work according to the Video below.

I tried to charge the battery this morning but it did not show any progress after 90 minutes (stayed on 0% charge)... so I searched the web and came across this video about how to charge a super Dead battery like mine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMPuzmhYCQc

will it work? will see!

.

Why do you think that from the Video? All the Video is implying is the new "Smart Type" charger needs to see voltage or it will not try to charge it. The location of the batteries, the charger will never know where it is charging a battery. With it seeing no Voltage, it believes you could have both items connected incorrectly and is trying to protect you, the charger and whatever it's connected to.

So as long as you have 2 car batteries you should be able to charge up the "Super Dead Battery" Anywhere.

Having said that, if you check the manual for your charger you'll see on page 3 it even explains "Charging Battery Out Of Vehicle", without being there I'd guess that your battery isn't charging because you bought a "bad battery" they do occasionally fail from brand new. Also you have no idea how well it's been cared for during the shipping, delivery or while awaiting for someone to buy it @ "Walmart", personally I'd just take it back.

 

[mtb]

Why do you think that from the Video? All the Video is implying is the new "Smart Type" charger needs to see voltage or it will not try to charge it. The location of the batteries, the charger will never know where it is charging a battery. With it seeing no Voltage, it believes you could have both items connected incorrectly and is trying to protect you, the charger and whatever it's connected to.

So as long as you have 2 car batteries you should be able to charge up the "Super Dead Battery" Anywhere.

Having said that, if you check the manual for your charger you'll see on page 3 it even explains "Charging Battery Out Of Vehicle", without being there I'd guess that your battery isn't charging because you bought a "bad battery" they do occasionally fail from brand new. Also you have no idea how well it's been cared for during the shipping, delivery or while awaiting for someone to buy it @ "Walmart", personally I'd just take it back.

What I meant is that if I need a 2nd battery to revive the dead one , I may as well leave it installed ... because I am in no shape to lift anything at this time, because I hurt my lower back lifting the 1st one ... and ended up with Sciatica 4 days later; and which may go on for a month or more.
Sciatica is something one would whish to never have, ever!

Here's a real "PRO" of Battery fixer... all there is to do is empty /clean old battery (if it is not leaking); and Refill/Charge: that's all there is to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Supe1a3LW2U

.

 

[mtb]

The rain stopped today, and Trickle charging (2 AMP) a totally dead battery is paying off: it started charging

.

 

[Ourfarm09]

I replaced my battery last week and did not do the idle learn process. My fuel mileage and shift points are right back where they were.

 

[rollinhonda]

I replaced my battery last week and did not do the idle learn process. My fuel mileage and shift points are right back where they were.

I've witnessed the same thing. I don't think it is a required operation every time.
I think it might be most effective when vehicles have no battery connected for a prolonged long time, like when a major repair is being performed.

 

[speedlever]

Ditto here.

Next battery swap, I'll use my Jump starter plugged into the OBD2 port to power the systems during the swap. That will keep my trip meter info, etc.

 

[rollinhonda]

Ditto here.

Next battery swap, I'll use my Jump starter plugged into the OBD2 port to power the systems during the swap. That will keep my trip meter info, etc.

That's a great tip!

 

[IanRTL]

That's a great tip!

My last battery came from Advanced Auto and they have a specific device that plugs into the OBDII port for Honda vehicles when they change out batteries. It kept all of the parameters in line while the three minute swap happened. I never had to do a thing.