08 Battery Failure

[jmbones]

Anyone else have a battery fail this quickly with no warning? Wifes 08 Rogue had no signs of a low battery. Everything was fine. She went out shopping and then went to eat and came back out only to have the Rogue just click while trying to start. I drove the 35 minutes to her and jumped it, started after about 3 minutes of letting the jumpers charge it. Had no issues driving the 35 minutes back home. Dead again the next morning. Had to run to Wallworld for a new battery. Odd that it went that quick, especially for being garaged. I still have the original battery in my '05 Power Wagon.

[philipa_240sx]

jmbones,

There is likely a few causes:

1) Your alternator has malfunctioned/failed and the battery will not charge. Also make sure the drive belt is OK, it's an easily overlooked maintenance item.

2) You have an electrical issue that is causing the battery to drain. Although the Rogue has several 'battery saving' features, there may still be a parasitic load. If your new battery goes dead again, you know why.

3) Excessive heat is a death sentence for any battery. It's not uncommon for those that live in hotter southern climates to experience shorter battery life.

[jmbones]

Thanks for the tips, I checked the belt and it is ok. Alternator "looks" good but I have not officially had its output tested, as that will be my next step if the new battery fails. No excessive heat here in Northeast PA. New battery has been fine for a few days now, I will check it's standing voltage and running voltage later today.

[kerrton]

It never hurts in these situations to be on the safe side and have your electrical system tested including the alternator. This is not a time consuming or expensive process but it is important to figure out if you've got other problems beyond the battery as Philipa suggested, otherwise you run the risk of damaging your new battery and leaving your wife stranded again.

[zakmartin]

For anyone else experiencing this: you might want to try adding distilled water to the fill line in the battery since the battery in the Rogue is not maintenance-free. Just yank off the caps over the cells and fill 'em up. Also, clean your terminals and connectors (get a terminal cleaner at the auto parts store, they're only 3 bucks). Add some anti-corrosion compound or WD-40 to the terminals and you're good. Hopefully, that will solve the problem, but as mentioned above, it could be other things.

If you have a multimeter, check the voltage on the battery when the car's off. It should read 12.4 - 12.6 Volts. Turn the car on and turn on the headlights, radio and air conditioner. You should be getting around 14.4 Volts. If not, then you may have a problem with your charging system (bad alternator/voltage regulator, wires, etc.)

[jmbones]

The new battery did the trick for me. I am sure that if I would've added the distilled water to the old battery, it probably would have helped. It did look like it was below the levels indicated on the battery itself.